News Clips

Common Cause legislative affairs director Aaron Scherb said Paul’s failure to quarantine himself potentially endangered the hundreds of individuals he came into contact with in the U.S. Capitol complex in addition to U.S. senators, including janitors, police officers, and food service workers. His use of the Senate gym after its March 19 closure to stop the spread of COVID-19 “calls into question his ability to follow rules,” said Scherb, adding that Paul should have known better because he’s a doctor. “As a U.S. senator, he should certainly set an example for everyone else especially during a pandemic like this,” said Scherb. “I am sure he wouldn’t be the first Senator who has ignored rules. Some of them think they’re invincible.” He said Paul’s diagnosis would likely curtail further use of the Senate gym during the pandemic, and would make the coronavirus issue even more personal for Senate members. “The average age of the U.S. Senate is above 60,” said Scherb. “They are not immune to this.”

Common Cause said the trades by the senators as alleged involved “potentially criminal misconduct.” “These Senators appear to have used classified intelligence briefings as stock tips and sold off significant holdings to avoid losses in the markets,” said Paul Ryan, Common Cause Vice President for Policy and Litigation. “These laws are on the books for a good reason, without them the potential to abuse the power of elected office for personal enrichment would be virtually unlimited.”

Common Cause, a Washington-based watchdog group, filed complaints against all four lawmakers — Burr, Loeffler, Inhofe and Feinstein — with the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Senate Ethics Committee, citing the STOCK Act. “These potential violations of insider trading laws and the STOCK Act by these Senators ... show what appears to be contempt for the law and further a contempt for the American people these Senators have sworn to serve," Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause, said in a statement.

However, this offensive language and loss of civility in politics goes far beyond Trump. The increased lack of civility in politics and public discourse seems to be more of a symptom of a broken system than a cause. Endless money in politics, hyperpartisan gerrymandering and social media without accountability are largely responsible for the decreasing civility we see today.

“While this is the conclusion of one particular process, this is also a moment where President Trump was, for one of the few times in his life, held accountable for his actions,” said Jesse Littlewood, vice president of campaigns at Common Cause and an organizer of the evening demonstration. Littlewood said having hundreds of people standing outside Congress moments after the impeachment vote will send a symbolic message to legislators about the disappointment many Americans feel.“This is our opportunity to say we’re not going to let Trump run roughshod over our democratic process, that even if the GOP gives [him] a pass, we’re not going to,” he said.

Ironically, it was Congress that passed laws that restrict other federal government officials from owning stocks or assets that would benefit from the officials’ decisions — or require them to recuse themselves from such decisions. Yet Congress has not passed legislation that bans itself from the same practice. “Congress should have the same rules put on them that the executive branch has,” said Rotman of Common Cause. “The executive branch conflict of interest rules are stronger.”