Congressman Matt Cartwright Featured Among ‘Worst Ethics Violators’ of 2019

Throughout 2019, Democrat Rep. Matt Cartwright has been locked in a wide-ranging ethics scandal that involves both his wife and his family law firm. As a result, an ethics watchdog is naming Cartwright to its annual list of ethics violators for pushing legislation with an obvious conflict of interest.

Background: Matt Cartwright sponsored multiple bills to raise the minimum insurance required for commercial trucks to operate by 600 percent. He was formerly an attorney at his family law firm, which specializes in personal injury accidents involving commercial trucks. He also failed to disclose his wife’s income from the firm while the couple had held profit-sharing agreements valued between $2 million and $10 million.

Land Line Magazine: Cartwright’s sponsorship of the INSURANCE Act prompted FACT to request the Office of Congressional Ethics to launch an investigation. The group also filed a second complaint against Cartwright, alleging he failed to disclose his wife’s income from Munley Law P.C., her family law firm which specializes in commercial truck crashes.

FACT’s release also notes that Cartwright’s wife, Marion Munley, remains a partner in Munley Law, and both she and her husband have “profit-sharing agreements with Munley Law, together valued between $2 million and $10 million.”

The complaints forced Cartwright to amend two years of financial disclosure statements, which has only increased the pressure to address his obvious conflict of interest.