House Ethics Chair Michael Guest violates the STOCK Act

By Dave Levinthal, NOTUS | Originally published by Mississippi Today

House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, whose committee enforces compliance of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, violated the insider trading and transparency law, a NOTUS review of congressional financial records indicates.

Guest, a four-term Republican from Mississippi, was more than six months late disclosing three stock sales made by a family trust fund owned by his wife, Haley, involving shares of the oil giant Chevron, the lodging platform Airbnb and the cosmetics company e.l.f. Beauty.

By law, members of Congress must publicly disclose individual stock trades within 45 days of a trade’s execution. These include trades made by or on behalf of themselves, their spouses and their dependent children.

Guest’s STOCK Act violation is the seventh such violation this month by members of Congress.

It also comes less than a month after the House passed a bill, the Stop Insider Trading Act, that would in part ban federal lawmakers from buying individual stocks altogether. Guest voted for the bill, which is now pending in the Senate.

In a message Friday to the clerk of the House of Representatives, Guest wrote that he didn’t learn until Thursday of the three stock sales made on Dec. 16.

“A compliance firm missed them, discovering the oversight while preparing my annual House disclosure,” Guest wrote, adding that he’s notified House Ethics Committee staff and has “initiated additional compliance review.”

Guest indicated that each late sale was worth between $1,001 and $15,000 — lawmakers are only required to disclose values in broad ranges — and that the stock sales were made “at a loss.”

In an email to NOTUS, Guest’s chief of staff, Jordan Downs, said the congressman “does not have any decision-making role” in the trust and “was not consulted on these, or any other, transactions made by the trust.”

This is the second time Guest had violated the STOCK Act’s disclosure provisions. In 2021, he was more than eight months late disclosing sales of ExxonMobil and BP stock by a family trust benefiting his wife, Business Insider reported.

Guest’s committee is empowered to fine — and to waive fines — for STOCK Act scofflaws. The standard penalty for first-time violators is a $200 fine.

Guest “intends to pay” any late-filing fine and “doesn’t believe there will be any need to recuse” himself from the committee’s consideration of it, Downs said.

In the House, other STOCK Act violators during the past year include Reps. Michael Rulli (R-Ohio), Shri Thanedar (D-Michigan), Tracey Mann (R-Kansas), Julie Johnson (D-Texas), Linda Sánchez (D-California), Julia Letlow (R-Louisiana), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Lisa McClain (R-Michigan), Pat Ryan (D-New York), Sheri Biggs (R-South Carolina), Derek Tran (D-California), Donald Norcross (D-New Jersey), Tim Walberg (R-Michigan), Rich McCormick (R-Georgia), Ritchie Torres (D-New York), Troy Nehls (R-Texas), Dan Meuser (R-Pennsylvania), Jonathan Jackson (D-Illinois), George Whitesides (D-California), Val Hoyle (D-Oregon), Austin Scott (R-Georgia), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida), Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington), Kelly Morrison (D-Minnesota), Christian Menefee (D-Texas), Daniel Webster (R-Florida), Ed Case (D-Hawaii), Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), Laurel Lee (R-Florida) and Scott Franklin (R-Florida). Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Oklahoma) was also late, although his office denies it.

Senators who’ve violated the STOCK Act during the past year include Sens. Alan Armstrong (R-Oklahoma), Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Katie Britt (R-Alabama), Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) and John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania).

This story is provided by a partnership between Mississippi Today and the NOTUS Washington Bureau Initiative, which seeks to help readers in local communities understand what their elected representatives are doing in Congress.

This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Source: Original Article