House panel rejects ethics complaint against Cartwright

Aug. 25--An independent congressional ethics panel has recommended dismissing a conflict of interest complaint filed last September against U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright.

However, the Moosic Democrat amended seven years of financial disclosure forms after the complaint's filing. A Cartwright spokesman said the amendments had nothing to do with the complaint.

The amendments show Cartwright's ownership of an airplane and part ownership of a Lake George, New York, home that has been in the family for generations.

Republican Jim Bognet, who wants to unseat Cartwright in the Nov. 3 election, accused him of "a pattern of deception," a charge Cartwright's spokesman denied.

The Board of the Office of Congressional Ethics, a nonpartisan panel, recommended dismissing the complaint filed in September by the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust. The foundation, a nonprofit watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., was founded by Matthew Whitaker, who briefly served as acting attorney general under President Donald Trump.

In its recommendation, the board said no "substantial reason" exists to believe Cartwright allowed his wife, Marion Munley, to lobby him or his staff or introduced a bill as a "special favor" to her. Cartwright did not take official action that someone could reasonably construe would benefit him, the panel decided in a 6-0 vote on March 13.

The House Ethics Committee, the final say on bringing ethics charges, has not publicly decided whether to accept the recommendation. Efforts to reach the committee were unsuccessful. A spokesman for the Office of Congressional Ethics declined to comment.

Cartwright's congressional chief of staff Hunter Ridgway said the ethics committee has taken no action. Ridgway released the ethics board's recommendation. Repeated efforts to reach Kendra Arnold, the foundation's executive director, were unsuccessful.

Ridgway said the congressman had no comment on the recommendation.

FACT accused Cartwright of "a clear conflict of interest" because he sponsored bills to force commercial truck drivers to carry $4.5 million in liability insurance, six times more than now. FACT said that constituted a conflict of interest because Cartwright has a financial interest in Munley Law, the Scranton law firm where he was a partner and his wife, Marion Munley, remains a shareholder. The Munley firm touts its expertise in truck accident cases and Marion Munley once served as chairwoman of trucking litigation at the American Association for Justice, a trial lawyer lobbying group that favors Cartwright's bill.

Cartwright said the higher insurance requirement would better protect truck accident victims, force insurance companies to pay more attention to truck safety and produce safer trucks.

Cartwright says he has no longer receives income from Munley Law. His financial disclosure form shows a law firm profit-sharing plan valued at between $1,000,001 and $5 million, but Cartwright said that amounts to a interest-producing pension that gets no contributions from law firm profits.

October amendments to his 2017 and 2018 forms added his wife's law firm unspecified salary as an income source. Ridgway called the omission "an oversight," noting the salary's disclosure in previous years. Cartwright's original forms from 2012-2015 show the salary, but an amendment letter disclosed it in 2016.

Another amendment to Cartwright's 2017 and 2018 disclosure forms shows his financial interest in Archer Partners, a company whose address matches that of Cartwright's home. Cartwright is Archer's lone owner, his spokesman said. The company bought a 15-year-old, four-seat, single-engine propeller plane in 2017. It is valued at between $100,001 and $250,000, according to the disclosure amendment. Cartwright has a pilot's license.

An amendment to Cartwright's 2012-2018 disclosures shows he's an uncompensated trustee in something called Hague personal residence trust. The trust owns a home on Lake George, according to online Warren County, New York, real-estate records. His share of the home is worth $250,001 to $500,000, according to the disclosure amendment. The home's assessed value is $1.35 million, records show. The trust's other trustees are Cartwright's three brothers. The home previously belonged to their parents.

Cartwright referred an attempt to interview him to his campaign spokesman, Matt Slavoski. Slavoski said the congressman regularly reviews financial disclosure statements and seeks advice from House ethics lawyers on questions of further disclosure.

"As a firm believer in government transparency, the Congressman completed his filing and amendments in good faith and in keeping with his commitment to being forthright with the people he represents," Slavoski said.

Bognet sloughed off the complaint's dismissal, saying the trucking bill would still benefit firms like Munley Law, Cartwright and his wife.

"He's lied for year after year after year on his financial disclosure," he said. "He managed to miss (disclosing) a $200,000 private jet that he flies ... He missed (disclosing) a million mansion ... And this is a hot-shot attorney."

In response, Slavsoki said Cartwright would continue focusing on "defending Northeastern Pennsylvanians' health care and earned benefits, helping struggling families amid the pandemic, reviving our economy, and protecting them from Jim Bognet's dangerous agenda of slashing Social Security and Medicare while eliminating protections for people with pre-existing conditions."

Bognet has pledged to preserve Social Security, Medicare and insurance coverage of pre-existing conditions.

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9147; @BorysBlogTT on Twitter.

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