He Said He Would Ban Congressional Stock Trading. Now in Office, He Trades Freely.
Representative Rob Bresnahan Jr., who campaigned on prohibiting stock trading by members of Congress, has emerged as one of the most active stock traders in the freshman class.
Last March, when Rob Bresnahan, Jr., a wealthy Republican business executive, was running to represent a competitive House district in northeastern Pennsylvania, he published a letter to the editor in a local newspaper demanding an end to stock trading by members of Congress.
More than two months after being sworn in, Mr. Bresnahan, who defeated a Democratic incumbent last November in one of the most expensive House races in the country, has not introduced or co-sponsored such a bill. Over that time, he has emerged as one of the most active stock traders in the freshman class, according to Capitol Trades, a site that monitors the stock market activity of lawmakers.
Since he arrived on Capitol Hill, Mr. Bresnahan has yet to do so himself. He has not signed on to the No Corruption in Government Act, a bipartisan bill that would prohibit insider trading by members of Congress and their spouses. Nor has he added his name to the TRUST in Congress Act, a bill that would require lawmakers, their spouses and children to place certain assets into blind trusts while serving in office.
In recent months, Mr. Bresnahan traded tens of thousands of dollars of stock in Alibaba, the e-commerce giant with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
