WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr., scheduled to return to the Capitol on Tuesday after months of absence due to an unspecified medical issue, will be greeted by an online ad criticizing his stock trading while away from Washington.
The House Democrats’ political arm will run the five-figure campaign for two weeks on Facebook and Instagram. The ad consists of a static picture of the congressman with the headline, “Congressman Tom Kean Jr. went missing for 100+ days but was still trading stocks.”
“Career politician Tom Kean Jr. represents everything that’s wrong with a broken and corrupt Washington,” said Eli Cousin, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Kean Jr. had time to play the stock market and line his pockets, but he didn’t have time to show up and answer to his own constituents. There is no justification for that kind of public corruption.”
Kean (R-Westfield) reported stock transactions on three different occasions since he left the nation’s capital and began missing votes more than 100 days ago, according to records filed with the U.S. House.
He was first elected in 2022 by defeating incumbent Democrat Tom Malinowski, who came under fire himself for failing to timely disclose his stock transactions as required by law. The independent Office of Congressional Ethics found that the trades were made by an independent broker without his knowledge nor input.
Malinowski eventually put his holdings in a blind trust. Kean said he would do the same, but could not get congressional approval for such a trust because he insisted on putting conditions on the investments, such as not buying stock in Chinese, Iranian and Russian companies and not short-selling securities in American firms, according to a 2023 letter from his lawyer.
Kean “does not “direct, influence, or participate in any stock and investment trading activity whatsoever,” the lawyer, Steve Roberts said at the time. “Transactions in these accounts are handled without his involvement.”
Kean’s political adviser, Harrison Neely, told the Globe earlier this month that the lawmaker would be back in Washington on Tuesday for the final week of votes before the House members recess for the Independence Day holiday.
Kean is considered one of the most vulnerable House Republicans in a midterm election where polls show Democrats in a strong position to regain a majority. The Cook Political Report calls the race a tossup while Inside Elections gives Democratic nominee Rebecca Bennett a slight edge.
The scion of a prominent political family that began its service during the American Revolution, Kean is expected to address the House on Tuesday morning.