Brent M. Fish

Real Estate, Business and Fly Fishing advocate

[Brent M. Fish @bfishFishRE]

So if your body is in but your arm is over the line you are offsides? This is a horrible rule @FIFAWorldCup

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

I have two stacks on my desk. The left stack is financial disclosure forms from members of Congress. The right stack is waivers for members who filed their financial disclosures late.

The right stack is always taller.

On Wednesday morning, I watched a soldier get arrested on CNN.

I am a Disclosure Analyst for the House Ethics Committee. I have held this position for eleven years. My job is to receive the forms, verify their completeness, and file them. I do not investigate. I do not flag. I do not refer. I file. I have a lanyard. The lanyard says ETHICS.

The soldier's name is Gannon Ken Van Dyke. He is thirty-eight years old. He was stationed at Fort Bragg. He was Special Forces. In December, he created an account on a prediction market called Polymarket. On January 2nd, he bet $32,500 that the president of Venezuela would be removed from power. On January 3rd, he helped remove the president of Venezuela from power. He collected $409,881.

He has been charged with five federal crimes. Commodities fraud. Wire fraud. Unlawful use of confidential government information. Theft of nonpublic government information. Unlawful monetary transaction. The Department of Justice called it "the first-ever insider trading prosecution on event contracts."

I watched this on the television in our break room. Then I walked back to my desk and processed a late financial disclosure from a member of the House Financial Services Committee who purchased $250,000 in bank stocks eleven days before his subcommittee held a closed-door hearing on proposed capital reserve changes.

The filing was forty-seven days late. The STOCK Act requires disclosure within forty-five days. The penalty for late filing is $200.

I waived it.

I waive most of them. In 2021, fifty-four members of Congress and senior staff violated the reporting rules. The fines were minimal. Most were waived. I have a form for the waiver. The form has a box that says "Reason." I write "administrative delay." In ethics, "administrative delay" means the member's office forgot and then remembered when a reporter called. My approval rate is one hundred percent. In any other field, that number would trigger an audit. In mine, it is called thoroughness.

Let me show you what I processed this year.

January. A senator on the Armed Services Committee sold defense contractor shares worth $1.2 million. Three days later, his committee received a classified briefing that the Iran campaign had exceeded its projected cost by 340%. The stock dropped 8%. He filed the disclosure sixty-one days late. I calculated the fine. $200. His chief of staff asked if it could be waived. He did not ask what the senator traded on. Nobody asks that. The form does not have a field for it. I waived the fine. The senator's portfolio returned 23.4% in 2025. The S&P 500 returned 16.8%.

February. A representative on the Energy and Commerce Committee bought pharmaceutical stocks worth $400,000. Two weeks later, her committee advanced a bill that would extend patent exclusivity for the exact drug class she purchased. The stocks rose 14%. She filed on time. There was no fine. There was no investigation. There was nothing to investigate because buying stocks in companies regulated by your own committee is not illegal. It is legal. The STOCK Act made it legal by making it disclosed. In Congress, disclosed means legal. In my office, legal means filed.

March. A member whose spouse manages a portfolio worth $9.2 million reported forty-three separate transactions in a single quarter. Twelve of them were in sectors directly affected by legislation the member co-sponsored. The timing on eight of those twelve was within a two-week window of committee action. I logged all forty-three. None were flagged. We do not flag. We file.

I asked my supervisor once what would happen if I flagged a filing. She said we do not have a form for that. I never asked again.

In 2020, I processed 847 disclosures. In 2023, 1,211. In 2025, 1,614. The number of enforcement actions in each of those years was zero. The numerator changes. The denominator does not.

I want to tell you about the soldier again.

He made $409,881. He tried to delete his Polymarket account by calling customer service and saying he lost access to his email. He moved his profits into a foreign cryptocurrency vault and then into a new brokerage account. He used his real identity. He placed thirteen bets. Every single one was connected to an operation he personally participated in.

In my eleven years, I have processed disclosures from members of Congress who traded on:

Pending FDA approvals they learned about in committee.
Defense appropriations they voted on.
Trade policy they negotiated.
Pandemic response measures they drafted.
Interest rate decisions they were briefed on before the public.

None of them have been charged. None of them have been investigated by the Department of Justice. None of them have been referred to the SEC. The STOCK Act has produced zero prosecutions since it was signed on April 4th, 2012.

Fourteen years. Five hundred and thirty-five members. $635 million in trades last year alone. Zero cases.

My daughter asked me once what happens when someone breaks the rules. I told her we write it down. She asked what happens after that. I said it depends. She was nine. She is twenty now. It does not depend. Nothing happens after that.

The soldier made $409,881 and faces decades in prison. Nancy Pelosi entered Congress in 1987 with a portfolio worth approximately $785,000. It is now worth $133.7 million. That is a return of 16,930%. The Dow Jones returned 2,300% over the same period. Professional fund managers who beat the market for three consecutive years are considered exceptional. She has beaten it for thirty-seven. If a hedge fund produced those returns, the SEC would subpoena the records on a Thursday. She produced them from a building with a chapel and a gift shop.

