From The Deckplates

Since reporting on the issue last Wednesday, another source has reached out to tell me Heritage Days Sponsorships were actually due in May. The Executive Board motioned to sponsor Heritage Days at the Friend level in June.¹ It is true they never wrote the check, but it turns out their motion was overdue. I always do my due diligence researching these articles. I reached out to the union’s Secretary Treasurer before posting. The Secretary Treasurer is responsible for issuing checks in the union’s name.² He never responded for comment.³

In other news, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri introduced legislation back in April to ban elected leaders from trading individual stocks on the stock market. Titled the “PELOSI Act,” Hawley’s bill is a thinly veiled attack on Democratic lawmakers. It also carves out an extra special exemption for Donald Trump.⁴ Hawley may have introduced the bill in bad faith, but it still takes an important step toward eliminating insider trading by elected officials.

On Wednesday, Democrats joined Hawley in advancing the PELOSI Act to the Senate floor.⁵ Senator Angus King says he likes the measure, but Senator Susan Collins will not support the bill.⁶ According to analysis by Unusual Whales, Susan Collins’ portfolio increased in value by 77.5% in 2024, the 8^th highest in Congress. Even Nancy Pelosi ranked below Collins with 70.9% gains.⁷

Compare the Unusual Whales chart to your 401k gains last year. Did your portfolio increase by more than 70%? Mine sure didn’t. It’s time our elected representatives follow the same rules as the rest of us.

1. Executive Board Meeting Minutes, June 18, 2025, IAM Local S6. ↩︎
2. IAM Constitution (2023), 106. ↩︎
3. In texts with author, July 29, 2025. ↩︎
4. U.S. Congress, Senate, Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act of 2025, S.1498, 119^th
   Congress, introduced in Senate, April 24, 2025; Hailey Fuchs, “Congressional stock trading ban gets Senate panel’s OK,” Politico, July 30, 2025. ↩︎
5. Miriam Waldvogel, “Senate panel advances bill to ban congressional stock trading,” The Hill, July 30, 2025. ↩︎
6. Billy Kobin, “Susan Collins does not support a Republican’s proposed stock trading ban,” Bangor Daily News, August 1, 2025. ↩︎
7. “Congress Trading Report 2024,” Unusual Whales, January 7, 2025, accessed August 1, 2025. ↩︎