One of the top liberal Democrats in the United States Senate is now facing calls for investigation, particularly from conservative activist groups, over what appears to be a pay-to-play arrangement and corruption scandal involving some legislation, his power as a senator, and his wife, who controls an environmental non-profit.
The calls for an investigation of Sen. Whitehouse are largely coming from a conservative-leaning but technically non-partisan ethical watchdog group called the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT). It alleges that Sen. Whitehouse helped pass legislation that led to a multi-million dollar windfall for his wife’s non-profit.
Beginning, FACT’s press release on the incident provided, “Yesterday, the non-partisan ethics watchdog, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), filed a complaint requesting the Senate Select Committee on Ethics investigate and take appropriate action on Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.”
Continuing, FACT gave a very brief overview of what it claims happened, saying, “Sen. Whitehouse appears to have violated the Senate Ethics Rules on conflicts of interest by advocating and voting for legislation that resulted in nearly $7 million being paid in the fall of 2024 to an organization his wife works for.”
The non-profit then noted that his wife’s non-profit has received millions upon millions of dollars in federal funding, while he has been a senator (he has been in office since 2007), saying, “Senator Whitehouse’s wife, Sandra Whitehouse, has worked for the advocacy group Ocean Conservancy since 2008. Since then, Ocean Conservancy has been awarded nineteen government grants worth approximately $14.2 million.”
The press release went on to note that about half of that funding came in last year alone: “It is important to note that nearly half of this $14 million was given to the group in the fall of 2024 alone–a $5.2 million grant in September 2024 and a $1.7 million grant in December 2024. Senator Whitehouse directly supported and voted for the legislation that led to these grants,” FACT noted.
More generally, FACT claimed that Sen. Whitehouse has a history of voting for legislation that is beneficial to organizations tied to his family, saying, “In addition to these apparent conflicts of interest, Sen. Whitehouse has a long history of working on legislation being lobbied for by organizations tied to his spouse.”
"*" indicates required fields
Noting that he appears to be in direct violation of ethics rules, it then noted, “Senate Ethics Rules clearly prohibit Senators from taking official action when they have a conflict of interest. The rules prohibit Senators from using any official action to obtain or appear to obtain a financial benefit, whether the benefit is obtained directly by the Senator or their spouse. It is these rules that Sen. Whitehouse appears to have directly violated.”
Commenting on the matter, Kendra Arnold, Executive Director of FACT, said, “Senator Whitehouse advocated and voted for legislation that led to $6.9 million of taxpayer funds being paid to an organization that his wife works for and receives an income from. It is this type of circular relationship between a Senator and an organization that lobbies and pays his wife a salary that the public is rightfully fed up with.”
Director Arnold then added, “Congressional rules are in place to ensure our taxpayer dollars are going to serve our nation and that our Senators are not behaving in a manner that would call this into question. We hope the Senate Select Committee on Ethics will investigate this matter and take swift action.”
Also commenting on the matter was the Libs of TikTok X account, which said, “BOMBSHELL: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) backed legislation that funneled millions to his wife’s environmental nonprofit, Ocean Conservancy. She’s been paid nearly $2.7M while the group raked in $14.2M+ in federal grants—funded by bills Whitehouse voted for! Now, an ethics watchdog is calling for an investigation into this blatant corruption.”
Watch Jesse Watters comment on the matter here:
Featured image credit: By Preiss / MSC – https://securityconference.org/mediathek/asset/sheldon-whitehouse-0840-18-02-2018/, CC BY 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69438923