She announced her retirement last year. No investigation was opened. No disclosure was flagged. Her filings were on time. In my office, on time means compliant. Compliant means closed.

I want to tell you about the fine.

$200. That is the maximum penalty for violating the STOCK Act's disclosure requirements. $200 for a member of Congress whose portfolio gained $4.7 million in a single quarter. I calculated what $200 represents as a percentage of $4.7 million. It is 0.004%. I could not find a comparison that made it meaningful. It is less than the price of the parking pass in the Rayburn garage. It is less than lunch at the members' dining room if you order the crab cakes, which I am told are excellent though I eat at my desk.

Since 2012, thirty-one bills have been introduced to restrict congressional trading. I keep a list. The list is longer than the STOCK Act itself.

On March 5th, 2026, a representative from Michigan introduced the thirty-second. He called it the "No Getting Rich in Congress Act." The bill would prohibit the President, Vice President, members of Congress, and their spouses from trading individual stocks, cryptocurrency, futures, and commodities while in office.

The bill was referred to committee. The committee has not scheduled a hearing. The committee is chaired by a member whose spouse executed $2.1 million in trades last year.

The bill will be reviewed. In my office, reviewed means read. Read means acknowledged. Acknowledged means a status has been assigned. A status is the absence of an action that has been given a name so it looks like one.

The soldier used classified information to make $409,881 on a prediction market. He has been charged with five federal crimes. The Department of Justice announced the case on the same day I processed three disclosures from members who traded on committee knowledge worth a combined $3.8 million.

The difference between the soldier and the members is not what they did. It is the building they did it in. He did it from Fort Bragg. They did it from the Capitol. He used a prediction market. They used the New York Stock Exchange. He bet on a military operation. They bet on the legislation they write.

He did not write the law. They did. They wrote the STOCK Act. Then they funded its enforcement at zero dollars. Then they set its maximum penalty at $200. Then they gave my office the authority to waive it. Then they traded $635 million.

The soldier flew to Caracas. He breached a compound. He put his body between a mission and a bullet. The people who ordered the operation were in a building with a credenza and sparkling water. They did not go to Caracas. They went to their brokerage accounts. The soldier made $409,881 and is now in federal custody. The people who knew what he was going to do before he did it made more and filed less. His prosecution is not a failure of the system. It is the system. One conviction per decade, at the lowest level, so the briefing slides can say enforcement exists. The $409,881 is not the crime. It is the cost of making $635 million look supervised.

In my field, we call this self-regulation.

The soldier's Polymarket account has been frozen. His military career is over. He will spend years in federal prison. My office will process every congressional disclosure filed this year. Every trade logged. Every $200 fine calculated and waived. The system is immaculate.

Fourteen years. Zero prosecutions. $635 million a year. A 16,930% return.

I have not leaked a document. I have not filed a complaint. I have not deviated from the process one single time. The process was written by the people whose forms I process.

As long as the disclosures go up and the cases don't, my performance review says I am meeting expectations.

My lanyard still says ETHICS. In eleven years, nobody has asked me to define the word.

[Chris Papst @chrispapst]

The LIST now includes horses:

Maryland has lost trademark/intellectual property rights to the Preakness Stakes, which were bought by Churchill Downs in Kentucky.

UPDATED LIST of what has happened to Maryland residents in 2026 (followed by 2025).

2026:
-Maryland lost Preakness Stakes trademark rights to Churchill Downs
-Potomac River ranked nation’s “most endangered river” (American Rivers)
-2nd most expensive state to raise a child (lendingtree)
-Paint fee enacted/$2.25 up to 5 gallons
-Unemployment rate jumps to 4.3%
-$1.4 Billion budget defect
-Massive Sheraton Hotel closes in downtown Baltimore
-WalletHub names Maryland 2nd worst U.S. state to start a business in 2026
-Proposed U.S. Congressional map introduced to eliminate bipartisan state representation
-High School graduation rate falls 1.2% to 86.4%, despite massive funding spike
-12,127 residents lost to domestic migration (6th most in US, per Census)
-Maryland named 6th worst state for tax competitiveness (per: Tax Foundation)

2025:
-$3 Billion budget deficit
-$1.6 Billion tax/fee hike
-Moody’s credit downgrade
-vehicle emissions/registration fee spike
-state hiring freeze/job cuts
-soaring utility prices (highest in America according to Doxo)
-Lost IonQ’s quantum computing hub
-Lost FBI headquarters
-Lost Washington Commanders
-Six Flags America closed
-New 3% IT tax
-Vending machine tax 6%
-Vehicle excise tax up to 6.5%
-$5 tire purchase fee
-Sports betting tax hike (15% to 20%)
-Cannabis tax increase (9% to 12%)
-Car title fee increase ($100 to $200)
-3.5% car rental tax
-Fishing license increase ($25.50 to $52)
-Boating and Title Registration Fee ($24 to $70)
-Speed Camera Ticket increases
-Historic car registration changed from 20 years to model year 1999 or older
-Public school enrollment falls 11,322 students (1.3%)

[Brent M. Fish @bfishFishRE]

@BernieSanders Why? So Billions can go missing? Get your house in order before you ask for more.

