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personal financial disclosure
Pearce Made Millions on Sale
Written by Paul Blumenthal on April 29, 2008 - 9:24am.
Read more: personal financial disclosure | Steve Pearce (see all terms)
Read more: personal financial disclosure | Steve Pearce (see all terms)
Source Name
Roll Call
Snippit
On Aug. 18, 2003, an executive from Key Energy Services testified during a House natural gas task force field hearing co-chaired by Reps. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) and Heather Wilson (R-N.M.). Six weeks later, Key Energy closed a deal to buy the assets of Pearce’s oil services company, apparently for $12 million, more than double the value of the company that Pearce had claimed on his financial disclosure forms.
March Madness Hits Sunlight
In his spare time (no doubt while watching nonstop basketball this weekend), our Creative Director came up with a way to visualize the estimated net worth of the top 16 wealthiest members of Congress. |
Written by Ellen Miller on March 24, 2008 - 5:10pm.
Read more: Congressional Net Worth | CRP | data visualization | OpenSecrets.org | personal financial disclosure (see all terms)
LegiStorm Posts Staffer Personal Financial Disclosures
LegiStorm - an insanely useful site of congressional information including staffer salaries and other disclosures - has, for the first time, posted PDFs of the personal financial disclosures that some staffers are required to file. For every member of Congress, at least one staffer must file a personal financial disclosure. If a staffer is making the maximum pay, as some chiefs of staff do, they must file a disclosure. Staffers hold a lot of power on Capitol Hill and are often overlooked as recipients of undue influence from outside groups. LegiStorm notes this in their press release:
Most disclosures are relatively mundane and appear to demonstrate those staffers have no discernible potential conflicts of interest, Friedly said. However, hundreds of staffer disclosures reveal ties to interest groups and lobbying firms, either as a past job, a spouse's work or a future employment agreement. Others reveal lucrative side jobs, adding as much as $100,000 or more to their federal pay.
Written by Paul Blumenthal on February 26, 2008 - 11:48am.
Read more: Congressional Staff | Insanely Useful Websites | Legistorm | Online Transparency | personal financial disclosure | Transparency (see all terms)
Real Estate Boom for McHenry
Written by Paul Blumenthal on October 22, 2007 - 10:27am.
Read more: Land Deals | Patrick McHenry | personal financial disclosure (see all terms)
Read more: Land Deals | Patrick McHenry | personal financial disclosure (see all terms)
Source Name
Roll Call
Snippit
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) took to the House floor late last spring and ripped into Democrats for blocking his proposal requiring Members to disclose the existence and value of their personal residences.
On Land Deal, Murkowski takes the Personal out of Financial Disclosure
Laura McGann of TPM Muckraker writes about an odd wrinkle in the personal financial disclosure rules that's being advanced by an aide to Sen. Lisa Murkowski to explain her failure to dislcose some property she bought. To briefly recap McGann's story, Murkowski bought some undeveloped land from Bob Penney, a politically connected Alaskan real estate developer (he's quite close to Sen. Ted Stevens). Local realtors consulted by McGann suggest the property might sell on the open market for as much as $300,000. How much Murkowski actually paid is unknown--the transaction price in Alaskan real estate deals are not public, Penney isn't talking and Murkowski didn't list the purchase on her personal financial disclosure form because, her office says, the land is for personal use:
Murkowki's office called the purchase exempt from Senate financial disclosure, citing a clause in the ethics manual which says "property which is held or maintained solely for recreational or personal purposes does not have to be reported." (ethics manual) The committee declined to comment for this story.
"She bought this for personal use just like millions of other people," Danielle Holland said. "My response to your question, times six, is it's for personal use."
Written by Bill Allison on July 16, 2007 - 5:13pm.
Read more: Alaska Ethics Investigations | personal financial disclosure | Sen. Lisa Murkowski | Sen. Ted Stevens | TPM Muckraker (see all terms)
Letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi Requesting Online Personal Financial Disclosure Reports
May 4, 2007
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker
US House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20514
Dear Madam Speaker:
We are writing to congratulate you on your effort to begin to make the work of the US House of Representatives more transparent, and urge you to take an additional, simple step of ensuring that Members' personal financial disclosure reports are freely available on the Internet as soon as they are made public.
