It’s been said before, but we’ll say it again: Members of Congress should have to wear the logos of their corporate interests the way NASCAR drivers wear the logos of their sponsors.
Last week, The Dominion Post’s David Beard took a look at Sens. Joe Manchin’s and Shelley Moore Capito’s financial disclosures for 2020 and crunched the numbers.
Manchin’s net worth increased by $1 million over two years, from 2018 to 2020; Capito’s net worth increased by $380,000 in the same time frame.
We were surprised to see Manchin’s net worth be so much higher than Capito’s, considering Capito has her finger in every possible pie.
The exact values for assets and liabilities, while important, are not what we’re looking at here. We’re looking at all the companies and industries our senators have a vested interest in — and on which they frequently vote.
As we’ve mentioned previously, Manchin still has stocks in Enersystems, a company he founded. The Fairmont-based company provides coal to Mon Power’s Grant Town plant. He also has stocks in Figure 8 Surgical, which makes a sternal closure tool, and CereDX (now Valtari Bio), which is developing a blood test to aid rapid triage in stroke patients.
Settle in for the long haul, because Capito’s list of financial interests is an extended one. The Republican senator and her husband have stocks in: energy companies Duke Energy, NextEra Energy, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, Phillips 66, Wisconsin Energy and BlackRock; financial institutions Wells Fargo and Citigroup; tech giants Microsoft, Apple, AT&T, Cisco, Verizon and IBM; pharmaceutical companies Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Viatris; big box stores WalMart, Target and Lowe’s; food industry giants General Mills, Kellogg, McDonald’s, J.M. Smucker, Coca-Cola, Mondelez and PepsiCo; and (in the “miscellaneous” category) Nordstrom, UPS, Ford, Colgate-Palmolive, Proctor & Gamble and Nike.
None of the above are held in a blind trust. For reference, Investopedia defines a blind trust as “a trust established by the owner (or trustor) giving another party (the trustee) full control of the trust. … The trustor can terminate the trust, but otherwise exercises no control over the actions taken within the trust and receives no reports from the trustees while the blind trust is in force.”
Many lawmakers put their stocks in a blind trust to avoid any conflicts of interest, or even the appearance thereof. Our senators aren’t even trying.
We always knew Manchin was firmly against green energy efforts, and his financials tell us why. As for Capito … How can she ethically vote on anything? She has financial interests in pretty much everything Congress already does or might someday pass legislation on.
While it’s not illegal to privately invest while holding public office (though insider trading is), it’s always been a touchy subject, and, in general, Americans don’t like it. According to the Pew Center, 67% of U.S. adults think “most politicians are corrupt” — and lawmakers’ investments play a big part in that.
The solution is simple: All lawmakers should have to move their stocks and holdings into blind trusts as soon as they are sworn into office. And until that happens, they should all be outfitted for NASCAR-style jumpsuits.
