Magaziner Launches Attack Ad -- Seems to Target Senator Whitehouse

In a bizarre twist of the 2022 campaign cycle, the Democratic candidate in the second congressional district, Seth Magaziner, has launched a campaign ad that seems to attack not his GOP opponent Allan Fung, but rather U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.

Whitehouse has been the subject of a number of national media stories about him and his wife trading stocks.

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Magaziner's ad called “Serve” says, “Members of Congress see a lot of inside information and when they use that information to enrich themselves instead of serving the public they should face the consequences.”

The ad goes on to say, “Public officials should serve the people not get rich off of their positions that's why I support banning members of Congress from trading stocks, and I'll fight for term limits for members of congress because they should serve the people instead of looking out for themselves.”

 

New York Times Investigation

Just two weeks ago, a major investigation by The New York Times found that Whitehouse is one of the members of Congress who traded stock in public companies that came before the committees in which they serve. 

This is the second time in recent months that Whitehouse's stock trading has come under scrutiny.

“U.S. lawmakers are not banned from investing in any company, including those that could be affected by their decisions. But the trading patterns uncovered by the Times analysis underscore longstanding concerns about the potential for conflicts of interest or use of inside information by members of Congress, government ethics experts say,” the New York Times reported.

According to the Times, between 2019 and 2021, the timeframe the publication studied, Whitehouse and his wife Sandra conducted trades in 35 companies, with four with potential conflicts, including CVS.

The Whitehouses have not placed their investments in a blind trust but told the Times the investments are handled by a broker.

 

Whitehouse Failed to Report Properly in 2022

This is not Whitehouse’s only stock trading issue.

Business Insider and several other news organizations have identified 72 members of Congress, that includes Whitehouse, who failed to properly report their financial trades as mandated by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012, also known as the STOCK Act.

Whitehouse violated a conflicts-of-interest law by disclosing two personal stock purchases past a federal deadline, according to financial records reviewed by Insider.

On January 28, Whitehouse purchased between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of shares in both Target Corporation and Tesla Inc.

Whitehouse's office acknowledged that the senator disclosed his trades on March 16 — after a federally mandated 45-day filing deadline. 

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