Welch seeks senate after 'insider trading' flap

Vermont’s lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives, seeking election to the Senate next year, will have to defend controversial stock trades he engaged in last year.

U S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, made his candidacy official Monday morning, writing “we are at a pivotal moment” in U.S. democracy.

Welch, 74, is in his eighth term in the U.S. House.

He's seeking to succeed U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, who announced he is retiring after eight terms in the Senate.

Welch, originally from Massachusetts, has said that he would no longer be investing in individual stocks following a VTDigger report that he had profited from an investment in a Covid-19 testing firm.

In addition, Welch flipped on legislation barring members of Congress from investing in individual stocks.

In 2018, Welch opposed such a ban. Now he's allegedly for it.

"The clearest way to avoid even the appearance of a conflict is to simply stop making purchases” of individual stocks, he said.

“Directly and indirectly through my adviser.”
Welch told WCAX that he would only be investing in mutual or exchange-traded funds.

Neither Leahy nor U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, reportedly invest in individual stocks.

VTDigger has reported that Welch had purchased more than $7,500 worth of stock in Qiagen, a German company that produces Covid-19 tests, one of a small number of stocks that had seen its price rise amid the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Welch told VTDigger at the time that an investment adviser had made the decision without his consultation, and that he had never heard of the company.

Welch sold the stock after an inquiry from VTDigger and donated the proceeds from the March sale, $625, to the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS), a charity based in Burlington that helps the homeless.

He didn't say whether he would take an income-tax deduction on the "charitable donation."