[US Oil & Gas Association @US_OGA]

Good evening from the Coconut Tree
@KamalaHarris

Ma’am, (can we call you Ma'am?) we’ll keep this factual and review your actual record, not your reboot.

As a U.S. Senator (2017-2021), you were an original cosponsor of the Green New Deal resolution (S.Res. 59).

It directed the US to “divest from fossil fuels,” phase out oil, gas, and coal production and remake the entire economy around subsidized green mandates.

Your 2020 campaign was shorter than a Garden Gnome but managed to work in these gems:

You told the CNN town hall:

“There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”

On Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show:

“We will end fracking once and for all” while committing to the Green New Deal.

Your $10 trillion climate plan called for no new fossil fuel leases on federal lands, phasing out all oil & gas (even if renewables weren’t ready), a carbon fee, and doubling U.S. payments to the UN Green Climate Fund.

Before that, as California Attorney General (2011-2017), you built a reputation suing our industry.

The lawfare you pursued laid the foundation for the collapse of the California refining industry we are witnessing right now

You even sued the Obama-Biden administration to block new offshore permits off California’s coast.

Remember 2022?

As VP, national gas prices hit $5+/gallon (over $6 in parts of CA).

You told Americans those record prices were “a price to pay for democracy” for Ukraine.

But apparently the freedom of millions of Irainian citizens are not worth $3.97 a gallon now?

That seems - I don't know - selective?

Bottom line.

California still pays the nation’s highest gas prices — thanks to the taxes, mandates, and anti-production policies you championed for years.

Flying cross country (made possible by jet fuel) to North Carolina to make a video isn't going to change that.

And those are the facts - unburdened by what has been.

[Brent M. Fish @bfishFishRE]

Disgraceful what is happening in a state I once called home.

[🦀 Josh Seefried @JoshSeefried]

This is what the last day in Maryland’s general assembly looks like. Balloons and confetti.

What exactly is being celebrated? My electric bill is insane, taxes have gone up, potholes are destroying my car…. But sure. Hey. Let’s pop bottles.

I’m mad at these elitist folks. These elites have figured out if they can terrify you with what is happening in Washington DC, you won’t notice how they are failing on the state and local level.

This isn’t about just Maryland either. This is happening across the country. Elite politicians bark about national politics so they can get more views and donors.

It’s wrong. You deserve better this this. America and Maryland deserve better than this photo while real people suffer.

[Nick shirley @nickshirleyy]

Happy Tax Day! May we all fund learing centers across the country with our hard earned tax dollars 🙏🏼

[Whale Psychiatrist ™️ @k_ovfefe2]

Don't forget to file your taxes by tomorrow.

Somalians are depending on it!

[Retard Finder @IfindRetards]

@ericswalwell In case you need a boost after all the Ls

You won last week.

[Brent M. Fish @bfishFishRE]

@MattBarrie Not irrational
No sense in having these games in football stadiums any longer

[Jason D. Meister 🇺🇸 @jason_meister]

Imagine throwing a “No Kings” protest after your party refused to hold a primary, coronated Kamala without a single vote, sued to keep RFK Jr. off the ballot, and attempted to remove Trump from state ballots only after your illegal lawfare scheme failed.

If there was a modern day monarchy in America there would only be one party you could point to.

The Democrats.

[Brent M. Fish @bfishFishRE]

@MarquesPfaff Good mid majors > mediocre P4’s and what the people want

[Brent M. Fish @bfishFishRE]

@T_Oglesby22 The metrics don’t place the teams, people do.
And they are biased…. And wrong

[Brent M. Fish @bfishFishRE]

@Aaron_Torres Couldn’t agree more. The bias towards medicore power conference teams is astounding. They. Are. Not. Better

[Aaron Torres @Aaron_Torres]

High Point went 30-4, hasn't lost since mid-January - and wouldn't have sniffed an at large bid

Miami (OH) went undefeated in the regular season, finished 31-1 and ended up in Dayton

We REALLY need to re-evaluate how we go about selecting at-large teams for the NCAA Tournament

[Brent M. Fish @bfishFishRE]

@franfraschilla @Cuse_MBB @BIGEASTMBB @DukeMBB How about all those mid majors, Fran?! Committee once again showed bias to power conferences and got it wrong….Other than my Frogs 😁

[Brent M. Fish @bfishFishRE]

Good mid-major > mediocre P5 @MarchMadnessMBB committee gets it wrong. Crappy P5 teams don’t deserve to be in and conference champs don’t deserve a play-in game

[Brent M. Fish @bfishFishRE]

@MikeMonaco_ But a mediocre P5 with 12 losses is a lock… 🤔

[Brent M. Fish @bfishFishRE]

@MarchMadnessMBB selection is biased. You win your conference or are a high mid major that goes undefeated and you have to play in. But are a 12 loss mediocre power 5 and are a lock. Joke

[Brent M. Fish @bfishFishRE]

@Super70sSports Regular season and / or conference tourney winners in high mid majors should always get in over average p4 teams