Dear John,
This is an outrage. As my state of North Carolina faces the harsh reality of the destructive effects of COVID-19, my Senator Richard Burr (who chairs the Intelligence Committee) received a briefing on the projected impact of the pandemic, then turned around and sold $1.72 million in stock before the market dipped 30% and our economy started crashing. He told the public not to worry, while he cashed in. Now he’s sitting safe and comfortable while our communities live in fear and crisis.
We’re calling for Senator Richard Burr’s immediate resignation and prosecution for insider trading. Burr’s actions are morally corrupt and his resignation would send a clear message that this behavior should not and will not be tolerated from those who claim to be public servants.
As the Chair of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Burr has access to the most highly classified information about threats to America’s security. Instead of preparing the people of our country for a disastrous health pandemic, Burr downplayed the impending crisis and instead used that information to protect his own profits.
A leaked recording from over a month ago on February 27th catches Burr during a private round-table luncheon, warning a VIP group of the wealthy and elite that the outbreak would be “more aggressive in its transmission than anything we’ve seen in recent history.” To the public, however, he merely claimed that the US is “better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats,” failing to provide the American people the same opportunity he leveraged to prepare for the crisis to come.
The time is now to bail out the people of North Carolina — and all Americans — during this pandemic, not corporations and wealthy Senators.
We’ve had enough of Burr’s manipulation and corruption. Sign this petition and join us in calling for Senator Burr’s immediate resignation. We must send a clear signal that our elected officials were sent to Washington to protect our health, safety, and future, not their own pocketbooks.
Our community in North Carolina has some of the weakest worker protections and one of the largest uninsured populations. Now, with COVID-19 threatening our health and safety, we have little capacity to ensure we survive. Burr has taken over $800,000 from Big Oil and Gas while blocking action on climate change and having one of the worst environmental voting records in Congress. This is a Senator who puts his own profit ahead of the people he claims to represent and we will no longer stand for it.
Together we rise,
Ashley McDermott, Regional Organizer
