A New Jersey congressman is under fire for singling out a bank's lawyer, based on her political affiliations, in a letter to her boss—apparently leading to her departure.

In a complaint filed with the Office of Congressional Ethics May 16, the nonprofit group Campaign for Accountability claimed that a fundraising letter from U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-Morris County, to Lakeland Bank board member Joseph O'Dowd—alerting him that the bank's general counsel, Sally Avelenda, was politically opposed to O'Dowd—violated House ethics rules.

Frelinghuysen wrote, “There are organized forces—both national and local—who are already hard at work to put a stop to an agenda of limited government, economic growth, stronger national security.”