Republican New Jersey Rep. Tom Kean Jr. is still trading stocks despite being absent from Congress for over two months.
Financial records show that Kean bought and sold shares of eight different stocks between March 10 and March 31, including Johnson & Johnson, Amcor, Chubb Limited and First Citizens BancShares. The combined value of the trades ranged from $50,008 to $190,000.
Kean personally certified the disclosure and signed it with his digital signature on April 13, News of the United States (NOTUS) first reported Tuesday morning.
Kean’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Kean last voted on March 5 and has missed every roll call vote in the House since that date. He also missed 20% of the votes between January and March, according to GovTrack.
The congressman has been out due to an undisclosed illness. He told the New Jersey Globe on Thursday that he expects to return to Capitol Hill for roll call votes soon. The Republican also stated he is expected to make a full recovery and will discuss his health at a later date.
In 2022, Kean defeated then-Democratic New Jersey Rep. Tom Malinowski, who received backlash the previous year for his stock disclosure-related violations of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. When he first entered Congress, Kean pledged to be an ethics reformer and place his millions of dollars worth of personal assets into a congressionally approved blind trust, though he never did so, NOTUS reported.
Kean has continued to publicly trade personal stocks while sponsoring legislation that would ban members of Congress from short-selling stocks.
Many of Kean’s colleagues have not spoken to the missing congressman throughout his absence, though Kean began speaking to Republican leaders in his state after being largely out of reach. Carlos Santos, the Republican chair of Union County, told Politico that Kean “sounded good” on the phone. Tracy DiFrancesco, the GOP chair of Somerset County, also said Kean is “perfectly fine” and should return to the campaign trail in the near future.
Kean continues to seek reelection in New Jersey’s Seventh District, which leans slightly Democratic in voter registration. Four Democrats are currently competing for Kean’s seat ahead of the June 2 primary. Kean’s consultant, Harrison Neely, also told Politico that “of course” Kean would run for reelection.
The New Jersey congressman also signed at least two documents approving the travel of his chief of staff, Daniel J. Scharfenberger, on March 13 and March 14.
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