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Center for Responsive Politics: Lawmakers’ worth is too hard to determine
WASHINGTON -
Every year lawmakers and members of the executive branch are required to disclose their personal investments — their stocks, bonds and mutual funds, their mortgages, their income (excluding their government salaries), transactions, gifts they receive and more. Doing so allows the public to monitor potential conflicts of interest and decide if their lawmakers are backing up their political words with personal action. It’s difficult, however, to get a sense of just how much the members of Congress have invested because the forms only require that they report what range of values the asset falls in. Because it’s not required, very few members of Congress go for full disclosure and report the exact numerical value of their investments. In 2006, only Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, reported the exact value of every asset, transaction and liability. In 2005, only three lawmakers put the exact value for all assets, compared to four in 2004. If members were required to do so, watchdog groups and journalists could keep better tabs on potential conflicts of interest and the public would have a clearer idea of what their representatives are worth. … Read more at opensecrets.org/news/2008/05/determining-a-lawmakers-worth.html |
