American Bridge is calling on Congressman Andy Barr to part with the thousands of dollars given to his campaign by the political action committee of Congressman Chris Collins, who was arrested and charged with insider trading this week by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
This election cycle, Barr has accepted a total of $3,000 from Collins’s committee, the Congressional House Republican in Service PAC.
“Chris Collins epitomizes the Republican culture of corruption in Washington and Andy Barr should have returned this dirty money on Wednesday,” said American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates. “Barr has used his office to back policies that help the wealthy at everyone else’s expense, and campaigning on that kind of record with money from an accused felon is unconscionable.”
Collins, a board member of Innate Immunotherapeutics Limited, is alleged to have illegally arranged for his stock in the company to be dumped upon learning that the chief drug it was developing had proven to be a failure in trials. After making his substantial investment, Collins also introduced 4 bills that would have benefited Innate Immunotherapeutics.
5 other Republican members of Congress invested in Innate Immunotherapeutics – one of whom, Billy Long (MO-7), also took legislative steps that would have paid off for the company.
Published: Aug 10, 2018 | Last Modified: Aug 29, 2022