Enviro congressman’s wife buys — then dumps — dozens of oil, energy and other stocks

An environmentalist Democratic congressman acknowledged that his wife purchased — then quickly dumped — nearly 100 stocks in various oil, energy, tobacco, defense and other companies, blaming a new investment firm for going on an erroneous stock shopping spree.

Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ) reported that Nicole Stanton’s 94 stock purchases included shares in fossil fuel giants Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips; power utility NextEra Energy; tobacco company Philip Morris International; transportation companies Union Pacific and Tesla and communications technology company and defense contractor Qualcomm, to name a few.

Stanton explained the apparent snafu in a Nov. 9 disclosure to Congress: “In Sept. 2023, my wife started with a new investment firm for her assets, and this investment firm was unaware of our policy against owning individual stocks. On Sept. 26, the new investment firm purchased stock mimicking the S&P 500. I learned of the purchase of stock on Oct. 21, and immediately on the next business day (Oct. 23) requested the stocks be divested. The new investment firm sold the stock and instead invested in Exchange Traded Funds.”

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Each of the stock transactions were valued in the $1,001 to $15,000 range, except for purchases and subsequent sales in tech companies Microsoft and Apple valued at between $15,001 to $50,000 each.

Members of Congress are only required by federal law to disclose stock trades — made by themselves, their spouses and their dependent children — in broad ranges.

"I don't think it's unusual for an elected official to quickly liquidate holdings or stock in something if they've been called out on it in the past," said David O'Brien, policy director at nonpartisan anti-corruption organization, RepresentUs.

But O'Brien said it's surprising that the investment team didn't have clear instructions from Stanton about what investments to avoid on the front end.

"You would think that if you're an elected official, and you knew there were some issues with you holding stocks in certain industries or things like that, you would make it pretty clear to the people handling your investments to stay away from that stuff," O'Brien said.

Stanton, an advocate for environmental policy, serves on the House’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committees.

“Rep. Stanton took immediate action because Arizonans should know that he is working to represent them — not to benefit himself or corporate special interests,” Allison Childress, a spokesperson for Stanton, told Raw Story via email. “All required public reporting was filed on time, and Rep. Stanton remained in full compliance with House Ethics rules throughout this process.”

But in response to a question Raw Story asked about whether Stanton had been in contact with the House Ethics Committee, Stanton’s office unintentionally emailed additional details to Raw Story.

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“There would be no reason to ever hear from the Ethics Committee because no rules — ethics or otherwise — were broken here,” the email stated. “This was merely Rep. Stanton’s personal policy, not one required by Congress. All disclosures were filed on time, and he is in full compliance with all Ethics rules.”

The unintentionally sent email from Stanton's congressional office continued: "Could also note — just so she can’t say we refused to answer — that everyone has completed required Ethics training (and wouldn’t begrudge you getting snarky here with something like ‘and that’s how everything was done properly!’)”

Key government officials, including members of Congress, are required by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act to publicly report within 45 days most purchases, sales and exchanges of stocks, bonds, commodity futures, securities and cryptocurrencies.

The law, passed in 2012, is designed to curb conflicts-of-interest and insider trading among lawmakers and their immediate family members while also enhancing public transparency.

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Stanton reported all of his stock transactions by the federal government’s 45-day deadline, correcting on Monday one entry that had a “clerical error” that initially indicated a stock trade had been reported about a year late, according to the email.

When asked if Stanton and his senior staffers completed congressionally required training about financial disclosure requirements, the email said “of course.”

Stanton supports the TRUST in Congress Act, bipartisan legislation calling for a ban on congressional stock trading. Several similar bills aimed have been introduced this year, including the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act, the Ban Stock Trading for Government Officials Act, the Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act, the ETHICS Act and the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act.

"This is a good reason why you need something like the ETHICS Act," O'Brien said. "If you're an elected official, you and your family's investment should just be blind trusts, so this isn't an issue at all."

The proposed legislation comes at a time when dozens of members of Congress have failed to comply with the STOCK Act in recent years.

Raw Story has this year identified 26 members of the 118th Congress who have broken the federal conflicts of interest law.