Forms offer glimpse into senators' riches

By Curt Anderson, Associated Press, June 12, 1999

WASHINGTON -- The Senate has its share of multimillionaires with such familiar names as Rockefeller and Kennedy, but its leaders are far less wealthy, according to financial disclosure forms released yesterday.

The forms also disclose other nuggets, such as Hall of Famer Jim Bunning's baseball-card-signing income and the value of 96-year-old Strom Thurmond's South Carolina burial plots.

Most Americans would consider all members of Congress well off. Their rank-and-file salary is $136,700, with floor leaders earning $151,800. Over in the House the speaker makes $175,400.

Many senators and their spouses are worth millions, and a select few are worth many times that. Among the richest in 1998 were Democrats John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin; Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey; and Republican freshman Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois.

Majority leader Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, and minority leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, are far from those financial big leagues. Assistant Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Lott's deputy, Don Nickles of Oklahoma, are also men of comparatively modest means, although Reid has a substantial real estate portfolio and Nickles's account was busy in investments.

Yesterday's forms provided a limited peek into the assets, liabilities, and outside earnings of senators; the House will release its forms Wednesday. Since congressional rules do not require precise net worth statements, the values usually are expressed in broad ranges.

Some details emerge. For example:

- Bunning, a Kentucky Republican who pitched a perfect game in 1964 for the Philadelphia Phillies, earned $34,884 from baseball card shows and other memorabilia activities. Bunning, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996, received a waiver to accept a free trip to Cooperstown, N.Y., for last July's ceremony.

- Thurmond, a South Carolina Republican, valued four burial plots in Aiken, S.C., at between $1,001-$15,000.

- Fred Thompson, a Tennessee Republican, earned $29,286 in residuals from his work as a movie actor in such films as "Hunt for Red October" and "In The Line of Fire" before he sought political office. One acting job, the portrayal of former President Andrew Jackson in a play, earned Thompson a cane worth $425 made from a tree toppled during a tornado at The Hermitage, Jackson's home outside Nashville.

- Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, reported a $5,000 advance for a planned CBS television movie of her political-mystery novel, "Capitol Offense." She also reported $5,502 in royalties and advances from the book.

- Retiring Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a New York Democrat, made less with his royalties on four scholarly books. "Pandemonium," about the relations of ethnic groups, brought in $195. The other three earned $151, $123, and $75.

- Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, earned $15,160 for his musical talents. Hatch, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has released two CDs of patriotic and inspirational music for which he composed the lyrics.

- Lynda Robb, the wife of Chuck Robb, a Virginia Republican, reported a 25 percent interest worth up to $1 million in the Texas ranch named for her father, President Lyndon B. Johnson. And she reported assets up to $1 million in LBJ Holdings, an investment company.

Among Senate leaders, Daschle listed a portfolio of two dozen mutual funds, but only one reached the $50,001 to $100,000 range. The Democratic leader, whose wife is a lobbyist, also owns two rental apartments in Washington's Virginia suburbs and one in Sioux Falls, S.D. -- each worth between $50,001 and $100,000 and producing $5,001-$15,000 in annual income.

Lott's major assets include a one-half partnership in six rental apartments in Mississippi with a combined value of $50,001-$100,000, three investment funds worth between $1,001 and $15,000, and 161 unimproved acres in his home state worth up to $100,000. Most of the family assets are in Lott's wife's name, and all are valued at $50,000 and under.

Among the richest senators, Lautenberg is still reaping huge financial rewards from Automatic Data Processing, the payroll services company he cofounded. His shares in ADP are worth $5 million to $25 million, and he has two blind trusts that together produced income of more than $5 million.

But Lautenberg's fortune pales next to Rockefeller's three blind trusts -- one worth more than $50 million, another valued between $25 million and $50 million, and a third between $5 million and $25 million.