The website Politico is reporting the House Ethics Committee is refusing to comment about why the committee is only investigating African American lawmakers for possible ethics violations. The committee is currently investigating seven African American lawmakers — more than 15 percent of the total in the House. Not a single white lawmaker is currently the subject of a full-scale Ethics Committee probe. Last week the committee considered three referrals from the recently formed Office of Congressional Ethics. The committee dismissed a case against Missouri Republican Sam Graves, who is white, but agreed to open full-blown investigations of California Democratic Reps. Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson, both of whom are black. A document leaked to the Washington Post last week showed that nearly three dozen lawmakers have come under scrutiny this year by either the House Ethics Committee or the Office of Congressional Ethics. While the list contained a substantial number of white lawmakers, the Ethics Committee has not yet launched formal investigative subcommittees with respect to any of them.