Democratic congressional candidate Sue Altman has filed a formal complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics against Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) over Kean’s belated reporting of his family trust’s stock trades, putting the issue of stock trading front-and-center once again in the 7th congressional district.
“As a constituent of Rep. Kean Jr., I believe … Rep. Kean Jr.’s brazen hypocrisy, in addition to his clear violation of the STOCK Act, invites further scrutiny into any trading being conducted by him or his trust,” Altman said in the complaint.
The New Jersey Globe reported yesterday that Kean’s family trust (over which Kean himself has no personal control) made six stock trades in the spring and summer that it did not inform Kean of until last week. Kean reported the trades after he learned of them, but his actions still technically count as a violation of the STOCK Act, which requires members of Congress to report all trades within 30 to 45 days.
Altman and her two Democratic primary opponents, Jason Blazakis and Joe Signorello, all issued statements lambasting Kean’s actions, with Blazakis explicitly calling for a bipartisan ethics investigation – but Altman’s formal complaint takes the issue one step further.
Of course, filing a complaint doesn’t guarantee that the Office of Congressional Ethics will take action. If the office does agree with Altman that Kean’s actions constitute a “clear violation” of the STOCK Act, it can forward the matter to the House Ethics Committee, which would then have the power to conduct an inquiry and decide whether to discipline Kean.
Just last year, Kean made the issue of stock trade disclosures a major focus of his campaign against Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes), whom he unseated in a highly competitive race. Kean attacked Malinowski repeatedly over a House Ethics Committee investigation into Malinowski’s failure to report stock trades, a parallel which Altman noted in her complaint today.
“As a candidate for Congress, Rep. Tom Kean Jr. made the trading of stocks by members of Congress a major issue of his campaign, running TV ads criticizing members for failing to report trades and calling himself a ‘leader in ethics reform,’” Altman said.
The 7th congressional district is set to be the most competitive district in New Jersey next year, with Kean fighting to hold a seat that voted for Joe Biden by four points in 2020. Regardless of who wins the Democratic primary to take him on – be it Altman, Blazakis, Signorello, or some as-yet unknown challenger – it seems like stock trading may again be a top general election issue.