[Cicero]

Whatever happened to investigative reporting? If they own property abroad, I can't believe that some enterprising reporter couldn't chase it down without an official disclosure form.

As for the value of the homes, can't they get a few Real Estate agents or insurance companies to give estimates?

[Clint Williams]

So what's the problem with foreign properties? My grandmother had some (Spain, Mexica, Costa Rica at least) and she was not especially wealthy...

[conservative in nyc]

This isn't entirely correct. Kerry's 2002 and 2003 Senate disclosure forms are available on his website. According to the 2003 disclosure form, the H.J. Heinz II Charitable & Family Trust owned unimproved land in Ligoner, PA worth $250,001-$500,000 and property at 1925 Squaw Run Road in Pittsburgh worth $500,001-$1,000,000. Tay-ray-zah also owns at least a $1,000,000 interest in each of Heartwood Forestland Funds I, II, III and IV L.P., which own interest in forestland in WV, TN, VA, PA, MI, KY, NY, NC, TX, MO and MD. (I'm sure these forests are remaining dormant to fit with the Dems' environmental views.... NOT). These are owned through something called the Heinz Family Commingled Alternative Investment Funds, likely an estate planning-related entity. Those Alternative Funds also own a greater than $1,000,000 interest in Beacon Capital Strategic Partners II, a real estate fund that owns properties in Boston, Washington, Denver and Los Angeles.

But the disclosure forms don't show anything more than that about other real estate Tay-ray-zah owns.

What IS clear is that Tah-ray-zah's Marital Trust "disposed" of all of her publicly traded foreign stock in late 2002. Instead, she purchased a mutual fund from GMO. While the 2002 disclosure forms were silent on the type of fund owed, the 2003 disclosure forms state that it is a foreign fund. That narrows it down, but doesn't say much. My suspicions are that she probably owns something close to the long laundry list of foreign stock, and contributed those stocks to the GMO fund in order to avoid having to separately list them.

The only other foreign stuff listed on the disclosure forms is an interest that Tah-ray-zah's Marital Trust owns in South Africa Capital Growth Fund, L.P., a nice P.C. thing to own.

[Ligeia]

John Kerry and Teresa Heinz-Kerry own a lot of real estate. But is any of it on foreign soil?

The wording in this article, Gallic clan says Kerry isn't too French appears to indicate that a Kerry property exists in France when it says, "the family estate, known as Les Essarts, a sprawling property on a bluff over the sea" although I don't see a reference to who actually owns it today. If Kerry's mother is still living it could still be hers.