Posted on 06/27/2004 9:50:59 PM PDT by summer
Goss' financial forms show worth up to $53 million
By JOEL ESKOVITZ, eskovitzj@shns.com
June 28, 2004
WASHINGTON — If U.S. Rep. Porter Goss is going to take another job in Washington, it's not going to be for the money.
The Sanibel Republican and oft-rumored successor to George Tenet as head of the CIA is worth anywhere between $16 million and $53 million, according to recently released financial disclosure forms that document the assets held last year by the congressman and his wife.
His Southwest Florida GOP colleague, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, has a lot of catching up to do. His statements list no assets and at least $40,000 in debt, which was consolidated from loans and credit card debt that had him at least $70,000 in the red in his 2002 reports.
"I'd love to have some of Porter's money," joked Diaz-Balart, who added that the law doesn't require him to list the Miami townhouse he bought for $150,000 a few years ago. "The bottom line is I've been bringing my debt down."
Neither Goss nor his staff would comment on his finances.
The disclosure forms are an annual requirement for members of Congress. They lay out everything from a legislator's assets and income to paid speaking engagements and trips.
The forms only require members to display a general range of assets and income for every holding they own, making it difficult to get a specific grasp of any change in their wealth. Goss' 1997 reports, the oldest records the House Legislative Resource Center is required to keep on file, show the couple's wealth between $12 million and $30 million.
Building a portfolio
Goss' forms include some 200 stocks, bonds and other assets, showing the couple took in somewhere between a half million dollars and $2 million in income mainly from dividends and stock sales last year, on top of his congressional salary of around $160,000.
Aside from Goss' paycheck, the couple's biggest windfall in 2003 came from royalties on a state oil lease in Louisiana, which earned them upwards of $100,000. But the well has apparently begun to lose productivity, dropping in value from a range between $500,000 and $1 million to a range between $100,000 and $250,000.
Mariel Goss, who has inherited considerable wealth from her Pittsburgh family, owns that lease and has sole ownership of around half of the assets listed on the disclosure forms. Two of her family trusts represent between $1.25 million and $6.25 million in assets.
Still, it is the stock market where the majority of the couple's assets lie. Their holdings in four stocks — General Electric, IBM, 3M and Wal-Mart — are each worth at least $1 million.
Much like any other investors, they saw huge gains during the late 1990s — their shares of Coca-Cola, Merck and Wyeth, which was known then as American Home Products, had been valued at more than $1 million during that time. But aside from 3M, all of these big-ticket stocks have declined in worth over the past several years.
Although it's one of the main rationales of requiring all legislators to disclose their financial interests and any potential conflicts, Goss' portfolio is so diverse that his holdings stretch across virtually every industry that deals with Congress.
Real estate
The Gosses have spent a considerable amount of time and money in recent years growing a business on a farm they bought in 1998 that spans more than 400 acres of mainly open land in central Virginia.
Goss had planned to retire and join his wife there to grow organic produce and raise Piedmontese cattle at the conclusion of his last term in 2002. But after the Sept. 11 attacks, he felt compelled to stay on an extra two years as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee to try to define and solve the government's shortcomings in stopping terrorists.
He will not run for Congress again and was planning to retire early next year when his term expires, but members of both parties repeatedly have mentioned his name as a replacement for Tenet at the CIA. He is believed to be on a short list of candidates for that job and has said that, if asked, he would have to consider the assignment.
His office would still be just a 90-minute drive from the couple's farm, located near the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
In 2000, the Gosses took on 434 acres to create their business, Retreat Farm Produce LLC, but their venture has lost money in its first three years. The county assessed the value of the property, which includes four ranch houses and several barns, at $1.2 million last year.
The remaining 4 acres is home to their main residence, a colonial house with three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms, valued by the county at almost $630,000. The initial purchase price of the entire plot now valued at more than $1.8 million was $1.6 million.
Goss was neither required to include this nor the couple's Sanibel home on the disclosure forms because they live in both places for at least part of the year. He did, however, list an undeveloped parcel the couple has owned for several years in Fishers Island, N.Y., worth between $500,000 and $1 million.
FYI.
You can be sure Jeb Bush has a nice Trust Fund.
LOL...to tell you the truth, I'm not so sure! And I do think it is terrible that anyone who serves as gov of the 4th largest state in this country earns LESS than many others working in government in this state, including local governments.
I don't trust Porter Goss. He chaired the house intel committee with Condit aboard. How blind and irresponsible is that? Condit was a perfect candidate for blackmail. Goss must have known about his "indiscretions", and if he didn't he was damned inadequate at intel and chairmanship. He's unfit for CIA leadership.
Now we have the Intelligence Tools Improvement Act of 2003 (HR 3179. By imposing jail terms on people who fail to comply with National Security Letters, even when noncompliance comes from legitimate concerns over violation of privacy or government abuse of authority, civil libertarians say HR 3179 would further concentrate power in the hands of government agents and narrow avenues of recourse that exist.
The proposed legislation would also further amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), which governs the procedures federal agents must follow when seeking judicial permission to electronically monitor or physically search people suspected of engaging in espionage or international terrorism on behalf of a foreign power.
The Patriot Act changed some provisions of FISA to give federal agents greater domestic surveillance powers, and the use of FISA warrants to investigate suspected terrorists in the United States has worried many civil rights groups. They say the expansions under the Patriot Act allow federal agents to spy on people's free speech and political activities without having to show probable cause.
The bill’s opponents fear that one of the bill’s sponsors, Representative Porter Goss (R-FL), who also chairs the House Intelligence Committee will fold the provisions of HR 3179 into the annual intelligence authorization bill, making it difficult for lawmakers to oppose.
I agree completely. He may not be a bad choice, but he isn't going to reform the agency one bit.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.