Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, has been implicated in an ethics complaint earlier in the week. Critics allege that Whitehouse’s votes, which funded an NGO that pays his wife for consulting work. Despite the damning evidence, he has maintained his innocence. The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) filed a complaint which detailed the scale of the corruption.
“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,” their complaint read. ” 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.”
“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,” FACT explained. “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,” the group stated. “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,” explained Kendra Arnold, the Executive Director.
‘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,” she explained. “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.”
“Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) supported legislation funding an environmental non-profit, Ocean Conservancy,” a post to X stated. “The CEO of Ocean Conservancy is Sandra Whitehouse, who was paid $2.7 million of the $14.2 million the non-profit received.”However, the embattled Democrat maintains is blameless.
He said in a statement “false accusations from far-right special interests and billionaires like Elon Musk -– who is trying to silence critics of his raid on federal agencies — will not impede the Senator’s pursuit of an accountable, ethical government that responds to Americans’ needs.” The Rhode Island Republican Party said Whitehouse “funneled federal funds to benefit his wife’s consulting business.”
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Joe Power, Rhode Island GOP Chairman, wrote “It’s beyond hypocritical for Senator Whitehouse to accuse others of unethical behavior while potentially engaging in it himself.” “This is why Dems are in a panic! I say retire without pay, no more government jobs ever!,” one woman replied to another tweet covering the issue.”He should be inducted for conflict of interest. His wife received millions for her non profit. What was the purpose? Collecting trash. For the money she received they could have cleaned the whole northeast coast.” replied another user