Forms reveal South
Carolina senators' finances
JENNIFER
HOLLAND Associated
Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. - U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and
Jim DeMint are financially comfortable, but neither South Carolina
Republican is in the upper echelon of a Senate increasingly known as
the "Millionaires Club."
The latest forms released this week offer a glimpse at senators'
personal finances, but their assets and liabilities are reported in
broad ranges that make it impossible to know exactly how much each
lawmaker is worth.
Graham reported assets between $326,000 and $733,000, in IRAs,
mutual funds, other investment funds, banking accounts and
property.
He holds stock in Applied Microcircuits Corp., Cisco Systems
Inc., Citigroup Inc., EMC Corp., Intel Corp., Nokia Corp. and Siebel
Systems worth $6,000 to $92,000.
Graham owns a Washington, D.C., townhouse worth
$250,000-$500,000. He reported $5,000 to $15,000 in annual income
from the property from renting out a room, Graham spokesman Kevin
Bishop said. He also owns property at Cross Creek Plantation that is
undeveloped in Seneca and worth $1,000 to $15,000.
DeMint, who was elected to the Senate in November after three
terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, reported assets of
$32,000 to $130,000 in IRAs and stocks that generated income of
$3,200 to $8,500.
"It just goes to show you don't have to have millions in personal
wealth to serve in the Senate - just a lot of good ideas and hard
work," said DeMint's spokesman Wesley Denton.
DeMint sold stock in BB&T Corp. worth $2,000 to $30,000, in
the middle of his campaign for Senate last year.
The forms are filed annually by the 535 members of Congress, who
must report outside income sources, assets, liabilities, gifts,
speaking fees and travel paid by special interests.
Some of the Senate's wealthiest members are Senate Majority
Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who has blind trusts valued between $7
million and $35 million; Sen. Jon S. Corzine, D-N.J., had total
assets in the range of $85.5 million to $261.5 million; Sen. John D.
Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., reported three blind trusts worth more than
$80 million. And Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., has a blind trust worth
more than $50 million and owns the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team,
also valued at more than $50
million. |