Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) waited almost two years before notifying the House ethics committee of a loan he made to Vernon Jackson, the Kentucky businessman now in prison for bribing him, according to financial disclosures released yesterday.
The debt’s late disclosure to Congress could further hobble Jefferson’s defense when his case goes to trial in January and embolden the members in both parties calling for his resignation. According to Kentucky media reports, Jackson reported the loan to the FBI in August 2005.
Jefferson’s ethics committee amendment came amid a flurry of other financial dealings revealed in 2006 financial statements, which most lawmakers made public yesterday. As presidential candidates and opposition-party researchers pored over rivals’ reports, former President Bill Clinton’s stock holdings in an Indian “call center” company sparked new criticism of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) record on jobs.
A Jefferson spokesman declined yesterday to answer questions about the loan to Jackson. In a May 15 letter to Reps. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) and Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), the chairman and ranking member of the ethics panel, Jefferson said the $10,000 “was extended on a personal basis to cover personal and family expenses” between April and June 2005.
The loan, which remains outstanding, may play a more infamous role in the government’s case against the embattled Louisianan. The $90,000 found in Jefferson’s freezer came out of the $100,000 offered him by government informant Lori Mody in July 2005, but little is known of the remaining $10,000 — other than its FBI status as accounted-for.
CLINTON’S HOLDINGS
Former President Bill Clinton made millions of dollars in speaking engagements last year, according to Sen. Clinton’s report, including a speech broadcast in Hong Kong on Sept. 10, 2006. He also holds between $15,000 and $50,000 of stock in Easy Bill Limited, an India-based call-center business created to tap a lucrative market that has accelerated the outsourcing of U.S. jobs.
The disclosure is renewing charges from presidential rivals that Sen. Clinton, co-chairman of the Senate India Caucus, would be a more vocal advocate for Indian industry than U.S. workers if elected. The Confederation of Indian Industry visited Clinton’s Senate office last week to tamp down U.S. ire over outsourcing by talking up so-called “reverse outsourcing,” in which Indian companies send jobs back to the U.S., according to South Asian media reports.
Sen. Clinton’s disclosure shows a partnership owned by the former president that holds stock in Easy Bill, British jewel giant Garrard and the Yucaipa Global Partnership Fund, an arm of the Yucaipa Cos. Company, where Bill Clinton serves as a director.
Bill Clinton also received book royalties from Random House last year for a still-unpublished manuscript. The couple reported between $30,000 and $100,000 in liabilities from monthly-balance payments on joint credit cards.
The former president’s spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment on the Easy Bill holdings.
THE 2008 FIELD
Clinton’s opponents in the White House hunt reported multiple new holdings and sales of their own.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) received a $15,000 publishing advance from W Publishing Corp. for a new book called “From Power to Purpose.” Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) reported ethics committee approval of a $370,000 advance against royalties from his 1995 book “Dreams From My Father,” which became a bestseller as his political star rose.
Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) wife, Jackie, a business consultant who sits on several corporate boards, exercised between $50,000 and $100,000 of stock options in Cardiome Pharma, which specializes in cardiovascular medicines.
PAYING THE RENT
Several senior lawmakers lead double lives as landlords, according to yesterday’s disclosures.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and her husband, Richard Blum, reported between $30,000 and $100,000 in rent income from a condominium in Kauai, Hawaii, and a property at Lake Tahoe. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her husband, Paul, reported between $15,000 and $50,000 in rent from a property in the vineyard-rich Napa Valley.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) earned a more modest maximum sum of $15,000 from rent on a unit in his personal residence.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) charged for rent on the carriage house of the million-dollar home he shares with wife and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.
LIABILITIES
In addition to his Jackson loan, Jefferson reported several hefty debts of his own. The embattled Democrat paid between $100,000 and $250,000 in an installment of apparent obligation to Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television.
Jefferson also holds a demand note as large as $100,000 payable to Noah Samara, the telecom CEO who figures prominently in the government case against him, and two demand notes in New Orleans worth as much as $100,000.
Several fellow lawmakers reported outstanding personal loans made to their campaigns, including House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), who is owed between $250,000 and $500,000.
One House member facing heightened ethical scrutiny managed to pay off debts last year: Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) cleared between $2 million and $10 million in debts to two home-state companies.
TAKING CARE
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) has struggled in recent weeks with Republicans who blast him for not following through on promises of transparent earmarking. But in his financial disclosure, alongside the note of a February 2006 trip to Jamaica paid for by the nonprofit Aspen Institute, Obey took extra care.
“I insist that when this form is filed it also contains … the standard letter of invitation from the Aspen Institution [sic] which makes clear that at their conferences no lobbyists or anyone they represent are either allowed to attend or to finance in any way the conferences involved,” Obey wrote.
Kevin Bogardus, Brittney Moraski, Ilan Wurman and Lisa Chapman contributed to this report. |
