Capito Stock Sales Eyed

The Plain Dealer of Cleveland included Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-2nd, among "several members of Congress who oversee the banking industry" and who "were grabbing up or dumping bank stocks" while "financial markets tumbled and the government worked to stave off panic by pumping billions of dollars into banks last fall."

After reviewing financial disclosure reports, the newspaper concluded that "anticipating bargains or profits or just trying to unload before the bottom fell out, these members of the House Financial Services Committee or brokers on their behalf were buying and selling stocks including Bank of America and Citigroup -- some of the very corporations their committee would later rap for greed."

Capito merits a mention because her stockbroker husband "sold more than $100,000 in Citigroup stock in several transactions late last year. His brokerage firm was owned by Citigroup and his compensation included Citigroup stock."

"A Capito spokesman said the House Ethics Committee gave her verbal approval to join the committee despite her husband's job," the newspaper reported.