Congressman Sheila Cherilus-McCormick recently resigned after being found guilty on 25 ethics violations after a House Ethics Committee hearing. It’s the latest reminder of elected officials found to be using their public positions for personal gain. Another layer to the outrage: members of Congress quietly posting fantastical returns in the stock market — while many Americans struggle just to cover groceries and gas. Today we look at why this longstanding scandal is as hot as ever and whether real reform is on the horizon.
The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.
Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is accused of stealing and laundering $5 million in federal Covid and emergency relief funds. She pleaded not guilty. She was already found guilty in an Ethics Committee probe and resigned from Congress.
The last Ethics Committee trial for a sitting member of Congress was in 2010.
Rep. Charlie Rangel (Nov. 15, 2010): I truly believe that I’m not being treated fairly.
Democrat Charlie Rangel was found guilty of improper solicitation of funds and multiple tax violations — while he headed up the tax committee. That netted him a relatively mild censure.
Public frustration over lawmakers enriching themselves on the public dime extends to the stock market where some are collecting staggering returns. Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette is with the nonprofit watchdog Project on Government Oversight.
Sharyl: What’s the top line of what’s been learned over the years—What’s so wrong?
Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette: There’s recent analysis that has been released by the National Bureau of Economic Research that has shown that when members of Congress get into congressional leadership, they magically begin to outperform even their peers, who they used to be kind of on par with in terms of how they performed in the stock market. But once they become leaders in Congress, they end up outperforming by quite a bit. And so there is kind of some smoke there and I think there’s probably some fire there as well.
Examples of the most gifted investors in Congress include:
Source: Sharyl Attkisson
