Rhode Island Secretary of State and Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Matt Brown recently called on his fellow candidates to make their tax returns public and withdraw personal stocks from oil companies. According to Brown, candidates who attack companies that contribute to rising gas prices should not benefit from these companies' profits, saying such financial gains pose an ethical dilemma.
"People should know if candidates benefit from special interest groups," Brown told The Herald. "They should be able to see if there are conflicts of interest."
In a Sept. 22 press release, Brown said oil companies are "making record profits on the backs of Rhode Islanders," and voters should know if the candidates they support reap personal profits from these companies. ExxonMobil, the largest oil company in the U.S., saw a 32 percent increase in earnings over the last 12 months. BP and Conoco Phillips recorded increases of 38 percent and 56 percent respectively, according to the press release, which cited both local and national media outlets in reporting the figures.
Brown said he releases his tax returns every year, adding that these documents show no investments in oil companies. "(Rhode Islanders) will see we (my wife and I) don't have conflicts of interest," he said.
According to an Aug. 31 Providence Journal article, publicly disclosed documents detailing the income and holdings of Sheldon Whitehouse, another candidate in the Democratic primary, show that the former state attorney general holds stock in ExxonMobil. No reports reveal that Whitehouse has sold these stocks, the Projo reported.
So far, current U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee '75 has not acted upon Brown's request to disclose financial documents.
According to Ian Lang, a spokesman for the Chafee campaign, the senator's investments are in a blind trust, meaning that Chafee is not aware of specific investments.
But John Collins, who works for Brown's communications department, said he believes Chafee should know where his financial holdings lie. He pointed to a Sept. 26 New York Times article stating that federal ethics laws require the disclosure of the original holdings of blind trusts to their beneficiaries. Holders also have the right to demand the sale of any asset or stock in the trust.
Brown said blind trusts do not alleviate politicians from liability regarding their investments. "There should be openness in government," he said.
Regardless of his financial holdings, Lang said Chafee's record "clearly shows that he votes in ways that the oil companies would not support." The Senator has voted against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and for alternative energy policies, he said, adding that "he votes on the merit of the issues."
In a Sept. 21 interview with NBC Channel 10, Laffey said he previously owned stock in Royal Dutch, Conoco Phillips and Callon Petroleum. But he said he sold this stock "a year ago." Laffey's campaign could not be reached for comment.
