Allen's STOCK Act Silence Speaks Volumes

Allen's STOCK Act Silence Speaks Volumes

Ultimate Washington Insider Stays Silent on Congressional Insider Trading Ban

Yesterday, in a rare act of bipartisanship, the U.S. Senate voted 93-2 to move the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act forward toward final passage. The STOCK act is a commonsense measure to ensure that legislators and their staff do not use insider information to line their own pockets or the pockets of other Washington insiders.

Ensuring that members of congress and their staffs play by the same rules as the rest of Americans may seem like a proposal that everyone can embrace enthusiastically, but as of this afternoon Senator George Allen had yet to say as much as one positive public word about the legislation. Allen's silence raises questions about whether the years he spent following his 2006 defeat selling his Washington insider ties as a 'consultant' to oil companies has influenced his opinion of the proper ways for congressional leaders to make money.

Now that he is running for re-election, Virginians may be right to wonder if his silence on this issue is a tacit statement of his intention to use a position in the Senate to benefit himself or those oil companies that have paid his salaries and supported his campaign.  

"Voters send representatives to Washington with the minimum expectation that they will work to solve the nation's challenges, not enrich themselves or their Washington insider allies," said DPVA Communications Director Brian Coy. "The STOCK Act is an important bill that will rebuild confidence in Congress by ensuring that Washington plays by the same rules as the rest of us. It is difficult to understand why George Allen would not embrace the idea enthusiastically, but by failing to do so he raises serious questions whether he'd be a Senator for Virginia or a Senator for the oil companies that sign his checks."

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