Finances are laid bare

15 Jun 2006 // In filing financial disclosure forms along with other members of Congress last month, Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) made scant reference to his business interests now being investigated by the FBI.

He reported that his wife, Andrea, drew a salary of undisclosed amount from the ANJ Group LLC, according to forms that were made public yesterday.

Jefferson’s family set up ANJ in 2001, and by 2005 it had received $455,000 in payments from a company owned by Vernon Jackson, who has pleaded guilty to bribing Jefferson with the money, according to court records.

Jefferson’s disclosure form gives no hint of three other businesses connected to the Justice Department’s investigation of him. There is no mention of W2 International Broadband Services, a company registered in 2004 in Nigeria in which four of the lawmaker’s daughters hold equity; no mention of International Broad Band Services, a company similarly structured as W2 but registered last year in Ghana; and no reference to Global Energy & Environmental Services, in which Jefferson’s daughters were principals, according to legal documents.

If Jefferson’s daughters have financial interests in those firms, Jefferson would not have to report it on the disclosure forms unless they were dependent children. Jefferson’s spokeswoman, Melanie Roussell, declined to comment on alleged financial interests not listed on the form.

Meanwhile, the slew of filings made public yesterday brought to light a broad array of personally revealing and sometimes quirky details of lawmakers’ private lives.

PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS
Two senators weighing White House bids in 2008 incurred new family credit-card debt last year. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) placed between $15,000 and $50,000 in a Senate Federal Credit Union account. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) reported three small new charge-card debts and one American Express Platinum debt of $100,001-$250,000, all in his wife’s name.

The McCains maintain a multimillion-dollar asset portfolio, most of it stemming from Cindy McCain’s lucrative family liquor-distribution business.

McCain’s partner in campaign-finance reform, Sen. Russl Feingold (D-Wis.), reported a more modest net worth of no more than $116,000. He took out a second mortgage on his home last year, worth between $50,001 and $100,000.

GAMBLING
House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) reported winning $2,700 playing slot machines at the Kewadin Casinos on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) reported winning $19,500 at the Cities of Gold Casino in Pojoaque, N.M. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) reported winning more than $800,000 last year playing the lottery.

BOOK ROYALTIES
Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) reported a $250,000 advance on his book, Herding Cats: A Life in Politics. Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) reported more than $100,000 in royalties from Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) inked a deal last January giving him a $1.9 million advance for two nonfiction books and a children’s book. At least two likely presidential hopefuls have reported plans to write books that could serve as campaign tools. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) reported that he has agreed to write a book with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, on the environment. McCain revealed that he has “several agreements” with Random House to write books.

SPOUSES
A few lawmakers reported large income streams from their spouses. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) reported that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, received $7.5 million for speeches worldwide. His highest fee was $350,000 for speeches in the Canary Islands and Toronto.

Other congressional spouses drew new salaries last year from campaign work, including the wife of House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas).

LANDOWNERS
Several members made a profit on real estate. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) sold 31 of his 41 acres of farmland in Stafford, Mo., in a deal valued at $100,000-$250,000, while Jefferson sold a New Orleans house in that same price range.

The wife of Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) acquired a second home in Thessaloniki, Greece, which had been his father-in-law’s family home, according to disclosures. Ney reported $15,000-$50,000 of income on the European abode but listed it as a rental property.

Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) continued buying land in Nicaragua, spending $50,001-$100,000 for a lot in San Juan del Sur. He recently married the daughter of a deposed Guatemalan leader and alleged dictator.

Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) complemented his interest in the Central Valley ranch long owned by his family with a new rental property in his wife’s name, valued at $250,000-$500,000. Pombo faces ethics questions over his ranching, including a complaint last month from the left-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) over legislative acts allegedly intended to benefit his family.

Across the aisle, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) reported enhanced value on property he owns in Sunny Isles, Fla., in addition to a Dominican villa that held steady in value. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) sold farmland in Phillips City, Ark., a deal worth $100,000-$250,000.

PAYING DOWN DEBT
Several lawmakers reported paying off the lion’s share of their credit-card balances in 2005. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) cleared up charge-card debt that had hit at least $80,000 in 2003 but reported higher margin loans with three brokerage houses that could have helped fund multiple new mutual-fund investments he made last year.

Rep. Gary Ackerman’s ((D-N.Y.) form reported two cards with outstanding balances of $25,000-$65,000, an improvement from last year’s assorted credit-card liabilities worth as much as $100,000. Ackerman’s asset-backed personal-loan debt, however, more than tripled since 2003 and now stands $50,000-$100,000.

Barton closed his revolving charge account with Bank One, and Rep. Howard Berman (Calif.), the ethics committee’s new ranking Democrat, reported clearing out MBNA and Citibank balances of $10,000-$15,000. Berman still has $10,000-$15,000 on a Discover card, according to his report.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) reported a new spousal charge balance $10,000-$15,000, but he noted that the Visa debt was paid off within 30 days. Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) paid off outstanding charges in full, and Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) reported no more debt on Target and SunTrust credit cards along with a remaining balance on a Citibank business account.

Jefferson amended his disclosure to add a revolving charge account with MBNA that held a $15,001-$50,000 balance.