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Campus Notebook: Lawmakers to Prague, staff to Fargo, plus million-dollar trades

Lawmaker travel, stock trades, ethics complaints and other updates

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

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. 
UNITED STATES - JULY 23: Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., left, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., depart from a press conference on election security on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday July 23, 2019. (Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call)
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., left, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.. (Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call file photo)
  • 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. 
UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 26: Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., arrives for the House Democrats' caucus meeting in the Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
A complaint regarding Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., was sent to the Office of Congressional ethics alleging he used his office to enrich his personal and family finances. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
  • 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.

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