Gayle Manchin, Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) wife and federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), may have violated a “conflicts of interest” ethics pledge by advising an organization with ties to her husband’s campaign, Fox News reported.
President Joe Biden appointed Manchin to the ARC in April 2021, one month after her husband voted in favor of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Manchin receives an annual salary of $160,000 for her position at the ARC, an economic development partnership agency of the federal government and 13 state governments.
Manchin signed an ethics pledge in April 2021, stating she would recuse herself from situations if necessary to “avoid any actual or apparent conflicts of interest.”
However, emails obtained by Fox News reportedly show she advised the nonprofit organization Coalfield Development in October 2021 on a $62.8 million American Rescue Plan grant that ultimately went to an organization with ties to her husband’s campaign.
As Fox News detailed:
Coalfield Development’s ACT Now Coalition was one of 21 recipients competing for $100 million in American Rescue Plan funding. The Charleston Area Alliance, headed by Sen. Manchin’s treasurer, Jack Rossi, and Marshall University collectively received $13 million from the $63 million granted to Coalfield Development’s coalition.
According to an October 19, 2021 email, the CEO of Coalfield Development Brandon Dennison, sent Gayle Manchin his Build Back Better grant application, stating they spoke on the phone about their effort as “complementary and supportive of the ARC-initiated effort.”
Dennison also said that although the application process is “highly competitive,” he was “looking forward to continued collaboration” with the ARC.
However, ARC told Fox News Manchin “does not have any financial interest in Coalfield Development, nor in the ACT Now Coalition.”
Still, the ARC recognized that Manchin “encouraged organizations in Appalachia to apply” for the grant but noted she played “no role in approving any EDA Build Back Better applications.”
The ARC also claimed, “Rossi is not the beneficiary of the grant; instead, the beneficiaries of the grant will include everyday Appalachians in the region’s coal-impacted communities.”
The ARC has invested more than $4.5 billion in the Appalachian Region, according to Fox News.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
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