Rep. Phil Gingrey’s Financial Investment in the Never-Used F-22

by TheCameraObscura | July 3, 2009 at 05:51 pm

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You may recall Rep. Phil Gingrey, he's the tough talking congressman from Georgia who groveled to Rush Limbaugh earlier this year. Now, good old boy Phil is pushing for the F-22 fighter which has never been used, which is why Phil thinks it's so great! Oh, and yes, he's got a financial investment in the F-22 as well.

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) and VoteVets Chairman Jon Soltz sparred on MSNBC about reinstating funds for new F-22s. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called for capping production of the F-22 Raptor, a fighter that has never seen combat in the Iraq or Afghanistan theaters.

Despite the fact that the OMB recommended a veto if the defense authorization budget contains new F-22s, members of Congress in the House Armed Services committee, lead by Gingrey, slipped the funding in anyways.

Indeed, Gingrey’s 2008 personal finance disclosure reveals that the Congressman owned between $50,000 to $100,000 in Boeing stock, a company that joined with Lockheed to manufacture the F-22.

Gingrey’s latest personal finance disclosure report, filed late this year and posted online this week, shows he still owns Boeing stock, but it has dropped in value to $15,000 to $50,000. Because Lockheed Martin is Boeing’s partner in building the F-22, Gingrey does have an actual incentive to see an additional $369 million in unnecessary spending for new F-22s.