Members of Congress, candidates and certain senior staff have been required to disclose their personal financial interests in publicly available documents since the passage of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978. The House Ethics Manual states that, "Public disclosure is intended to provide the information necessary to allow Members' constituencies to judge official conduct in light of possible financial conflicts with private holdings."
Unfortunately, Congress makes House Members' reports "public" only to individuals who can personally go to Cannon House Office building on Capitol Hill. In order to provide for real transparency, Congress should make this information available to all citizens via the Internet by providing it in an online, downloadable, searchable database.
When reporting their personal financial disclosure information, lawmakers should follow the same rules that now apply to lobbyists, campaign committees and 527-organizations which are required to disclose their information electronically.
In addition to upholding the spirit of the law, electronic filing would have benefits for the Members themselves. Lawmakers often inadvertently leave an asset or liability off their forms and have to file an amendment to correct the error. Many of these mistakes, and the bad press that follows them, could be avoided if electronic filing were the norm because a well crafted electronic personal financial disclosure form would be designed to "ask" the person filling it out for information that might be inadvertently omitted.
Where can I get information about Senator Reid's land dealings in Nevada? The News Media has not had much if anything about it.
Written by Anonymous on February 3, 2007 - 6:08pm.
Read more: congressional land deals | personal financial disclosure | Sen. Harry Reid | Find Out About Members of Congress (see all terms)
Read more: congressional land deals | personal financial disclosure | Sen. Harry Reid | Find Out About Members of Congress (see all terms)
Your Name
Bill Allison
Your Email
Answer
If you want to go beyond the recent story broken by the Los Angeles Times (which is the subject of a scathing editorial in the Investors Business Daily, and a much more tepid one from the Chicago Tribune), there's no better place to start than Reid's personal financial disclosure forms, which can be found online in PDF format here, at the OpenSecrets site. As you read through them, you'll begin to realize what a daunting task it is to follow the ins and outs of a lawmaker's investments (especially a sophisticated real estate invester like Reid). Here's a footnote Reid offers in his latest financial disclosure form to identify one fo the properties he's invested in: "A government lot located in the South one half of the Southwest one quarter of Section 34, Township 28 South, Range 63 East, MDBM."
In addition to going through Reid's personal financial disclosure forms with a fine tooth comb, you might want to try searching for real estate transactions by "Harry Reid" in some of the real estate databases that are out there (although most of the free ones--Zillow comes immediately to mind--are geared toward residential home sales rather than patches of undeveloped land). Sites like KnowX and Lexis Nexis charge for their information, but tend to have more records. I believe they both offer a la carte searching (that is, you can buy individual records), but this can get pretty expensive pretty quickly.
Full Question Text
Where can I get information about Senator Reid's land dealings in Nevada? The News Media has not had much if anything about it.
