Maine: Chellie Pingree Stock Trades Targeted

By Ted Cohen/Maine Wire

A Democrat congresswoman from Maine is among a host of Washington lawmakers trading stocks and bonds amid an effort of her fellow members to put a stop to it once and for all.

“Let’s see if we have the guts to ban members of Congress from trading stocks,” a seething U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-TN, told reporters.

Burchett is a member of a bipartisan group trying yet again to get a bill passed that would prevent members of Congress from buying and selling stocks.

He said the reality is the bill will likely go nowhere.

“I will be ticked off forever about this,” Burchett fumed. “It’s time to prove to America that we are working for them, not just for ourselves.”

A bipartisan bill introduced two months ago would ban lawmakers from trading individual stocks.

For more than a decade, a series of bills have been proposed to address such trades, but differences about the details and a lack of support from top congressional leaders stalled past reform efforts.

Among the congressional members whose stock trades triggered the bipartisan effort to put a halt to them is U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine.

Rep. Pingree’s name is among dozens of stock-trading members of Congress listed on UnusualWhales.com.

Burchett urged reporters to review the website to see member tradings, which is exactly what The Maine Wire did.

- Pingree sold $15,000 to $50,000 of U.S. Treasury Notes on October 20, records show.

- She also sold a similar amount of notes on May 9.

- On Feb 5 she bought between $15,000 and $50,000 in Notes.

Pingree's trading history shows a total of 22 trades in the last five years, many similar to the ones itemized above.

Ironically, Pingree was caught in June failing to report some of her trades, as reported then by The Maine Wire.

At the same time she was calling for better enforcement of the so-called STOCK Act requiring such reporting.

Pingree claimed her failure to report was a mere oversight.