Campus Notebook: Lawmakers to Prague, staff to Fargo, plus million-dollar trades
Lawmaker travel, stock trades, ethics complaints and other updates
Campus notebook this week highlights where a former top law enforcement official went after he retired from the Capitol Police, international travel by members, domestic travel of staffers and substantial stock trades.
- Matthew Verderosa, the former Capitol Police chief, started working as the director of emergency preparedness and global safety at American University. He signed the offer in June.
[Capitol Police Chief Matthew Verderosa to retire]
- Sen. Thomas R. Carper, D-Del., traveled to Prague with his wife, Martha, in May and June. The approximately $16,784 trip was funded by the Aspen Institute, a group that describes itself as nonpartisan.
- In two separate August transactions, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., sold between $15,001 and $50,000, and $1,001 and $15,000 in Tesla stock.
- Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Ct., sold over $1 million in ELCM2 LLC stock in September, a holding that is listed as his spouse’s.
- Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., bought between $50,001 and $100,000 in non-public stock of Snap + Style, Inc., in September. The company is an online fashion advisory and shopping website.
- Trevor Dean, a staffer for Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., took a trip to Miami and West Palm Beach paid for by Florida East Coast Industries LLC. The $664 trip from August 22-23 examined an intercity passenger rail project in South Florida, similar to another project connecting Las Vegas and Southern California.
- Savannah Block, a staffer for Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., traveled to Fargo, N.D., sponsored by Red River Valley Sugarbeet Education Foundation Inc., Red River Valley Sugarbeet Growers Association and the American Crystal Sugar Company. The $764 trip from August 28-30 was designed to expose participants to sugar beet farming, harvesting and to learn more about the process.
- Rep. Duncan Hunter’s, R-Calif., federal criminal corruption trial was pushed back to January 22, 2020.
- The Office of Congressional Ethics received a complaint alleging Rep. Matt Cartwright used his office to enrich his personal finances and those of his family. The Pennsylvania Democrat introduced a bill that would substantially increase the minimum amount of financial responsibility those who transport property, including truck drivers, have to maintain. This would increase the required amount from $750,000 to $4.53 million, and could require truck drivers to pay out more when they are sued. Cartwright’s wife, Marion Munley, is a partner at Munley Law, a personal injury law firm in Pennsylvania. Munley is chair of the American Association for Justice Trucking Litigation Group. Prior to his election to Congress in 2012, Cartwright was a partner at Munley Law, which was then called Munley, Munley & Cartwright. He continues to participate in the Munley law firm’s profit sharing plan while he is “on leave.” Cartwright has between $1 million and $5 million in profit sharing assets in the Munley law firm; separately, his wife holds between $1 million and $5 million in the firm’s profit sharing program.