Brynn Anderson/AP Photo
Sen. David Perdue during a campaign rally, November 13, 2020
Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue is currently engaged in a close runoff election with his challenger, Democrat Jon Ossoff, but he’s taken time from his busy schedule to give us tips on time management. As The New York Times reported today, Sen. Perdue engaged in 2,596 stock trades during his current term as a senator, until he suspended his trading in individual stocks this past May. We figured that meant he spent the first 1,945 days of his term trading, which comes to roughly 1.33 stock trades per day, all the while devoting what would be full time for anyone else to his nearly equally important job as senator.
To date, criticism of Perdue’s trading activity has focused on the particular companies whose stocks he traded while serving on Senate committees whose actions and hearings could affect the value of their stocks. In its report, the Times cited such companies as FireEye, a malware detection firm whose stock Perdue publicized while serving on the cybersecurity subcommittee; BWX Technologies, which provides nuclear components to submarines, whose stock he bought around the time that he chaired the seapower subcommittee; a range of bank stocks at the time Perdue was pushing for more bank deregulation; and a host of other concerns.
But what interested us was not just the identity of the stocks the senator traded, but their sheer quantity. Conducting 1.33 trades per day (and these weren’t trades worth 10 or 20 bucks!) is a time-consuming business, requiring diligent study. We wondered how Perdue was able to balance those activities with his ancillary duties representing Georgia in the Senate.
“It’s not so hard,” the senator signaled us, “if you can mush the two jobs together. With my concern for cybersecurity, I raised the profile of FireEye, benefiting both national security and my own interests in one and the same action. Freeing banks from onerous regulations in order that they make more money benefits the entire nation, my financial advisers assure me, and my own portfolio as well. For my constituents who feel overwhelmed by the time pressures they’re under, I heartily recommend consolidating tasks whenever possible. It’s how I’ve been able to keep my head above water!
“Happily, I’ve availed myself of expert assistance in doing this. Rather than go through pending legislation myself, I can rely on the wise counsel of my colleague, Sen. McConnell. And since last year, when the majority leader refused even to bring up bills passed by the House, there have been remarkably fewer bills coming before us. For that matter, President Trump (who, I should add, is no slouch himself at balancing the demands of his jobs as promoter, investor, and president) has sent few proposals to the Hill, preferring to act by executive order and tweet. So I’ve been lucky: This diminution of legislative duties came at times when the economic churning due to the pandemic presented many opportunities to sell stocks of companies damaged by COVID and buy stocks of those benefiting.
“It’s been important, though, not to sacrifice my public obligations in ways my constituents might consider cynical or even improper. I defy the lamestream media to find one single stock I’ve bought in mortuaries.”