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Today's Ethics Watch
No money coming to Young’s legal defense: Alaska congressman Don Young (R) is having trouble getting contributions to his legal defense fund. A document filed with the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shows “no activity” since the fund was approved by the committee on Jan. 9. (The Hill)
Seats of Power: A Return to Skybox Lobbying?: Not long ago, lobbyists regularly entertained lawmakers and their aides in skyboxes at local sports arenas. But after a series of scandals on Capitol Hill, the law was changed to forbid congressional officials from accepting anything of value from lobbyists without repayment -- let alone the best seats in the house. (Washington Post)
Companies Start to Lift Veil on Political Spending: Ever wonder how much companies really spend to influence government through trade associations? Well, a few corporations are coming clean, or at least cleaner. (Washington Post)
Dems, GOP together nix Murtha earmark: Democrats and Republicans joined together to strip a pet project of Rep. John Murtha’s (D-Pa.) from the 2009 intelligence authorization bill — the same project Democrats defended last year. (The Hill)
NAPA launches collaboration Web site: If you’ve ever wished your federal agency could adopt wikis, use YouTube or delve into the virtual world but feared the security, technology and political barriers were too high to overcome, take heart. You’ve got supporters, and they have success stories. (NextGov)
Jefferson lawyers cite race case in change of venue request: Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-La.) lawyers have asked a federal judge to reconsider a ruling denying a change of venue for his corruption trial. (The Hill)
Jefferson Tries New Argument: Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) has asked a federal court to use an international criminal law treaty to force the depositions of three people in Nigeria who have been implicated in corruption charges levied against him. (Roll Call)
Foreign Gifts Test Rules: Even as new ethics restrictions have made it difficult for Members and staff to accept gifts — aside from token baseball caps or T-shirts — one area remains where lawmakers and their staffs can collect trinkets more or less guilt-free: foreign travel. (Roll Call)
K St.’s ‘Max Out’ Crowd: The 20 top K Street donors this election cycle have handed federal candidates nearly $1.8 million in personal cash. The majority of that money, $1.3 million, has gone to help Democrats as the party in charge of Capitol Hill looks to expand its majority. (Roll Call)
Senator’s Ties to Real Estate Draw Criticism: He has made millions as a title insurance executive, landlord and real estate developer in this college town, where the economy, despite trouble nationwide, is still growing nicely. Now, as a United States senator, with the mortgage mess fueling a national economic slowdown, Richard C. Shelby has more say over the revamping of housing finance laws than almost anyone else in Congress. (New York Times)
Oil Lobby Reaches Out to Citizens Peeved at the Pump: Faced with a national outcry over the high price of gasoline and soaring profits for energy companies, the oil and gas industry is waging an unusually pricey campaign to burnish its image. (Washington Post)
[ More in the Archive ]
Seats of Power: A Return to Skybox Lobbying?: Not long ago, lobbyists regularly entertained lawmakers and their aides in skyboxes at local sports arenas. But after a series of scandals on Capitol Hill, the law was changed to forbid congressional officials from accepting anything of value from lobbyists without repayment -- let alone the best seats in the house. (Washington Post)
Companies Start to Lift Veil on Political Spending: Ever wonder how much companies really spend to influence government through trade associations? Well, a few corporations are coming clean, or at least cleaner. (Washington Post)
Dems, GOP together nix Murtha earmark: Democrats and Republicans joined together to strip a pet project of Rep. John Murtha’s (D-Pa.) from the 2009 intelligence authorization bill — the same project Democrats defended last year. (The Hill)
NAPA launches collaboration Web site: If you’ve ever wished your federal agency could adopt wikis, use YouTube or delve into the virtual world but feared the security, technology and political barriers were too high to overcome, take heart. You’ve got supporters, and they have success stories. (NextGov)
Jefferson lawyers cite race case in change of venue request: Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-La.) lawyers have asked a federal judge to reconsider a ruling denying a change of venue for his corruption trial. (The Hill)
Jefferson Tries New Argument: Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) has asked a federal court to use an international criminal law treaty to force the depositions of three people in Nigeria who have been implicated in corruption charges levied against him. (Roll Call)
Foreign Gifts Test Rules: Even as new ethics restrictions have made it difficult for Members and staff to accept gifts — aside from token baseball caps or T-shirts — one area remains where lawmakers and their staffs can collect trinkets more or less guilt-free: foreign travel. (Roll Call)
K St.’s ‘Max Out’ Crowd: The 20 top K Street donors this election cycle have handed federal candidates nearly $1.8 million in personal cash. The majority of that money, $1.3 million, has gone to help Democrats as the party in charge of Capitol Hill looks to expand its majority. (Roll Call)
Senator’s Ties to Real Estate Draw Criticism: He has made millions as a title insurance executive, landlord and real estate developer in this college town, where the economy, despite trouble nationwide, is still growing nicely. Now, as a United States senator, with the mortgage mess fueling a national economic slowdown, Richard C. Shelby has more say over the revamping of housing finance laws than almost anyone else in Congress. (New York Times)
Oil Lobby Reaches Out to Citizens Peeved at the Pump: Faced with a national outcry over the high price of gasoline and soaring profits for energy companies, the oil and gas industry is waging an unusually pricey campaign to burnish its image. (Washington Post)
[ More in the Archive ]