12-16-14 petri-ethics investigation

Fond du Lac Congressman Tom Petri is speaking publically for the first time since the House Ethics Committee cleared him of any wrongdoing when he acted on behalf of two companies in which he owned a significant amount of stock.   Petri says he’s glad the committee closed the case against him and didn’t leave it hanging out there when he retires at the end of the year.  “There’s no law against owning stock in companies whether they’re in your district or not,” Petri told AM 1170 WFDL’s Between the Lines program.  “Your obviously not supposed to do anything that benefits yourself but I’ve been working to help Oshkosh Truck or the Manitowac Company  or Mercury Marine or you name it…I think that’s part of my job to make sure they are treated fairly.”   Petri says he repeatedly sought advice from ethics committee staff and did what they said he could do.  “So when this question came up I said well you guys approved it what else am I supposed to do?  I wouldn’t have done it if they (committee) hadn’t approved it that’s for sure.”   Petri says he’s glad the committee closed the case instead of letting it sit.  “I thought they were just going to run out the clock, I’m gone they didn’t have to do anything and then it would just be something hanging out there which isn’t very nice from my point of view,”  Petri said.  “But they did take the trouble of writing a 13 or 14 page report, analyzing and rebutting these newspaper stories and then they voted unanimously  there was nothing further for them to investigate.”