Watchdog releases 'top ethics violators' list for members of Congress during 2022 | Washington Examiner
By: Gabe Kaminsky
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
EXCLUSIVE — A right-leaning watchdog group is releasing a list on Thursday compiling what it alleges are the foremost examples of members of Congress violating federal ethics laws in 2022.
The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust lists seven instances of alleged member violations, as well as two alleged Biden administration official violations in the document, which was first shared with the Washington Examiner. Those listed, who are all Democrats, often involved themselves in financial activities that are unbecoming of a public official and illegal, according to FACT.
"Unfortunately this year the underlying theme of FACT's complaints involve numerous government officials and their personal financial holdings," Kendra Arnold, FACT's executive director, told the Washington Examiner. "As you can see in the complaints in our list these involve the important and basic ethics laws that require disclosure and avoidance of conflicts of interest."
"Since these rules are fundamental and the violations are serious we hope this trend does not continue into 2023," she added.
The first alleged violation listed in FACT's document was by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). The congressman's wife bought shares of the pharmaceutical company Amgen before the the Department of Health and Human Services announced it was paying Amgen $290 million for drug supplies, the Washington Examiner first reported.
But since Blumenauer sits on the health subcommittee for the Ways and Means Committee, which oversees the HHS, FACT filed a complaint in November to the Office of Congressional Ethics. The watchdog sought to know whether Blumenauer violated ethics rules by gaining access to non-public information on the subcommittee, and possibly using the information to his advantage.
After Blumenauer, FACT lists Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC), who, in February, disclosed 51 stock trades worth up to $1.25 million past the required federal deadline. Some of these trades were in tech stocks like Meta, Amazon, Netflix, and Nvidia, which have fluctuated based on legislative activity, and in some cases in connection to antitrust measures.
In September, Manning's husband sold up to $30,000 in Microsoft and Amazon shares before the congresswoman voted in favor of three antitrust bills, the Washington Examiner reported. Several watchdog groups said the situation gave the appearance of a "conflict of interest."
FACT also includes Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) on its list, who disclosed over $1 million in stock trades late in May and June. Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV), who is included on the list after Suozzi, was the subject of a FACT complaint in September 2022 for her failure to disclose over $3 million in stock trades between 2020 and 2022.
"Unfortunately, over the past year there has been a large spike in ethics violations involving Members of Congress and their personal finances," wrote FACT in the list memo. "This primarily took the form of two types of violations: (1) not disclosing financial interests or (2) instances where personal financial interests intersected with their official duties."
"Regarding the second, Members have an ethical duty to both be transparent and to be extremely careful that these two things don't overlap," the watchdog continued. "There has been a disturbing trend where these types of violations have risen and we've seen the evidence in the number of ethics complaints filed."
Former Reps. Val Demings (D-FL) and Cindy Axne (D-IA) were included on FACT's list for allegedly "violating" COVID-19 proxy voting rules. The remote voting practice was established in the early days of the pandemic as "a necessary and immediately feasible low-tech option" for members who claim they cannot "be physically present in the chamber."
Axne, who lost reelection in 2022 to Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA), was photographed in Paris one day before she voted by proxy on the Inflation Reduction Act, a $740 billion energy and climate package signed by President Joe Biden in August. Axne lied in claiming she could not vote in-person because of the "public health emergency," FACT alleged in a September complaint.
In addition to members, FACT highlights violations by Anita Dunn, a senior Biden adviser reportedly involved in planning the president's 2024 campaign, and Jennifer Granholm, the Secretary of the Energy Department.
Dunn was the subject of a FACT complaint in June for not filing her public financial disclosure report in a timely manner. That report, which became public in August, revealed that she had apparent conflicts of interest with clients and was forced to divest from her financial portfolio worth up to $48.2 million.
Granholm disclosed nine stock trades late in December 2021, prompting the watchdog to file a complaint. In addition, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, an independent government agency, found in June 2022 that Granholm violated the Hatch Act by speaking positively about Democrats in an interview. The Hatch Act is a law meant to prevent federal employees from engaging in certain political activities.
