A top far-left Democrat in the U.S. Senate is now being targeted by online conservative activists after evidence surfaced of his involvement in a pay-to-play arrangement that not only involved himself, but his blushing bride, and a number of very lucrative pieces of legislation. We really are living in the age of draining the swamp, aren’t we?
More and more truth about the deep corruption of the Democratic Party has been dredged up from the bottom of the murky waters thanks to President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Department of Government Efficiency.
An organization known as the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, or FACT, which is a right-leaning watchdog group, is responsible for raising the red flag concerning Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, along with an environmental non-profit organization run by his wife, Sandra Whitehouse.
The reason for the alarm bells going off is that this group benefited from bills that were passed over the course of the last several years that led to them bringing in $12.2 million in federal funds. Almost all of this money was sent to the group after approval by the Senate.
“FACT turned over evidence of the arrangement to Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), chair of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, with a request ‘to determine whether he violated the Senate ethics rules on conflicts of interest,'” Trending News Politics reported.
“Sandra Whitehouse has served as president of consulting firm Ocean Wonks LLC since 2017, according to a copy of her LinkedIn page reviewed by Fox News. Her work in the industry includes a prior 10-year tenure at Ocean Conservancy where she served as Senior Policy Advisor,” the report added.
Ocean Conservancy has been received $12.2 million in federal grants since 2008, a fact discovered by FACT. In 2024, the organization was awarded two grants for a total of $5.2 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration along with the Environmental Protection Agency that was supposed to go toward debris cleanup.
“Both grants came from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a key initiative of the Biden-Harris administration that Sen. Whitehouse voted for. The EPA grant was funded through the agency’s annual appropriations bill, another piece of legislation taken up by the Senate,” TPN continued.
“While these two grants alone appear to be a conflict of interest, it is even more egregious in the context of Senator Whitehouse’s long history of working on legislation being lobbied for by organizations tied to his wife,” FACT Executive Director Kendra Arnold went on to explain.
“Altogether, Ocean Conservancy has spent millions on federal lobbying expenses over the years on issues relating to oceans, climate change, and environmental cleanup—issues directly championed by Senator Whitehouse, a longtime member (and current Ranking Member) of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee and the co-founder of the Senate’s so-called ‘Oceans Caucus,” Arnold added.
Tax records reveal that Sandra Whitehouse has earned a pretty substantial salary from Ocean Conservancy, totaling $2,686,800 since 2010, which was given to her either directly from the group or through her consulting firm.
A spokesperson for Ocean Conservancy praised Whitehouse’s contribution to the conservation movement.
“Dr. Sandra Whitehouse, a well-respected marine ecologist and ocean policy consultant, has not received compensation from these federal grants allocated to Ocean Conservancy,” Ocean Conservancy’s Vice President of External Affairs Jeff Watters went on to tell Fox News Digital in a statement.
“For 40 years, Ocean Conservancy has been a global leader in marine debris cleanup through our signature initiative, the International Coastal Cleanup. The marine debris cleanup grants Ocean Conservancy received from NOAA came from laws passed with broad bipartisan support that then went through a competitive, independent selection process which designated Ocean Conservancy to be one among hundreds of NGOs to receive funding. Ocean Conservancy’s selection was based on our decades of expertise in addressing marine debris and protecting the ocean,” the statement added.
It’s time for corrupt figures like the Whitehouses to be held accountable for their actions, especially since it involves taxpayer dollars. We don’t pay taxes to make politicians and their spouses rich.
Let’s hope they get the book thrown at them and let that serve as a warning for others gaming the system to take matters above board.
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