{"id":1217872,"date":"2022-01-15T10:50:21","date_gmt":"2022-01-15T15:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1217872"},"modified":"2022-01-15T10:50:27","modified_gmt":"2022-01-15T15:50:27","slug":"ethics-watchdog-calls-for-probe-into-house-democrat-elaine-luria-for-not-disclosing-corporate-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ethics-watchdog-calls-for-probe-into-house-democrat-elaine-luria-for-not-disclosing-corporate-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethics Watchdog Calls for Probe into House Democrat Elaine Luria for not Disclosing Corporate Ties"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fethics-watchdog-calls-for-probe-into-house-democrat-elaine-luria-for-not-disclosing-corporate-ties%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1217872&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Luria-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">The&nbsp;Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a&nbsp;non-partisan ethics watchdog organization,&nbsp;demanded an investigation into Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) \u201cfor failing to disclose past corporate positions on her Financial Disclosure Statements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The watchdog <a href=\"https:\/\/65db7681-e755-4cff-abe7-1d9e373df4db.usrfiles.com\/ugd\/65db76_db4169c03cf94125b0b79855fb514844.pdf\">filed<\/a> a complaint with the&nbsp;Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) asking for a probe into the congresswoman after \u201cEvidence shows Rep. Elaine Luria violated federal law requiring House Members to disclose association with organizations and finances.\u201d The watchdog stated in the complaint that \u201cFederal law and House ethics rules require House candidates and Members to publicly disclose information about their associations with organizations and finances.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>House ethics guidelines stated that candidates and congressional members <a href=\"https:\/\/ethics.house.gov\/sites\/ethics.house.gov\/files\/documents\/CY%202020%20Instruction%20Guide%20for%20Financial%20Disclosure%20Statements%20and%20PTRs.pdf\">must report the position<\/a>&nbsp;without exception:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Annual filers, new Members, second-year candidates, and termination filers must report positions held at any time during the reporting period up to the date of filing. First-year candidates and new employee filers must report positions held at any time during the current calendar year up to the date of filing, plus the two prior calendar years. If you no longer hold the position, you may wish to indicate that fact parenthetically, but you still must report the position.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>FACT\u2019s complaint outlined the position that Luria held in addition to&nbsp;media reports and public documents filed with Virginia:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Contrary to this legal requirement, Representative Luria failed to properly disclose her position as an officer and director of a corporation. According to media reports and public documents filed with the State of Virginia, Luria served as the President (and was an officer and director) of Tidewater Montessori High School, Inc. from 2015 to 2019. In 2017, Luria was also named as the corporation\u2019s registered agent. The corporation filed articles of dissolution on May 3, 2019, and it is unclear whether the school taught students during its existence. However, it is clear from the corporation\u2019s filings that Luria was an officer and director of the corporation\u2014a position that she was required to disclose on her financial disclosure statements.<\/p>\n<p>In spite of this, Luria did not disclose this corporate position on any of her financial disclosure statements. At the time Luria filed her first financial disclosure statement on January 30, 2018, she was then President of the private school and was required to disclose that she held the position from 2016 to 2018. Additionally, Luria filed her 2018 financial disclosure statement on May 6, 2019\u2014three days after the articles of dissolution were filed for the corporation. These nearly simultaneous filings clearly demonstrate Luria not only should have disclosed the position on her 2018 annual statement, but also on her 2019 annual statement. In addition to the timing, Luria\u2019s undisclosed role appears to be inconsistent with her political position on school choice,&nbsp;which raises questions as to whether Luria\u2019s omission was intentional.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Washington Free Beacon <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/elaine-luria-rails-against-school-choice-she-once-was-president-of-a-private-school\/\">reported<\/a> that&nbsp;Luria, while failing to report that she was once president of the&nbsp;private high school,&nbsp;rallied against&nbsp;school choice and charter schools on the 2018 campaign trail, and&nbsp;reportedly did not mention that her daughter attended a private middle school which costs&nbsp;more than $12,000 per year.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI stand strongly against voucher systems,\u201d Luria <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eIQGJUvLoCQ&amp;t=1886s\">said<\/a> in 2018 during a candidate forum. \u201cI stand strongly against any type of charter schools that would remove funding from our public education because the public education that we provide across America is the foundation of our future generation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe disclosure requirements are an integral part of an ethical and transparent government: accurate and timely filing is the only method for citizens to determine whether Members have conflicts of interest or are wrongfully profiting from their position,\u201d stated FACT\u2019s complaint to the OCE.<\/p>\n<p>FACT\u2019s Executive Director, Kendra Arnold, said in a press release that&nbsp;Luria\u2019s \u201clack of transparency\u201d is what \u201cerodes public trust and leaves citizens unaware of potential conflicts of interest\u201d:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This federal law is fundamental and must be enforced. Whether intentional or not, it seems that Rep. Luria failed to properly disclose her corporate position on&nbsp;<strong>any<\/strong>&nbsp;of her Congressional Financial Disclosure Statements. Failing to do so is an egregious lack of transparency that erodes public trust and leaves citizens unaware of potential conflicts of interest.&nbsp;I encourage the Office of Congressional Ethics to immediately investigate Rep. Luria and impose the proper sanctions and penalties.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIf Elaine Luria can\u2019t be trusted to be fully transparent with voters about something this simple, then you have to ask, what else is she hiding?\u201d said Congressional Leadership Fund Press Secretary Cally Perkins. \u201cLuria clearly believes the rules don\u2019t apply to her and needs to be held accountable for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on <\/i><a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jacobmbliss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a\u00a0non-partisan ethics watchdog organization,\u00a0demanded an investigation into Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) \u201cfor failing to disclose past corporate positions on her Financial Disclosure Statements.\u201d &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1217872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1217872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1217872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1217872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1217872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}