Aside from the Democrats outlined in FACT's complaint, there have been well-documented instances of ethics violations among Republican members of Congress in 2022 — who were not on the watchdog's list.
Former Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), who was ousted in his May 2022 primary, was fined by the House Ethics committee in December for insider trading in connection to cryptocurrency. That fine followed a Washington Examiner report quoting watchdogs who said Cawthorn appeared to have violated federal law.
Another GOP example is Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX). The congressman notably failed to timely report 122 stock trades worth as much as $21 million, said the Office of Congressional Ethics in a report made public in May 2022.
Article is LOCKED by author/seeder
Tags
Who is online
41 visitors
If there were ever a reason to see the tax returns of EVERYBODY in government, this is it.
I agree; we need to see every elected official's tax returns; and everyone associated with them tax return.
Republicans are just as guilty as Democrats of benefiting from insider trading.
But that won't stop some from playing it as partisan.
Of course- the report listed too many people with the giant D behind their names.
Says a far-right wing rag that is known for lies and propaganda.
AllSides rates the Washington Examiner as “Lean Right” based on community feedback, blind surveys, and independent research. In a blind survey of users across the political spectrum, 40.97% of AllSides readers confirmed the site’s “Lean Right” bias. AllSides staff originally classified the site as “Right,” but an extensive editorial review led to a less extreme classification. In the same editorial review, AllSides observed that though the Washington Examiner chooses stories/headlines with conservative talking points, their stories are not necessarily presented in a sensationalist or exaggerated manner. AllSides also noted that Washington Examiner does occasionally showcase Democratic or Left-leaning points of view.
Have you read the Huffington Post or The Atlantic lately. Read them if you want to see liberal lies and propaganda.
To the best of my knowledge have never read either.
Mostly read National Geographic, Omni, Scientific American and G&A.
Omni is no longer being published but it was a favorite for years.
"If there were ever a reason to see the tax returns of EVERYBODY in government, this is it."
Yep, now that the dopey Dems have set a far reaching precedent, we should expect to see what goes on with all those rich liberal Congress people, including Pelosi.
Ethics in Congress = Oxymoron.
Yep, a better one than Military Intelligence ..... and that is saying something.
Definitely!
Insider trading. Something people have been sent to prison for. Yet politicians are somehow exempt?
That's something Nancy Pelosi knows a lot about.
This partly explains why public servants become wealthy. It is seldom questioned by the media.
Also explains why d-bags like baby Madoff Bankman Fried don’t get bad press from them. He bought them all off.
Next highest Democrat donor after first place Soros.
Yep and like usual ..... crickets from the worker drones on the left
And McCarthy dangled gutting the Office of Congressional Ethics to gain votes…there’s the oxymoron.
Did he?
You know, you could've looked it up for yourself....
McCarthy Proposes Gutting Office of Congressional Ethics in Bid for Speaker
"This must be stopped": Kevin McCarthy's first move is to "gut" congressional ethics watchdog
Here’s What Republicans Plan To Do As They Retake The House — Including Investigating The DOJ And Gutting The Ethics Office
Vic wasn't the one making the claim. But thanks for providing the links.
So the authors and Democrat partisan watch dog groups the articles site all use "gut"; so therefore it must be true.
Funny how OCE is hot and heavy over Republicans and Jan 6th. Yet ignores Democrats that supported BLM/Antifa rioters. Including obtaining bail money for them; getting them legal representation; and calling for the charges to be dropped. That includes the lefts beloved AOC.
Better wording would be; the OCE will no longer be a partisan Democrat tool.
Hell, that also includes the VP.
I find it disgusting that the current VP of the USA openly and actively raised money to help criminals.
For the idiots on the left there is nothing wrong with doing that.
Vic was the one questioning the truth of the claim. A truth he could have found out within 15 seconds on the internet.
You provided what he ask for. What's the problem?
Vic is a big boy, I doubt he needs any help.
You tell me. What is your purpose in jumping into a comment string that had nothing to do with you?
Hmmm. Lets see. I'm the one that posted the article. This is an open forum site. You tell me.
[DELETED]
So?
So?
If you don't know your own reason for imposing yourself into someone else's comment thread, I can't help you.