Congressman’s Airline Income While Pushing Related Bills, Proxy Voting, Warrants Ethics Probe: Watchdog
- April 22, 2022
Mia Silva, TCN News
A watchdog organisation [The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT)] claimed Tuesday that a congressman’s sponsorship of bills affecting the aviation industry while taking money from Hawaii’s largest commercial aircraft operator, as well as “abuse of proxy vote,” merits an ethics probe.
Financial conflicts of interest, like arguably in the case of Kahele, are constantly “disappointing” and “concerning,” according to Michael Chamberlain, who leads the separate monitoring group Protect the Public’s Trust.
“Even worse, when those conflicts involve financial enrichment of private actors, the need for a full investigation becomes more important and can lead to much more significant penalties,” he said.