Arizona congressman says he violated own policy on buying stocks, but it was inadvertent

Rep. Greg Stanton said in recent trade disclosure filings that his wife accidentally violated Stanton’s voluntary policy of not owning individual stocks.

In a note appended to the filings, Stanton, D-Ariz., wrote that the purchase happened after his wife began working with a new investment firm. On Sept. 26, the firm bought stock mimicking the S&P 500, a stock market index that tracks the performance of the 500 biggest publicly traded companies in the U.S.

Stanton wrote that he learned of the purchase on Oct. 21, a Saturday, and on Monday, the next business day, asked the firm to divest the stocks. The stocks were sold on Tuesday, Oct. 24.

Earlier this year, Stanton co-sponsored a bill that would make his own policy against trading or holding individual stocks — which is a voluntary commitment — legally required for all members of Congress.

He has signed onto legislation that would require members of Congress to place certain investments into a qualified blind trust, a type of fund designed to prevent conflicts of interest.

“The American people should have confidence that their elected representatives are acting with their best interests in mind — not based on any personal financial considerations,” Stanton wrote in a statement.

“It’s why I’ve introduced a bipartisan bill to ban stock trading by members of Congress altogether, and why I immediately took action when I learned of this mistake.”

Federal law prohibits members of Congress from using “nonpublic” knowledge from their job for financial gain, and it requires them to disclose most securities transactions within 45 days.

A spokesperson for Stanton’s office said that the stock was sold at a cumulative loss. The S&P 500 dropped around 25 points between Sept. 26, when the investment firm bought the stocks, and Oct. 24, when they were sold.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Rep. Greg Stanton says wife bought individual stocks, violating policy