2007 Personal Finance Reports Due Yesterday

By CRP personal finances researcher Dan Auble
Personal financial disclosure forms for Members of Congress, candidates for federal office, senior congressional staff, nominees for executive branch positions, Cabinet members, the president and vice president and Supreme Court justices were due to be filed yesterday covering calendar year 2007. Though they detail several types of information, including gifts, travel, positions and honoraria, the most noteworthy information is a listing of the assets in which the filer is invested.

The reports, still filed on paper, list all significant holdings including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, investment real estate, ownership interests in private companies and large cash accounts (though personal residences that do not produce rental income are notably exempt). Transactions made during the last year in these assets are reported, as are any debts of over $10,000. Assets and transactions are reported as falling within a range of possible values so only a broad picture of a politician's interests can be painted. Some members are more forthcoming than others, providing the exact value of some assets, frequently in the form of investment account statements.

While there is a wealth of information there for journalists and citizens alike, the reports are not so easy to come by. An annual report covers 2007, they do not include any information for the first four months of 2008 that have already passed, and the public will not have access to the full set of reports until June 15, after a month-long review period. Even then, the filings of House members and candidates are only accessible by visiting the basement of a Capitol Hill office building and those for the Senate and executive branch also require a trip to Washington, DC. However, the Center collects the annual filings for Members of Congress, the president and vice president and Cabinet members and makes them freely available to the public on OpenSecrets.org. We also have them entered into a searchable online database so they can be analyzed and categorized by industry.