Shannon Taylor calls for a ban on congressional stock trading so that politicians like Rob Wittman can’t keep get rich using information no other American has
Henrico, VA – Today, Henrico’s top prosecutor Shannon Taylor released a new ad, “Taught Me,” in her campaign for Congress in Virginia’s 1st District. It draws on the lessons her mother, a nurse, and her father, an educator, taught her about hard work – values that Rob Wittman has betrayed over his nearly 20 years in Congress.
In the ad, Taylor says that for her parents, hard work should have been enough to pay the bills. But she says politicians in both parties, like Rob Wittman, are cheating that same system — profiting personally from information not available to everyday Americans while the corporations whose stock those politicians trade rip off working families in Virginia.
Rob Wittman’s Record of Corruption:
Wittman has traded more than $2.5 million worth of stock during his time in Congress, including in industries he’s supposed to be regulating.
Over his 18 years in Congress his net worth has grown by up to 40 times — from roughly $200,000 when he entered Congress to as much as $8.1 million today.
Wittman even violated the STOCK Act, the federal law aimed at cracking down on insider trading by members of Congress.
He has also owns stock in companies capitalizing on the data center boom that is driving up Virginians’ utility bills while championing more data center development in the Commonwealth.
Wittman voted to give himself a tax break on his luxury beach house in the Outer Banks, North Carolina — a triple-decker, eight-bedroom rental property — potentially saving himself up to $60,000 a year.
WATCH “Taught Me” HERE:
Transcript:
I’m Shannon Taylor.
My mom was a nurse.
My dad an educator.
They taught me hard work should be enough to pay our bills.
But politicians in both parties are cheating the system,
getting rich by trading stock while getting information only they have,
personally profiting when corporations rip us off.
To lower costs, we have to ban congressional stock trading,
so they don’t make money while we pay more.
That’s why I approve this message.
Taylor is Running to Hold Washington Accountable
While Rob Wittman has spent his 20 years in Congress cowering to his corporate donors and party leaders at every turn, Taylor has spent her entire career fighting for the safety of her community. Under her watch, murder rates dropped by over 80% in the county, she made Henrico a statewide leader in prosecuting sex trafficking cases, and drug overdoses went down by 18%.
Now, she’s taking that same fight to Congress to prosecute the case against the corruption that is hurting Virginians every day and ensure Congress finally starts serving the people they were elected to represent. Ready to take on politicians across both parties, she released her Serve the People First Agenda to ban stock trading by members of Congress who have information that regular Americans don’t have access to, to stop the revolving door that allows Washington politicians to cash in on their influence by becoming lobbyists, and to mandate jail time for politicians who break the public trust.
ABOUT SHANNON:
Shannon Taylor is a battle-tested prosecutor with 25 years of experience and a 90% conviction rate in homicide cases, taking on the toughest threats to Virginia families and delivering justice. A native of Charlottesville and graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Richmond Law School, she began her career as a prosecutor in Richmond before serving as a Special Assistant in the U.S. Attorney’s office. In 2011, she flipped the Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office from Republican to Democrat, becoming the first woman elected to the role. She has since been re-elected three times, proving she knows how to win tough races.
As Commonwealth’s Attorney, Taylor has pioneered programs to support victims of human trafficking, created a task force to tackle the opioid epidemic, and led prosecutors statewide in pledging not to criminalize women or doctors for abortion care. She has worked alongside law enforcement to keep families safe, fought fraud that harms working people, and partnered with gun safety advocates to take illegal guns off the streets.
Shannon Taylor has built her career on protecting Virginians and delivering justice for families regardless of their politics.
For more on Shannon Taylor’s campaign, visit ShannonTaylorVA.com.
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