Rep. Jim Moran (D) is among the congresspeople who got a not-so-flattering mention in a new book called Throw Them All Out, which purports to show a pattern of insider trading among our country’s lawmakers.
According to the book, and a Newsweek article, Moran’s stockbrokers sold shares in 90 companies following a confidential briefing Moran attended at the outset of the 2008 financial crisis. The briefing, featuring Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, outlined the breadth of the impending financial doom that gripped the country.
The newly re-formed campaign of Republican Patrick Murray, who’s hoping to unseat Moran in 2012, issued a statement about the allegations late last night.
Continuing his disgraceful pattern of actions, Jim Moran must be held accountable for his recently reported insider trading. It’s rich for a sitting Member of Congress to demagogue not just the American financial sector, but free market principles as a whole, while engaging in unethical trading. Our Representatives in Washington are trusted with sensitive information to better develop sound fiscal policies, not to protect one’s financial portfolio. Moran’s ability to dump shares in 90 companies immediately after a classified briefing by Ben Bernanke on possible economic downturn is unethical and immoral. Jim Moran finally must go.
America is paying the price for actions like Moran’s on a national scale. We cannot afford a political class that plays by different rules. I am running for Congress as an extension of my Oath to serve this nation; not to line my pockets in Washington while crying injustice in Northern Virginia.