Democratic congressional candidate Paige Cognetti unveiled an eight-point anti-corruption reform plan Thursday that she plans to push toward adoption if elected.
The plan, which would include a stock trade ban and term limits, marks the latest effort by the Scranton mayor to turn corruption into a leading issue as she seeks to unseat first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan in the Nov. 3 election.
Advocates have pressed most of the reform ideas for years and some for decades with little or no success.
Speaking at a South Scranton union hall, Cognetti said the nation is ready for their adoption.
“I think that we can push through some of these things in a new Congress, because America is so sick and tired of this,” Cognetti said. “In this Congress that has just really abdicated their responsibilities in so many ways and made money for themselves on it, I think this is a moment where the American people are so sick of it that these types of reforms really can go through.”
Bresnahan campaign spokesperson Samantha Bullock accused Cognetti of corruption and recycling the congressman’s ideas.
“This is a laughable and pathetic attempt at distraction from her flailing campaign,” Bullock said.
What's in the plan
Cognetti’s plan calls for:
Forbidding representatives and senators from trading stocks while in office.
“I don't begrudge anyone making money in the financial markets. I used to work in finance,” said Cognetti, a former financial adviser at Goldman Sachs. “Please do that as a private citizen. When you are trading stocks with information that the public might not have, that is rigging the system, and that is unfair.”
She repeated her criticism of Bresnahan, who called for a ban on stock trading as a candidate, then became one of Congress’ most prolific traders after he took office.
Bresnahan has long said he doesn’t tell his financial advisers what stocks to buy and sell, but he has stopped trading stocks.
Limiting members of Congress and the United States Supreme Court to 18 years in office — nine terms for representatives, three for senators. Supreme Court justices are appointed for life now.
“That is certainly long enough to get an agenda done, that is long enough to really make a mark in these bodies,” she said. “It also is important to me that this includes the Supreme Court, because we are seeing the Supreme Court become a place where there's so much gamesmanship.”
Banning members from serving on corporate boards. Less than a year ago, she learned that’s legal, she said.
“You cannot get paid for it, but you can sit on the board. What do we think that might happen after that? You sit on the board, and then you hear all those conversations, and you know, potentially after you are no longer a member, you still sit on that board and are rewarded for your work, and that just sets up a conflict of interest that should not exist.”
Blocking members from being paid unless they adopt a budget.
“Pretty simple,” she said. “We don't have the luxury as mayors to not pass a budget ... We need to make sure that there is some sort of penalty for members of Congress going home and leaving the American people in a lurch.”
Banning corporate political action committees from contributing to congressional candidates. Cognetti said she does not take corporate PAC contributions and was shocked to learn it’s legal.
“Members of Congress should not set their schedule in Congress based on who's going to hand them a corporate PAC donation,” she said.
Requiring audits of federal agencies and requiring agencies to implement audit recommendations.
“If an agency doesn't pass an audit, that shouldn't just die on the vine in somebody's inbox,” Cognetti said. “There should actually be a penalty for not making those findings.”
Banning departing members of Congress from lobbying remaining members.
“There is a revolving door where you're a member of Congress, and then right away you can go lobby your former members of Congress,” she said. “It creates an inside track for whomever you're working for It's the type of behavior again that the American people are so tired of. It's why people think the system is rigged. It's why people see poor outcomes from our federal legislators, and it's another reason why folks don't trust our government.”
Banning members of Congress and their staffs from betting in prediction markets on war, elections and government activity.
“This is just another opportunity for either true conflicts of interest or at least perceived contrast conflicts of interest,” Cognetti said.
Adoption will take time
Cognetti said she developed the proposals in consultation with other Democratic candidates and “even some members of Congress who are on the other side that I know believe in this stuff and haven't had a voice.”
She did not name the members. Cognetti said she knows convincing other members to adopt the measures will take time.
“So, even though something like term limits, of course, an extraordinary lift, I think there are folks on both sides of the aisle that understand that this is something that we need to work towards,” she said.
She pointed to Congress’ recent housing bill that overwhelmingly passed both houses with bipartisan support.
“These pieces right here are the types of things I think could get bipartisan support” for, she said.
Samantha Bullock, the Bresnahan spokeswoman, said Cognetti “is corrupt as they come,” counts corrupt politicians among her supporters, worked for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and recycled ideas “as her own” that Bresnahan already backs.
Bresnahan has already proposed a bill to ban stock trades, signed a petition to force a vote on a ban and signed onto an effort to establish term limits, according to the campaign.
The campaign said Bresnahan refused his pay when the government was shut down.
The campaign also raised Cognetti’s decision as mayor to buy a former Fidelity Bank branch next to City Hall for $1.85 million months after receiving $14,000 in campaign contributions from Fidelity officials.
At the news conference, Cognetti denied the contributions had anything to do with the building buy. The city plans to use the building as a real-time, anti-crime center for police.
“Every decision that we've made at the city is for the betterment of the city,” Cognetti said. “The building is exactly what we need to make sure that we're setting up future administrations for success.”
The 8th district consists of all of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike counties; roughly the eastern half of Luzerne County, including Wilkes-Barre, Pittston and Hazleton; and all of Monroe County, except for Polk and Eldred townships and part of Ross Township.
