Leftist politicians always seem to be getting themselves into trouble. But this takes the cake.
And a Democrat senator is caught up in a massive scandal that could destroy their career.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has been an adamant supporter of creating new ethical guidelines for the Supreme Court.
However, it looks as though he needs to follow some ethical guidelines himself, as he was smacked with an ethics complaint back in February.
Conservative accountability group Judicial watch issued the complaint which was received by the New York Post, which asked the Senate Ethics Committee to “immediately investigate” Whitehouse because he pushed for legislation that’s in turn benefited his wife’s environmental consulting company.
The group said that there was “strong evidence” that the senator “violated ethics conflicts of interest rules.”
“Senator Whitehouse seems to have stepped over the line of standard environmental legislative advocacy and used his Senate office to advance his and his wife’s personal and financial interests,” Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch said.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) who’s the chairman of the Ethics committee, and Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) who’s vice-chair, were also asked to subpoena anyone involved in the scandal if an investigation ends up taking place.
This isn’t Sen. Whitehouse’s first ethical scandal either.
When he was first a senator, he sought after a $22 million federal grant for Deepwater Wind which is an offshore wind organization, according to the Judicial Watch complaint.
Deepwater Wind hired his wife in the role of “permitting consultant” soon after, leading to questions of a conflict of interest.
Whitehouse denied the incident despite the story being published in the news and never taken down.
The Rhode Island senator’s wife, Dr. Sandra Whitehouse, currently operates as the president of the Ocean Wonks, LLC where she’s earned millions for that role. But in the past she has worked for several environmental groups, including Ocean Conservancy which is based out of Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Whitehouse started there in 2009 and has been paid more than $2.6 million to assist them with taking on climate change.
She also was an adviser for AltaSea from 2015-2018, working to assist them on issues including renewable energy. She was paid $490,000 for that job.
And during that timeframe, Sandra Whitehouse’s husband, Sen. Whitehouse endorsed at least two dozen bills that would benefit her clients according to the Daily Caller.
“Given Senator Whitehouse’s longstanding practice of sponsoring or co-sponsoring that directly benefits his wife and/or her clients, we urge the Senate Ethics Committee to conduct a preliminary investigation to disinter the full extent of Mrs. Whitehouse’s consulting activities, with both for-profit and nonprofit entities that may create a reasonable appearance of a conflict of interest with Senator Whitehouse’s official duties,” the Judicial Watch complaint concluded.
As for Senator Whitehouse and his staff, they believe the ethics complaint is nothing more than a “conspiracy theory.”
“This is the latest in a long string of erroneous conspiracy theories peddled by the dark-money Judicial Watch, going back to the group’s claims that Vince Foster was murdered,” a spokeswoman for the senator told the New York Post.
“The billionaires behind this group would like to try to stem Senator Whitehouse’s efforts to shine a light on what they’ve done to block progress on the issues Americans overwhelmingly support. But far-right special interests will not slow down the Senator’s push for accountability on behalf of the American people.”
Leave it to Democrats for never taking accountability on anything. It’s never their fault, only the fault of things like “far-right special interests.”
Stay tuned to The Federalist Wire.
