US senator owns stock with Virginia ties
AS A STATE senator, Ralph Northam began expanding his financial portfolio to include stock in companies that do extensive business in Virginia. In early 2013, he reported owning between US$ 10,000 and US$ 50,000 of stock in Dominion Energy, Virginia’s largest utility and the top corporate donor to local campaigns.
Later that year, Northam voted on eight Senate bills Dominion lobbied on. As lieutenant governor in 2015, he praised legislation that suspended audits of Dominion by state regulators, a measure denounced by consumer advocates but touted on Wall Street as a boon to shareholders. And if Northam,
Your personal investments and campaign contributions weigh on decisions, that’s just reality, and Dominion is such a force in Virginia politics.
a Democrat, is elected governor next month, he probably will approve or veto bills that affect the utility - and very likely the value of his personal investment. The same is true for the other companies active in Virginia in which he owns stock: AT& T, Bank of America, Norfolk Southern, Kraft Heinz, DuPont, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson and Mondelez International.
Northam and his Republican opponent in the race, Ed Gillespie, have had extensive financial or business relationships with companies active in Virginia, raising questions about how those ties could influence their governance of a state known for unusually lax ethics laws. Northam’s investment in Dominion - although apparently permissible under Virginia’s ethics laws - already has opened him up to accusations that he has put the company’s bottom line ahead of the public’s interests.
In particular, he has come under attack from environmentalists for not opposing a 600-mile natural gas pipeline Dominion is planning to build with several smaller partners.
Environmentalists say the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would damage some of the state’s most naturally pristine areas, while proponents - including Gillespie and Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe - say it would curb energy costs and create 8,800 jobs. Northam has tried to stake out middle ground by calling for a “rigorous and transparent” review of the pipeline’s environmental impact.
Northam says that if elected governor, he would put his stock investments in a blind trust managed by a trustee who could sell or purchase stock without his knowledge. The campaign notes that he has backed some policies opposed by Dominion, including McAuliffe’s veto of a 2016 bill that would have extended tax credits for coal plants. “I have always put the interests of those I have served first, and I promise to do that as governor,” Northam, a paediatric neurologist, said in a statement to The Washington Post.
But some pipeline opponents argue that Northam can’t help but be influenced by his Dominion investments. “Your personal investments and campaign contributions weigh on decisions, that’s just reality, and Dominion is such a force in Virginia politics,” said David Sligh, conservation director of Wild Virginia, a non-profit group that opposes the pipeline.
Gillespie has mutual funds and partnership interests in three investment funds but no stock holdings, according to his campaign disclosure form. Last year, he advised four companies with vast interests in the state - AT& T, Bank of America, Microsoft and Anthem. If elected governor, Gillespie would almost surely face legislative or policy making decisions affecting his former clients’ interests. — WPBloomberg
David Sligh, conservation director of Wild Virginia, a non-profit group that opposes the pipeline