MORAL BANKRUPTCY: Who Pulls David Valadao’s Strings?

Today, David Valadao dodged requests from the press, farm worker advocates, and his constituents to reveal who he owed millions of dollars to while running for and serving in Congress. Valadao’s skirting of House ethics rules to conceal the identity of his creditors proves Valadao is not only financially bankrupt but morally bankrupt as well.

The “poorest member of Congress” has several million reasons to hope his bankruptcy ends public scrutiny of his finances, but voters deserve to know if he was working for them or his creditors. This multimillion dollar debt to mysterious creditors was a dark cloud over Valadao’s head as he planned and executed his power over federal law.

What or who is Valadao so afraid of and why is it worth gambling with his seat in Congress? Read more in McClatchy’s “California Republican is debt free for first time in office. What happened to his creditors?”

Key excerpts:

• Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, claimed no liabilities for 2020 — a far cry from 2019, when he claimed he owed at least $16 million to various creditors, some of whom he did not disclose the identities of, in connection to one of his family’s dairy farms.

• Valadao signed off on at least five loans adding up to at least $6 million from Rabobank since he was first sworn in as a congressman in 2013, according to his financial disclosures, which are available dating back to fiscal year 2012.

• One section of his 2019 form showed that from 2016 and 2018, Valadao owed between $5 million and $25 million to “various unsecured creditors” over “outstanding accounts payable for Triple V Dairy partnership.”

• Federal disclosure rules say congressmen must provide information about any entity or individual to whom they owe more than $10,000.

• A spokesperson for Valadao confirmed that the bankruptcy of his family’s farm, Triple V Dairy, was the reason the debts were cleared, including the unnamed ones mentioned in the ethics complaint. The spokesperson did not confirm how many people made up the “various unsecured creditors” field.

• Members of Congress are required to make their assets and liabilities publicly available annually. They file their financial disclosures with the House Clerk’s office, which puts that information into an online, searchable database.

• Maria Martinez, a resident from Valadao’s district, last month filed an ethics complaint against the representative seeking more information about the unidentified creditors from Valadao’s previous disclosure forms.

• Martinez said she worked with members of United Farm Workers on the complaint. She said she was concerned Valadao would be irresponsible in making decisions in Congress based on his history with bankruptcies and not sharing the names of creditors.

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