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Reports Disclose Lawmaker Finances

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By BILLY HOUSE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 20, 2008

WASHINGTON - Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., is already receiving royalties for his autobiography to be released later this year, and Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, remains the Tampa Bay area's wealthiest member of Congress.

This and other information is available in new financial disclosure forms filed with the House and Senate covering the calendar year 2007.

Included are glimpses of assets, sources of income, transactions and debts, even gifts and free trips the lawmakers have accepted over the past year and outside boards they sat on.

For instance, Putnam, scion of a prominent family in Polk County agriculture, reported assets of between about $4 million and nearly $15 million by the end of 2007.

Martinez reported he has already received $7,875 in royalties for an upcoming book his office says will be published this year by Crown Forum. That autobiography will relate his leaving communist Cuba as a teenager to eventually become the first Cuban-American ever elected to the U.S. Senate.

Although these annual filings reveal some interesting details, they also serve a real public-interest purpose.

They help the public and media keep a better watch on potential conflicts of interest or if lawmakers may be benefiting personally from any of their legislative actions, said Massie Ritsch of the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, which monitors money in politics.

Still, there is room for much improvement, Ritsch and others said.

The forms do not require the lawmakers to report specific dollar figures that help others to determine exactly how much a lawmaker may be worth. They are required only to list values of holdings in broad ranges.

The lawmakers also do not have to list the value of their primary residences, or their related mortgages, or even the salaries they receive from their elected positions, $169,300 a year for senators and $165,200 for representatives.

However, "This information is better than nothing," Ritsch said.

Here's some information the new reports do show:

Putnam's Report

Putnam's ownership share of Putnam Groves was valued at between $1 million and $5 million. These holdings alone earned him an estimated $100,001 to $1 million in 2007.

Nationwide comparisons have not yet been done for 2007, but Putnam's overall net worth in 2006 of between $2.7 million to $12.9 million - tabulated from his filing by subtracting his reported liabilities from assets - ranked him 39th in 2006 of all 435 members of the House, latest nationwide comparisons by the Center for Public Integrity showed.

Putnam's only reported liability in 2007: a mortgage of between $250,001 and $500,000 on his row house in Washington.

Putnam also reported accepting an expense-paid trip by Time Warner Communications from Tampa to Miami and back on Nov. 29 and 30, including lodging. He was brought to Miami to participate in a Global Leadership Conference panel, said his spokesman, Keith Rupp.

No specific amount was listed for the cost of that trip. The only requirement is that trips costing more than $305 must be reported.

Florida Senators

Bill Nelson, the state's Democratic senator, listed assets at the end of 2007 of between $1.67 million and $6.6 million.

Much of that was in the form of pasture and other undeveloped land in Brevard County, for a total value of between $1.25 million and $5.5 million. He does not list any liabilities exceeding $10,000.

Nelson received free admission for him and his wife, Grace, to a Nov. 10 charity fundraiser at the Tampa Museum of Art, for a value of $2,000. He also received free attendance worth a total of $800 for him and his wife to the Dec. 31 annual celebration and fundraiser with the Orlando Ballet & Philharmonic Orchestra in Orlando.

Martinez reported personal assets by the end of 2007 of between $1.36 million and $3.55 million, most of it in stocks and other investment funds.

Martinez reported a single liability, a remaining balance of between $100,000 and $250,000 on the mortgage of rental property in Orlando that he owns jointly with his wife, Kitty.

Other House Members

Ginny Brown-Waite, a Republican from Brooksville, listed assets jointly with her husband, Harvey, of between $823,063 and $2.7 million. That includes property, stocks, bonds, money market accounts, mutual funds and IRAs.

Among their biggest transactions in 2007 was June's sale of a house in Washington for between $500,001 and $1 million (between $250,001 and $500,000 was owed on the mortgage).

Brown-Waite also reported she and a family member not identified took an expense-paid trip Aug. 13-19 to Berlin to attend a congressional program of The Aspen Institute, an organization that says it promotes nonpartisan conferences on a wide range of public policies. The financial filing does not specify the cost of the trip.

Tampa Democrat Rep. Kathy Castor reported assets at the close of 2007 of between $600,000 and about $1.4 million in stocks and other funds held jointly with her husband or her dependent children.

Her husband, William Lewis, a lawyer, is listed as having between about $200,000 and $780,000 in his own assets, including an interest in his employer, Butler Pappas LLP.

Castor reported that she continues to serve on the board of directors of 1,000 Friends of Florida, which acts as a watchdog over local, regional and state planning and growth management.

She also reported accepting an expense-paid trip with a family member to San Francisco from her husband's employer between Aug. 3-5. No details were available on the costs.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis, a Palm Harbor Republican, reported assets between $211,000 and $740,000, including those held jointly with his wife and his dependent children.

He reported a remaining liability of between $50,001 and $100,000 on a mortgage of a law office building in Holiday.

Among his transactions was the sale in January 2007 of between $15,001 and $50,000 worth of stock in the Bilirakis Law Group.

Bilirakis also reported that he traveled to Israel in August, with all but two days paid for by the American Israel Education Foundation. Before returning to Washington, he joined other lawmakers to visit Iraq. No other details were available about the costs.

GOP Rep. C.W. Bill Young, the longest serving Republican in the House, filed only a two-page report, in keeping with similarly brief filings in previous years. (By comparison, Brown-Waite's was 11 pages, and Castor's was 12 pages.)

As he did for 2006, the Indian Shores Republican reported having one itemized asset, a joint account with his wife, Beverly, at the Wright Patman Congressional Federal Credit Union. The value is listed as between $15,001 and $50,000.

Young also reported that his wife has an IRA with the same credit union, worth between $1,001 and $15,000.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@tampatrib.com .

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