CHARLESTON – The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust is asking the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to investigate Sen. Joe Manchin for an investment group involved in multiple defaulting hotels in the northern part of the state.
FACT sent the letter Feb. 6 to Chairman Johnny Isakson and Vice Chairman Christopher A. Coons. Executive Director Kendra Arnold authored the letter
FACT is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting accountability, ethics and transparency in government and civic arenas, according to its letter.
“We achieve this mission by hanging a lantern over public officials who put their own interests over the interests of the public good,” Arnold wrote. “We write today to request that the Senate Select Committee on Ethics investigate Senator Joe Manchin for not complying with the financial disclosure requirements related to his interest in AA Properties, a non-public asset, and its underlying assets for the years 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.”
At the “heart” of the Senate Code of Official Conduct and the Ethics in Government Act is “full and complete public financial disclosure,” according to the letter.
“As such, Rule 34 of the Standing Rules of the Senate requires that every Senator file a comprehensive annual public financial disclosure report,” Arnold wrote. “The purpose of this disclosure is to provide a means to monitor and deter conflicts of interest.”
A full and detailed public disclosure that complies with the specific disclosure requirements is necessary for voters to evaluate a senator’s conduct with full knowledge of his financial interests.
“A Senator who fails to provide a full and proper disclosure, or refuses to do so, denies West Virginia voters the information they deserve and need to evaluate the Senator’s conduct,” Arnold wrote.
Since 2010, Manchin has listed AA Properties as a non-public asset on his personal financial disclosure, while, at the same time, willfully refusing to disclose the required details about the underlying assets and debt of AA Properties.
The letter alleges that Manchin has profited from AA Properties while repeatedly failing to tell his constituents about the nature and origin of those profits.
When given the opportunity to explain AA Properties’ investments, Manchin has given conflicting answers.
“At first Manchin denied any affiliation with or stake in AA Properties. Next, he denied AA Properties had any relationship with the other companies,” Arnold wrote. “Following this denial, Manchin claimed that AA Properties was in a blind trust. However, this statement was clearly false. If AA Properties was in a blind trust, Senator Manchin would not have listed it separate from the blind trust on his disclosure.”
The most recent evasive explanation came from Machin’s personal attorney, who said that AA Properties did not have a current investment in Mountain Blue Hotel Group.
“However, Manchin’s attorney refused to answer when asked 'if AA Property had ever been an investor in the hotel group,’” Arnold wrote. “It remains unclear what investments Manchin has made previously though AA Properties.”
FACT believes that Manchin should not be allowed to continue to “hide his investments behind a LLC with little more disclosed to voters than the name of the company.”
The organization also believes that Manchin must be held to the same ethical standards as every other senator and provide a full and honest financial disclosure to constituents.
“Without this, there is no way to evaluate whether Senator Manchin’s conduct has directly benefited his personal financial interests putting money in his pockets,” Arnold wrote.
Several articles published in the Charleston Gazette-Mail and West Virginia MetroNews regarding hotel bankruptcy in northern West Virginia in which AA Properties was an investor were attached to the letter
The hotels, which include the Hilton Garden Inn in Morgantown, as well as hotels in Clarksburg and Elkins, filed for bankruptcy last year and were the subjects of lawsuits alleging they defaulted on their loans.
Monongalia and Harrison Counties are also attempting to collect taxes that were collected by the hotels, but never paid to the counties. The state is also seeking for taxes collected and never passed on to the state.