“In accordance with her legal requirements, she has submitted all required disclosures of her assets through her first three years in Congress. If there are errors with those disclosures, they are unintentional and the Congresswoman will take immediate and all necessary steps to ensure her disclosures are accurate and in accordance with the law,” Axne’s spokesman said. “While Congresswoman Axne completes her own financial disclosures, she does not personally manage or execute transactions related to her retirement account or the ones she has with her husband or her small business.”
The Campaign Legal Center’s report suggested Axne should have been aware of the requirements, given ethics training given to all members of Congress, and because of allegations of insider trading by members of Congress at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“I think it’s a little bit of a trend among lawmakers who aren’t complying with the STOCK Act to say, ‘I don’t make my own trades. I have an investment adviser who makes trades for me.’ But the rules apply, regardless of whether you have a financial adviser,” said Delaney Marsco, senior legal counsel for ethics for the Campaign Legal Center.
Regarding Axne’s pledge to complete the disclosures, Marsco said a delayed disclosure is better than none at all, but it also circumvents the spirit of the STOCK Act.
