Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick. File photo
Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick’s campaign confirmed Wednesday afternoon that they were donating contributions they received from indicted upstate New York Republican Congressman Chris Collins.
The $3,000 received by Fitzpatrick’s campaign will be donated to the Kaitlin Murphy Foundation, a Central Bucks County organization that works to combat the addiction epidemic.
Fitzpatrick’s campaign confirmed that they would donate the money before Democratic congressional candidate Scott Wallace’s campaign called on them to return the funds.
Eric Nagy, Wallace’s campaign manager, called for Fitzpatrick to return the contributions from Collins, who has been accused by the federal government of sharing insider details on biotech firm Innate Immunotherapeutics with his son and the father of his son’s fiancée.
Prosecutors allege that the insider trading scheme helped several people avoid $768,000 in losses. Collins served on the board for Innate Immunotherapeutics while also serving in Congress.
It’s common for candidates to accept campaign contributions from fellow members of their party, but Wallace’s campaign raised issue that some of the contributions were made after the Office of Congressional Ethics raised concerns that Collins may have “shared material nonpublic information” on the company’s stock.
Clarification: The Fitzpatrick campaign confirmed after publication that they donated the money before Wallace’s campaign called for the money to be returned.
