In a June 24, 2008, letter to the then-Chair of the House Committee on Financial Services, she called for the disclosure of Members' personal mortgage terms including "reduced rates, fee waivers, and unique benefits not accessible to the general public."

The letter stated further that, "preferential loan deals given to powerful members (of Congress) and other governmental officials raise serious questions" and she and other signatories demanded public disclosure.

That's because during the Financial Crisis it was learned that several members of Congress breached the public trust by actually profiting during the economic collapse.

And in the case of the Countrywide Financial scandal, members received what amounted to unreported financial gifts designed to garner influence on future legislative activities that could have impacted the mortgage lender's bottom line.

As a result, members of Congress must now abide by new ethics laws that require expanded financial disclosure into personal mortgage terms.

Unfortunately, the House of Representatives has taken a much narrower interpretation of the law than the Senate, making a mockery of its intent as House members can still hide below-market terms they receive.

As a result, they can call for greater transparency in government, grandstand in the media and boast how they vote for more disclosure, yet effectively hide their own personal financial details.

And that appears to be exactly what Rep. Capito has done, for despite her own demand for an investigative hearing into other members' mortgage details, she has refused to disclose her own, including those same "reduced rates, fee waivers, and unique benefits not accessible to the general public."

Casting an even darker cloud over her refusal to disclose her own personal mortgage terms are the irregularities reported in her most recent annual financial disclosure statements despite the watered-down requirements.

With mortgage details on properties in Charleston, Washington, D.C., and Lexington, Va., effectively hidden from the public, what is known is that legal records on file in the Rockbridge County Court House do not agree with those filed by Rep. Capito through the House of Representatives' financial disclosure reports for the Lexington, Va., property.

Serious irregularities stem from the legal entity responsible for the Citigroup mortgage on the property and whether it was reported and taxed properly -- issues compounded with Rep. Capito's refusal to comply with her own standard of disclosure.

At the heart of these irregularities lies public ethics and whether Rep. Capito benefited financially from preferential loan terms including two additional Citigroup mortgages that were later refinanced in 2011 when the new reporting requirements were pending.

Despite the new laws that Congress passed that promised greater transparency into its personal finances, it appears Rep. Capito has found yet another loophole to evade public disclosure.

So now the issue is whether Rep. Capito will abide by the same standard of ethics that she herself demanded from other members of Congress when she called for an investigation into their wrongdoings or flaunt the same double standards she said "raise serious questions" about her own personal finances.

Swint, a commercial real estate broker in Charleston, is the Democratic candidate for West Virginia's Second Congressional District seat.