WASHINGTON  The Office of Congressional Ethics has found enough evidence of wrongdoing to recommend further investigation of three House members who held fund-raising events just days before they voted on financial regulatory legislation last year.

The referrals to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct came as the office recommended dismissing investigations of five other lawmakers, whose fund-raising just before the December 2009 vote had also come under scrutiny.

The investigation focused on lawmakers who raised money from lobbyists or executives of financial firms that had objected to provisions of the legislation.

Each of the three House members  Representatives John Campbell, Republican of California; Joseph Crowley, Democrat of New York; and Tom Price, Republican of Georgia  criticized the referrals on Tuesday, with two of them saying the quasi-independent ethics office had not produced evidence of wrongdoing.