WASHINGTON — Two constituents of U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman from the Traverse City, Michigan, area are asking the House Ethics Committee to investigate the situation surrounding the Washington, D.C., home where Bergman lives that was sold to his daughter earlier this year in a favorable deal financed by one of the congressman's top campaign donors.

The complaint from a retired judge and a former Navy chaplain highlighted the findings of a Detroit News report published Oct. 22 about how a company managed by Bergman donor Kim Kiyosaki sold the Capitol Hill home in February to members of Bergman's family for $1.55 million ― the same price for which it was purchased in 2022 ― on a land contract, with all principal due in seven years in 2033, property records show.

Kiyosaki is the longtime business partner and former wife of Robert Kiyosaki, a Vietnam War buddy of Bergman's and author of the bestselling "Rich Dad Poor Dad" financial self-help book. The Kiyosaki pair have given more than $257,000 to Bergman's campaign and affiliated committees since he began running for Congress in 2016.

Bergman, a five-term congressman who represents the Upper Peninsula and much of the northern Lower Peninsula, continues to live part time in the home ― now owned by his daughter and son-in-law ― though his office wouldn't disclose how much he pays in rent each month or say why he didn't just buy the home himself.

Experts who reviewed the arrangement for The Detroit News said the house transaction involving Bergman's daughter might have been an attempt to sidestep congressional ethics rules limiting gifts that typically wouldn’t apply to a House member's adult child.

Bergman's office wouldn't answer questions raised by the ownership setup, including why he didn't purchase the home himself since he lives there and seeks taxpayer-funded reimbursement each month from the U.S. House to help cover his lodging costs while in D.C.

"General Bergman pays fair market value for his rent, which was established by the previous owners, and is in full compliance with House Ethics," said Bergman spokesman James Hogge, referring to his boss, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general, about his housing.

Hogge did not provide a comment responding to the ethics complaint. The Ethics Committee also declined to weigh in.

The complaint alleges that the situation appears to implicate the House's gift rule that says a member "may not knowingly accept a gift, except as provided in this clause," and defines a gift as to include lodging. The rule also excepts only loans that are from banks or lending institutions "on terms generally available to the public."

"A loan from a campaign donor's company, at a four-year-old price, with nothing down and no principal due for seven years, is none of those things," wrote the Rev. Jeffrey Rhodes, a retired 23-year Navy chaplain, and Norman R. Hayes, a retired probate judge in Antrim County.

Interest rates that are below the fair market rate are also considered to be gifts under the House committee's Ethics Manual, Hayes and Rhodes noted. The gift rule provides that a gift to a family member of a lawmaker "shall be considered a gift to the member" if it's given "with the knowledge and acquiescence of the member" and the individual, they added.

The pair also contended that if the rent Bergman paid Kiyosaki from 2022 through 2025 was below market rate, he should have reported the difference as a gift on his annual financial disclosures (but did not).

The average rent for a four-bedroom in the ZIP code where the home is located on Capitol Hill is about $5,000 a month, according to the real estate website Zillow.

The Kiyosaki home, built in 1900, offers four bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms and about 1,860 square feet of living space, according to public records. The house is about a 12-minute walk from the U.S. Capitol.

Records on file with the D.C. Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection showed no active rental license for the property as of Oct. 21.

Rhodes and Hayes also raised the possibility that Bergman's lodging reimbursements are going to his daughter and son-in-law's company, which owes no principal on the Capitol Hill House until 2033. They note that House Administration Committee's rules for the lodging and meals reimbursement program "restrict payments that benefit a member or a member's relatives."

"Whether those payments were permissible, whether the rent was in fact at market, and whether any part of the reimbursement was retained by the congressman himself are questions that only this committee can answer, because the congressman has refused to produce the records," Hayes and Rhodes wrote.

"The people of the Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan are facing a housing crisis. They cannot buy a home at a four-year-old price with nothing down and nothing owed for seven years, and they cannot bill the government for the rent. They deserve confidence that the public officials who serve them operate with full transparency, accountability and adherence to ethical standards."

The complaint, dated Oct. 27, was addressed to the Republican chairman of the Ethics panel, Michael Guest of Mississippi, and its top Democrat, Mark DeSaulnier of California.

Hayes, who lives just north of Elk Rapids, is a former prosecutor and two-time Republican chair of Otsego County who spent 35 years in public service before retiring last year.

Rhodes retired in 2015 after 23 years in the U.S. Navy, with his last assignment at the Pentagon and Quantico helping Marine Corps, Navy and Army leaders recognize combat stress injuries, such as PTSD and anxiety disorder. He is a donor to the campaign of Callie Barr, the Democrat who is challenging Bergman in the Nov. 3 election.

The ethics complaint is the second filed against Bergman this year by Hayes and Rhodes.

The first complaint had to do with Bergman's chief of staff, Tony Lis, running a political consulting firm on the side.

Public records reviewed by The News show Lis' consulting company, Right Way to Win LLC, has brought in more than $446,000 in consulting and other fees from various state-level campaigns and committees since 2021, and another $143,000 from federal candidates or committees, according to campaign finance filings.

Lis has contended it's not "abnormal" for congressional aides to have side hustles.

"It's not like a get-rich thing," Lis told The News in May.

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