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This new year, Mike Garcia has one resolution: avoid all questions having to do with his stock trade scandal — and the multiple calls for a congressional ethics investigation to be formally filed against him.
In the meantime, as coverage mounts on his potential engagement in “insider trading” and watchdog groups shine a spotlight on the subsequent cover-up of those trades until AFTER his re-election, one question remains: Why has Garcia STILL refused to personally respond to this damning scandal?
See what Californians are reading and hearing about their cash-it-in congressman:
From The Daily Beast:
On Wednesday, watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics, accusing Garcia of breaking disclosure laws and the STOCK Act when he failed to properly report multiple transactions in the run-up to the 2020 election—including the sale of Boeing stock weeks before a committee he sat on released a damning report about the firm’s role in deadly crashes involving its 737 MAX airliner.
The CREW filing is the second complaint against Garcia in a week, prompted by The Daily Beast’s reporting on the transactions last Wednesday, following a complaint from Democratic transparency advocacy organization End Citizens United last Friday, alleging that Garcia broke multiple ethics rules, violated the STOCK Act, and potentially engaged in insider trading with the Boeing sale.
CREW communications director Jordan Libowitz told The Daily Beast that Garcia’s actions “are exactly what our laws are meant to prevent.”
“Rep. Garcia sold Boeing stock that he did not disclose he owned, and then he chose not to disclose that sale until after he barely won his election,” Libowitz said. “This is why Americans are losing confidence in their members of Congress and it’s exactly what our laws are meant to prevent. Congress needs to ban stock ownership, or this is going to keep happening.”
From Spectrum News Los Angeles:
WATCH THE FULL CLIP
A political action group filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics against Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., and now the clock is ticking.
Spectrum News first reported Friday that End Citizens United filed a request to have Garcia investigated for alleged violations of the Ethics in Government Act.
From KCAL News Los Angeles:
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Tom Wait: A story published in The Daily Beast claims Garcia sold 50,000 shares of Boeing wings before his committee made public a devastating report connected to the deadly crashes involving Boeing’s 737 Max. The 737 Max was grounded for two years after two horrific and deadly crashes. The Daily Beast story also claims Garcia failed to report the sale as he was required to do until after he won the hard fought reelection campaign in 2020.
Former Federal Prosecutor Scott Tenley: There is going to be a paper trail. The question is going to be what was his intent? Did he intend to hide it? Did he intend to trade on the Boeing inside information? That’s the question that really needs to be looked into.
Tom Wait: Voters say the claims raised questions about how members of Congress use privileged information.
CA-27 Voter 1: “They’re supposed to be serving us, not themselves. And obviously, they have information that they get before we do. Right? So they can use that information. Unlike us common walking citizens.”
CA-27 Voter 2: “I think that they should be held to the same standards that we are held to.”
Tom Wait: Voters we spoke with also say they want to see increased oversight over members of Congress for these big financial transactions, especially with stock sales.
From Spectrum News Los Angeles:
WATCH THE FULL CLIP:
Cassie Semyon: Santa Clarita Congressman Mike Garcia sold up to $50,000 in shares of Boeing weeks before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which Garcia served on at the time released its report investigating the deadly crashes involving Boeing 737 Max airliner.
Garcia later disclosed the trade of the stocks – but more than two months after the 45-day reporting window set by Congress and weeks after the November 2020 election, which Garcia won over Christie Smith by 333 votes.
End Citizens United filed a request for investigation into Garcia with the Office of Congressional Ethics to determine if Garcia used inside information when making the trade.
“Congressman Garcia not only betrayed his constituents’ trust by using nonpublic information to protect his financial assets, but he illegally covered it up by purposely failing to report the trade until after his reelection. This is a blatant abuse of power and a slap in the face to families in his district who trusted him to fight for their needs not to safeguard his stock portfolio. We urge the Office of Congressional Ethics to immediately launched an investigation into Congressman Garcia’s actions and hold him accountable for his egregious abuse of power,” said Tiffany Muller, President of End Citizens United, in a statement to Spectrum News
From NewsNation:
Leland Vittert: Congress beat the markets — and now you can too!
The Daily Beast reports [Mike Garcia] sold up to $50,000 of Boeing [shares] just before a committee he was on released a damning report about Boeing, and then he blew the deadline to report.
From KMET 1490AM Radio Los Angeles:
Anchor: You’ve got GOP elephant Rep. Mike Garcia selling off his Boeing stock ahead of a report that he knew about — that he acted on.
This is unfortunate because these are the types of people who are willing to act on this that we vote for. We need to choose a hell of a lot more wisely.
From KTLA 5:
That transaction was not disclosed until Nov. 23, 2020, “more than two months after the 45-day reporting window had closed,” according to the Daily Beast.
That timing is important, the Republican congressman should have reported the stock sale before the 2020 election. Instead, he waited until after votes were cast in an election he won by only 333 votes.
“There’s a chance he’s in Congress today because he hid this,” said Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “And it raises the question of whether he’s looking out for his constituents or is he just trying to enrich himself.”
From La Opinion:
Como miembro del Comité de Transporte e Infraestructura de la Cámara de Representantes, García estaba al tanto de una larga investigación del Congreso sobre el papel de Boeing en los accidentes del 737 Max.
En septiembre de 2020, un mes después del intercambio de García, el comité presentó sus conclusiones: una crítica implacable a la empresa, justo antes de la recertificación regulatoria.
From Politico Playbook California:
DAY TRADER: California Republican Rep. Mike Garcia swatted away allegations of insider trading Wednesday following a Daily Beast story that he sold up to $50,000 of Boeing stock just weeks before a committee he sits on produced a report on the company’s role in the 737 Max crashes.
He filed this financial disclosure two months after the 45-day reporting window, and 20 days after he won his general election by a razor-thin margin of 333 votes. The representative said he hadn’t been aware there was a 45-day reporting requirement.
From Raw Story:
In a September 2020 report, the House Transportation Committee found that Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) “played instrumental and causative roles” in two deadly plane crashes that, combined, killed 346 people altogether.
Before that, according to Daily Beast reporters Roger Sollenberger and Riley Rogerson, Rep. Mike Garcia (R-California) “sold up to $50,000 in” Boeing shares. That August 2020 sale, the journalists report in an article published on December 13, came “weeks before” the “damning results of” a congressional probe “into deadly crashes involving the company’s 737 Max airliner” became public.
“But while other incumbent campaigns were dogged by blockbuster stock scandals that year,” Sollenberger and Rogerson report, “the Garcia campaign never had to answer for this trade. That’s because Garcia blew the mandated deadline to report the transaction, only filing the paperwork on November 23 — more than two months after the 45-day reporting window had closed.”
Read the full original Daily Beast report here.
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