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.
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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 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 nonpublic 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 such as 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 bill 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.
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Another GOP example is Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX). The congressman notably failed to report 122 stock trades worth as much as $21 million timely, said the Office of Congressional Ethics in a report made public in May 2022.
Read FACT’s entire “top ethics violators” list below.
