![\"Mayor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CVC-L-COGNETTI-0312-2.jpg\")
Mayor of Scranton and Pa. Congressional candidate Paige Cognetti speaks to press during a conference at PSEA in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\nPLAINS TWP. \u2014 Democratic congressional candidate and Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti accused Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan of public corruption Wednesday after resurfaced audio of a 2025 radio interview raised questions about his long-claimed lack of involvement in his stock trades while in office.<\/p>\n
Bresnahan campaign spokesman Chris Pack fired back in a statement reiterating the first-term GOP incumbent \u201chas consistently said that he does not have any involvement in stock trades, no matter how much Goldman Sachs private wealth advisor Paige Cognetti tries to take his comments out of context to prop up her campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cognetti worked for Goldman Sachs from about 2014 to 2016, years before winning a 2019 special election for Scranton mayor as an independent candidate following former Democratic Mayor Bill Courtright\u2019s corruption scandal.<\/p>\n
Mayor of Scranton and Pa. Congressional candidate Paige Cognetti speaks to press during a conference at PSEA in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that the local media is once again amplifying her desperate lies, first published by a liberal DC blog, perfectly illustrates why trust in local journalism continues to collapse,\u201d Pack said.<\/p>\n
The stock-trading issue has dogged Bresnahan, who campaigned on and supports banning congressional stock trading, since an April New York Times report<\/a> identified him as \u201cone of the most active stock traders in the freshman class.\u201d As Pack noted, Bresnahan and his spokespeople have said and continue to maintain he isn\u2019t involved with and doesn\u2019t provide input on those transactions.<\/p>\n The \u201cliberal DC blog\u201d Pack referenced is Politico<\/a>, which reported Tuesday on comments Bresnahan made last spring in a local radio interview that critics say undermine those claims.<\/p>\n They came immediately after WILK host Bob Cordaro asked: \u201cSum and substance you\u2019re saying, \u2018Look, I did not buy and sell on information I\u2019ve gleaned here in Congress. My adviser\u2019s doing my trading for me, and I am duly reporting it.\u2019 Is that \u2026 a fair summary?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d Bresnahan answered. \u201cRight hand to God on my mother\u2019s life, without a question. And honestly \u2026 I find out about my holdings sometimes on Twitter, like, I\u2019m not on a day by day, minute by minute. I mean I meet with my financial adviser. We talk about, you know, what different positions are coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n Cognetti seized upon the latter part of that answer Wednesday while addressing the media at the Pennsylvania State Education Association Northeast Region office in Plains Twp.<\/p>\n Learning Bresnahan \u201cis actually on the record stating that he speaks with his financial adviser about his stock positions while a sitting member of Congress\u201d was not surprising, but is \u201cextraordinarily disappointing,\u201d Cognetti said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the exact type of public corruption that led me to get on the Scranton School Board in 2017, that led me to run for mayor in 2019 in the face of a huge scandal in Scranton,\u201d she said. \u201cMy time in public office has always been pushing back on corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRob Bresnahan recruited me to this (race) when, during the spring and summer, it became clear from his financial disclosures that he was trading on his votes,\u201d Cognetti said moments later. \u201cWe can connect his Medicaid cuts to him trading Medicaid-provider stock, hospital bonds. We can see where he\u2019s purchasing defense stocks when the president is making military decisions that the public doesn\u2019t know about.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked by a reporter if she believes Bresnahan makes trades using inside information, Cognetti said: \u201cHe is a sitting member of Congress who votes every week on bills and is also an active stock trader.\u201d<\/p>\n Efforts to reach Bresnahan directly were not immediately successful, but Pack told Politico Bresnahan\u2019s comments in the Cordaro interview were \u201creferring to 30,000 foot investment strategy and not about stock trades.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo imply that Rob having the equivalent of a routine annual 401(k) meeting with his financial advisers to discuss risk tolerance amounts to insider trading would mean that every member of Congress or congressional staffer who discusses risk tolerance as part of their retirement planning is also engaged in insider trading,\u201d Pack said, according to Politico.<\/p>\n Fidelity building<\/p>\n Cognetti also defended Wednesday her administration\u2019s decision to purchase the Fidelity Bank building next to Scranton City Hall for a municipal annex. A split city council narrowly approved that purchase in December, but it\u2019s likely to remain an issue in the context of the congressional race.<\/p>\n![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/STT-L-TENOR-0227-04.jpg\")
U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan looks on during a press conference at Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton Thursday, February 26, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/STT-L-FIDELITY-1129-02.jpg\")
The Fideilty Bank building at 338 N. Washington Ave. in Scranton on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n![\"Mayor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CVC-L-COGNETTI-0312-1.jpg\")
Mayor of Scranton and Pa. Congressional candidate Paige Cognetti speaks to press during a conference at PSEA in Plains Twp. on Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n