U.S. Rep. Tom Petri calls for ethics probe

WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom Petri says he is “distressed by the innuendo” that there is a conflict between his personal financial interests and his official actions in Washington so he took the unusual step on Sunday of asking the House Ethics Committee to investigate.

“To end any questions, I am requesting that the committee formally review the matter and report back,” the Wisconsin Republican wrote in a letter to the committee that his office released Monday.

His move follows a Gannett Wisconsin Media Washington bureau investigation of his advocacy at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill for Oshkosh Corp., a defense contractor in his district, while he owned hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock in the company. His stock increased in value by 30 percent while he championed Oshkosh’s interests.