A prominent Democrat congresswoman is in hot water after she failed to properly report nearly $5.5 million in stock sales.
A report from Fox News indicates Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) reported the stock sales earlier this month, long after such sales are required to be reported under federal law.
Fox News reported Rep. DelBene filed a periodic transaction report showing her husband sold Microsoft stock worth between $1.25 million and $5.5 million in two transactions on Aug. 30, 2022, and March 1.
Under the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012, members of Congress are legally required to report securities transactions over $1,000 no later than 45 days after they or their spouse execute said transaction.
“Members of Congress from both parties are missing these deadlines and not disclosing transactions when they’re supposed to according to the law, which in and of itself, from a first principle standpoint, is a really bad thing because you have lawmakers who are not following the law that they made,” Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, the government affairs manager at the Project on Government Oversight, told Fox News Digital.
“Oftentimes, if you aggregate members of Congress’ trades and transactions, they tend to over-perform the rest of us and over-perform the market,” Hedtler-Gaudette added. “There is definitely the appearance of impropriety and the appearance of potential corruption there that is corrosive to public trust in Congress and individual members of Congress. So, it’s a big problem.”
A spokesperson for DelBene explained that the two Microsoft stock sales were part of a forward contract her husband Kurt DelBene created after he was confirmed for a senior role at the Department of Veterans Affairs. DelBene had previously served as a senior executive at Microsoft before resigning in September 2021.
“In March 2022, the DelBenes disclosed a forward contract, which put in place a self-executing stock sale schedule at a set price related to compensation from Mr. DelBene’s previous employment,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement. “This forward contract was drafted by ethics experts and approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs.”
Lawmakers and experts have sought to crack down on stock trading by Congressional lawmakers.
“The constant violations of the law show that the disclosure requirement is not enough,” Kedric Payne, the vice president and general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center told Fox News. “The members cannot comply with the filing deadline and sometimes you still have the appearance of conflicts of interest. Therefore, there needs to be restricted where members are not allowed to own individual stocks.”
Last month, Reps. Matt Gaetz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unveiled legislation to prohibit members of Congress from trading stocks. (RELATED: Gaetz Teams Up With AOC To Ban Stock Trading In Congress)
“The ability to individually trade stock erodes the public’s trust in government,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement. “When Members have access to classified information, we should not be trading in the stock market on it. It’s really that simple.”
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No punishment if its a demorat
Members of Congress are missing the deadlines BECAUSE THEY CAN AND NOTHING WILL BE DONE ABOUT IT. Unlike the rest of us little “subjects” whose house would have been raided and we would be in prison or dead.
“RIP America; the Founders gave us a republic IF we could keep it. Guess we screwed up when the Ruling Class changed the rules in 1851 once the last of the Founders passed away.
Well, $5.5 million in stock trades. Being in government really pays well doesn’t it? No wonder so many people want to get into politics.
Damn lets prosecute OK
If a Republican: let’s boil them in oil! If a DemoCreep: Naw, they have good intentions…AND they’re on OUR side!