Trent Franks just announced this past week that he would resign and not continue his work as of Jan. 31st, 2018, citing health concerns with his wife as the ultimate reason for his decision.
Now it’s been discovered that just mere hours before his retirement announcement he was overheard discussing plans for a $2m CPAC; a huge ethics no-no for someone in his position.
The CPAC would have been created with the intent of reforming the Senate filibuster rule.
As reported by Jack Crowe for The Daily Caller:
The Fox 9 Minnesota news team ran into Franks outside their rooms in the Hotel Palomar in Washington, D.C., Friday morning while the embattled lawmaker was holding what reporter Tom Lyden understood to be a conversation about the launch of a PAC dedicated to reforming the Senate filibuster rule.
“You are still in office and I heard you on the phone talking about setting up a $2 million PAC to go after the issue of the filibuster, is that proper for you to be doing while you’re still in office?” Lyden said.
Lyden pressed Franks further, saying “I heard you on the phone talking about soliciting $2 million for a PAC while you’re still in office, that seems to be an ethics violation?”
“No, I don’t think so. I don’t think so,” Franks said.
Franks, who initially announced Thursday that he would resign effective Jan. 31 of 2018, issued a statement resigning effective immediately four hours after he was overheard, citing the hospitalization of his wife as the reason for accelerating his retirement plans.
“Last night, my wife was admitted to the hospital in Washington, D.C. due to an ongoing ailment,” Franks said in a statement. “After discussing options with my family, we came to the conclusion that the best thing for our family now would be for me to tender my previous resignation effective today, December 8th, 2017.”