After delay, Franken, Bachmann, Cravaack and Peterson release financial filings
UPDATE - This post has been updated with Sen. Al Franken's financial records.
WASHINGTON - Two months after the other members of Minnesota's congressional delegation released their mandatory annual financial disclosures, U.S. Reps. Michele Bachmann, Chip Cravaack and Collin Peterson filed theirs this week.
Members of Congress are only required to release their holdings in broad ranges so an exact accounting is impossible. Assets and liabilities belonging to spouses are also reported on the forms though the spouse is not required to disclose his or her income.
Still, the forms give a good sense of how a member invests his or her money and give a sense of the member's relative wealth. You can see a summary of the other members of the delegation's finances here.
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This round of filings leaves DFL U.S. Sen. Al Franken the only member of Minnesota's congressional delegation to have yet not released his annual financial disclosure. Franken likely remains the wealthiest member of the state's delegation. In 2011, he reported assets worth between $4.5 and $12.9 million.
DFL U.S. Sen. Al Franken remains the wealthiest member of Minnesota's 10 member congressional delegation with a net worth somewhere between $4 and $12.5 million. Like most members of the delegation, Franken is heavily invested in a wide variety of mutual funds and does not own any individual stocks. Unlike most members, Franken also has some unusual investments, including tax-exempt municipal bonds issued by local authorities in Minnesota and a variety of mortgage bonds issued by GNMA, the government-owned mortgage issuer. One of Franken's most valuable investments is in real estate. He owns a co-op apartment in New York City valued between $1 and $5 million. Franken also has a mortgage on a home in Minneapolis that is worth between $100,000 and $250,000.
Franken's outside income from his investments, along with rent from the New York co-op brought in between $93,000 and $257,000 last year. His past career as a comedian and actor also shows up on the disclosure forms. Franken lists royalty agreements for his books, acting work on "Saturday Night Live," and residual payments for appearances in films such as "Stuart Saves His Family" and "Trading Places."
Bachmann, a Republican, owns assets worth between $1.26 and $2.8 million, placing her among the wealthiest members of the delegation. The bulk of the assets she and her husband, Marcus, hold come from his business, a Christian counseling clinic, the clinic's property and a stake in Marcus Bachmann's family farm in Wisconsin. Those properties also generated most of Bachmann's unearned income, between $12,000 and $40,000. Bachmann's remaining assets are invested in a variety of mutual funds, including $15,000 to $50,000 in a Fidelity fund that focuses on gold and the gold industry.
Bachmann also lists her book contract with the Penguin Group for a memoir published last year during her unsuccessful presidential bid. Bachmann reports no income from that book, which had poor sales at the time. In addition to her assets, Bachmann and her husband report a $250,000 to $500,000 mortgage on their home in Lake Elmo. They also report $100,000 to $250,000 business loan.
Cravaack, also a Republican, received $92,273 worth of disability payments from Delta Airlines (he used to fly for Northwest before Delta purchased the airline) in 2011 in addition to his congressional salary of $174,000. Cravaack was stricken from flight status due to sleep aepnea. Cravaack and his wife are among the wealthiest members of the delegation. Their assets are worth nearly $3 million at the high end of the possible range or on the low end, $1 million. Those assets are distributed in a variety of mutual funds and life insurance policies.
The couple also hold between $500,000 and $1 million in stock of the pharmaceutical and medical device maker Novo Nordisk. Cravaack's wife, Traci, works for the firm and received a promotion in 2011 that resulted in her move from Minnesota to New Hampshire with their two sons while Cravaack maintains a home in his district. They have a mortgage worth $250,000 to $500,000 on their New Hampshire home, another mortgage worth between $100,000 and $250,000 on Cravaack's Minnesota residence and a $15,000 to $50,000 mortgage on a family cabin in Wisconsin.
Peterson, a Democrat, holds assets valued between $104,000 and $310,000, none of which is invested in the stock market. In addition to bank accounts, Peterson owns a stake in a family farm worth between $100,000 and $250,000. He also owns stakes in two rental properties each valued between $1,000 and $15,000. Peterson was paid a $8,565 director's fee from one of the rental property partnerships.
Peterson's reported liabilities range between $300,000 and $850,000, which means his debts likely far exceed his assets. Those debts include a mortgage on a condo in Washington, DC, a mortgage on the family farm and a mortgage on his home in Detroit Lakes.