WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Department of Education Chief Information Officer Danny Harris is a liar, but he’ll keep his job despite evidence he used his position to benefit a personal business, didn’t report income to the department or the IRS, and helped a buddy land a federal contract.

“Let me tell you what you’re conveying to the American people, and more importantly, to the 4,000 employees at the Department of Education,” Rep. Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican, said at a four-hour House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on Harris’ misdeeds, according to The Washington Post. “You can bend the rules – it’s just a matter of who you are.”

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A video of the meeting was posted to the committee’s website.

The hearing centered on ethics complaints against Harris detailed in a 2013 inspector general investigation that found Harris operated home theater installation and car detailing businesses while in his role as CIO and paid subordinates to work for those companies. The investigation also found Harris did not report at least $10,000 in outside income – to the Education Department or IRS – as required by ethics rules and federal law, the Associated Press reports.

Harris also used his official federal email address to run his businesses, sat on a panel that awarded a contract to a company owned by his friend, helped a relative get a job in the department, and loaned $4,000 to a subordinate, according to the news service.

“I fully understand and take responsibility for how some of my actions could allow questions to arise about my impartiality,” Harris read from a prepared statement at the Tuesday hearing. “The actions I took showed that I used poor judgement and I deeply regret those actions.”

Education Department officials received a stern talking to for his transgressions, but otherwise will face no punishment from his superiors for gaming the system. Harris receives a government salary of $180,000 a year, and received regular $17,000 bonuses despite the inspector general’s investigation and failure to meet data security goals, the Post reports.

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“The agency’s inspector general’s office launched an investigation into Harris’s activities in 2011 after receiving anonymous complaints. By 2013, it had confirmed most of the allegations, said Deputy Inspector General Sandra Bruce. The inspector general made a criminal referral to the office of the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, which declined to prosecute, citing the availability of administrative punishments,” according to the news site.

The AP reports Harris quit the home theater business and no longer accepts money for detailing cars. He’s also no longer friends with the owner of the company awarded the Education Department contract, and amended his taxes to properly report his earnings.

John B. King Jr., the unpopular New York state commissioner on education who was appointed to replace Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education last month, seemingly defended Harris at the ethics hearing this week.

When various lawmakers asked King if he thought Harris was in the wrong, King repeated the same line: “Based on the recommendation of our general counsel, I do not believe there was a violation of regulation, law or policy.”

The response did not sit well with legislators from either political party.

“Outside this bubble of Washington, D.C., the rest of the country would view what Mr. Harris did as a violation of law or regulation,” said Rep. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat. “Your job is not to protect Mr. Harris. It is to set a proper tone, standards of conduct for your agency. … You can’t use the shield of relying on the advice of your attorney. It is your job to make the right decision. You made the wrong one.”

Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz put it another way.

“Mr. King, you’ve been given this mantle of trust from the president of the United States, and you’re failing,” he said.

The Post reports Harris physically collapsed after the marathon four-hour hearing and was taken by ambulance to George Washington University Hospital, where he was in stable condition late Tuesday afternoon.