Harris Staffer Disciplined After Underage Drinking

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Maryland congressman has disciplined his chief of staff after an underage intern was allowed to drink alcohol at a party on a veranda at the U.S. Capitol last summer.

Ryan Nawrocki, a spokesman for First District Congressman Andy Harris, said Tuesday that chief of staff Kevin Reigrut was disciplined but didn't specify what action was taken. He said Reigrut remains chief of staff to the Republican lawmaker.

Harris was not at the party, Nawrocki added.

Nawrocki confirmed that the party took place last summer, but said aides did not realize the intern, a college senior, was under 21. The party was held in the intern's honor, whom Nawrocki did not identify.

"When it came to Rep. Harris' attention that alcohol was being consumed in the office, he immediately made it clear that no alcohol is to be consumed by any one in any of his offices," Nawrocki said.

Parties on verandas at the Capitol, where the incident took place, are common. Beer and wine are often served.

The incident was first reported on a blog Tuesday by Joe Steffen, a former aide to former Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich.

Steffen was known for his role in the firing of state employees perceived as disloyal to Ehrlich after Ehrlich was elected governor in 2002. Steffen, whose blog is called Darkness Rising, was fired by Ehrlich in 2005 after he acknowledged that he had used the Internet to spread rumors about then-Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)