Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark (D-MA), seen as a possible replacement for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), reportedly failed to disclose up to $285,000 in stock trades.
Clark, who’s the fourth highest-ranking Democrat in the House, is said to have failed to disclose 19 of her husband’s stock transactions worth between $19,019 to $285,000, according to a Business Insider report. In turn, by failing to disclose the transactions, Clark violated the federal STOCK Act, which was passed in 2012.
The Act requires that financial disclosures must be filed to the clerk of the House within 30 days and no more than 45 days after the transaction takes place for transactions over $1,000. It also is meant to hold members responsible for not disclosing trades. If members trade the stocks themselves or go through a third party such as a financial adviser or broker, they are still held liable.
Insider reported on the stocks that were included in Clark’s disclosure form that was filed after the 45-day deadline:
Among the stock trades Clark disclosed after the 45-day deadline include shares of Google parent company Alphabet Inc., Best Buy, First Solar Inc., investment management firm BlackRock Inc., pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, data and records management company Iron Mountain Inc., and water technology company Xylem Inc.
These stocks were disclosed on August 15 with the clerk more than two months after her husband, Rodney Dowell, made the transactions on June 4. Since members only have to file their transactions in large ranges, the disclosure forms show that “each trade is valued in a range between $1,001 and $15,000,” Insider said.
Kathryn Alexander, a spokesperson for Clark, told Insider that she “makes every effort to comply with disclosure requirements,” which is why she reported the transactions when she “became aware of them.” She noted that neither Dowell nor Clark trade their stocks personally. They both “use the services of separate financial advisers, who handle the portfolios without seeking approval for individual stock trades,” said Alexander.
Alexander also told Insider:
Rep. Clark has contacted both financial advisers to remind them of transaction reporting requirements and ensure that future transactions are reported on a schedule that enables compliance with all financial disclosure deadlines. She is also supportive of strengthening current rules to ban individual stock trades directed by members of Congress during their tenure.
However, this would not be the first time Clark failed to disclose trades. Earlier in the month, Forbes reported, Clark failed to disclose over $100,000 worth of shares being sold off of Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb, a private investment firm, but she only reported the transactions in August.
Project on Government Oversight’s government affairs manager, Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, told Insider, “The point is that if there is no cost to either not disclosing or disclosing late, the incentive for members of Congress to fully comply is weak at best.”
Follow Jacob Bliss on Twitter @jacobmbliss.
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