Senate leaders are doing well financially thanks to a combination of their $183,500 salary, assets and relatively low debt, according to 2007 disclosure reports released Friday. Some colleagues, however, have run up large legal bills in connection with political scandals. The annual disclosure forms, while not exact, offer a glimpse of how lawmakers are doing financially. Here's a sampling:
ONE PAYCHECK
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., listed that salary as their only earned income last year. But don't fret for them: Reid owns millions of dollars worth of land in Nevada, as well as bonds. The larger assets on McConnell's financial report are held by his wife, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.
PINCHED BY SCANDAL
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, reported owing up to $50,000 to a Washington law firm, Williams & Connolly, for legal fees incurred by a Justice Department investigation into repairs made to his home.
THE ARISTOCRATS
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., reported millions in assets and unearned income of $2 million to $11 million. He owed $5 million to $25 million on a bank loan. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., reported trust funds of $20 million to $100 million and a mortgage on the family's Hyannis Port, Mass., compound of $1 million to $5 million.
THE MINNESOTANS
Republican Norm Coleman had no other earned income aside from his salary. Democrat Amy Klobuchar, the former Hennepin County attorney, listed $1,929 in salary from the county and $452.86 in royalties from a publisher in Illinois. Under transactions by "you, your spouse or dependent child," she listed 13 sales of investment funds totaling between $111,000 and $440,000 and 10 purchases totaling between $108,000 and $395,000.
ASSOCIATED PRESS,
STAFF REPORTS
