Top GOP congressional recruit violates federal financial law

A Republican candidate for a toss-up 2024 U.S. House seat has violated a federal law by failing to file a financial disclosure due nearly three months ago, according to a Raw Story review of federal records.

Tom Barrett, a former Michigan state senator and representative, has yet to file a mandatory personal financial disclosure as required by federal law and the House Committee on Ethics.

Barrett filed his statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on July 7, and he raised $5,000 by July 10 according to a Raw Story review of federal election fundraising data.

Per the House Ethics guidelines and the Ethics in Government Act, Barrett needed to file his financial disclosure 30 days after July 10, meaning his disclosure was due Aug. 9. A review of House financial disclosures shows that Barrett has yet to file as of Wednesday.

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Barrett’s campaign replied to a series of questions from Raw Story with one-word answers. For instance, when asked for comment about numerous members of Congress violating a federal financial disclosure law and how he would ensure compliance if elected, the campaign replied “Yes.”

Barrett’s campaign further indicated that Barrett was “in the process of filing” but did not indicate an anticipated filing date.

The Ethics in Government Act says that “knowing and willful failure to file, report required information on, or falsification of a public financial disclosure report” could be subject to investigation by the Department of Justice.

Such an offense would have a maximum civil penalty of $71,316 and a maximum criminal penalty of five years in federal prison plus a fine of up to $250,000, according to 2023 guidance from the House Committee on Ethics, although it’s exceedingly rare that this law is enforced to its full extent, if it’s enforced at all.

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The campaign said the House Committee on Ethics had not been in touch about the matter.

When reached by Raw Story, Tom Rust, staff director and chief counsel for the House Committee on Ethics, said “no comment.”

Barrett last filed a disclosure report in June 2022 when he ran for the seat last year. Barrett reported earning $79,723 in salary from the State of Michigan and $16,158 from the U.S. Army, along with reporting 10 retirement accounts and a Credit Union account with up to $15,000.

Barrett, who served in the military for 22 years, has frequently expressed his support for first responders and service men and women on social media. He has expressed strong support for law enforcement.

Barrett wrote a letter to Congress in 2021 pushing false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election but denied stoking supporters of former President Donald Trump who were part of the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Bridge Michigan reported.

Barrett was endorsed by former Vice President Mike Pence in 2022 and rallied with him last November. More recently, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy endorsed Barrett.

This will be Barrett’s second time running for the House seat in the Michigan swing district, losing by five points to Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) in 2022.

Slotkin will be vacating her seat to run for the Senate seat currently held by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), The Hill reported.

The seat is considered a “toss up” by the Cook Political Report, The Hill reported. Barrett is primed to face Democrat Curtis Hertel Jr., a former state senator and legislative director for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, in the race for Michigan’s 7th District.

Numerous STOCK Act violations

Barrett isn’t the first high-profile congressional candidate to fail to file his financial disclosure report on time.

J.R. Majewski — a 2022 Republican congressional candidate in an highly competitive Ohio district and QAnon conspiracy theory promoter — disclosed two-and-a-half years worth of his personal financial activity only after Insider reported he was violating the same federal law as Barrett.

The same happened with Trump-backed congressional candidate Joe Kent, a Republican running for Congress in Washington state, who filed his financial disclosures months late after the violation was revealed by Insider.

Barrett’s violation also comes at a time when dozens of elected members of Congress have failed to in recent years comply with a decade–old financial disclosure and conflicts-of-interest law, the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act.

During the 117th Congress from 2021 to 2022, at least 78 members of Congress — Democrats and Republicans alike — were found to have violated the STOCK Act's disclosure provisions, according to a tally maintained by Insider.

Raw Story has this year identified 26 members of the 118th Congress who have broken the federal conflicts of interest law.

The ongoing violations have prompted a bipartisan group of lawmakers to introduce several similar bills aimed at banning congressional stock trading. Bills that have been introduced include the Ban Stock Trading for Government Officials Act, Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act, the ETHICS Act, the TRUST in Congress Act and the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act.

Barrett’s campaign told Raw Story that Barrett would support a congressional stock trading ban.