WFB: Six citizens in California have filed an ethics complaint against freshman Representative T.J. Cox (D.) alleging he violated House rules by omitting some business interests from his 2018 congressional disclosures which are required not only of incumbents, but also of candidates.
The complaint comes weeks after the largest paper in Cox’s district, the Fresno Bee, revealed that the congressman’s disclosure forms submitted during the campaign appeared to omit some key business interests he still had ties to.
“The congressman has stressed he’s working to divest from his various interests, but his disclosures do not seem to show the full scale of those business ties,” the Bee reported in early April.
“A Bee investigation found that Cox failed to disclose ties to five businesses, two of which he is still listed as a primary owner or director.”
In one of those cases, Cox failed to disclose his activity as a member of the board of directors for a mining company based in Canada.
“At best, Representative Cox was grossly negligent in complying with the financial disclosure requirements and in failing to provide voters with complete and accurate information to make an informed selection of a candidate,” the complaint, which was first reported by SVJSun.com, reads. more here
Charges should be dismissed on first reading. There are no ethics in government and I can prove it.
In California? People clearly unclear on the concept.
Obviously they are not aware of the “Does not apply to Democrats” clause.
Aside from the failure to disclose problems, here’s a bit more from the complaint.
[…]
“The complaint also alleges Cox improperly received homeowner’s exemptions for his homes in Bethesda, Md. and Fresno, Calif.
In 2018, Cox claimed his Maryland home as his primary residence and collected the state’s “homestead tax credit.”
When questioned by McClatchy about collecting , despite the fact he was residing in Fresno and actively running for Congress in two different districts over the course of the year, Cox and a Democratic Party spokesman claimed that the State of Maryland made the error and issued the tax credit.
Subsequently, Cox issued a mea culpa when McClatchy reported that Cox signed a notarized form that he stated the million-dollar Bethesda home was his principal residence for tax credit purposes.
Cox repaid the tax credit to the State of Maryland shortly after publication.
Meanwhile, in California, Cox claimed his home on Van Ness Boulevard in Fresno to be his principal residence for at least four straight years – including 2018, when he claimed principal residence in Maryland.
Federal tax laws do not allow a taxpayer to claim two homes as their principal residence.
In 2014, 2015, and 2017, Cox’s Fresno home was listed for rent on Zillow, the complaint alleges.
During those years, Cox received California’s homeowner’s exemption on his property taxes for that home, despite the fact that the tax break is not available to rental properties.
In February, an internal audit released by the City of Fresno found that the Central Valley Community Sports Foundation, a nonprofit for which Cox served as corporate treasurer, found the nonprofit had near non-existent internal controls on its financial management and accounting.
Among the audit’s findings were questionable, undocumented loan transactions between Cox, his primary business, and the nonprofit. In a single day, Cox’s business, Central Valley NTMC, LLC sent $50,000 to the nonprofit, which was then sent to Cox personally.
In March, Cox resigned as treasurer from the nonprofit and said that he was divesting from his business interests.
“With TJ, there always seems to be a paper trail,” Bradley added. “We just had to go to Canada to find it this time.””
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