2008.02.27
What our legislators put stock in -- literally
State Sen. Ralph Smith, R-Botetourt, is a miserly fellow, he’s never been ashamed to say. The businessman's tight with his money. That's one reason why he's got so much of it. So, it was no big surprise for me to learn that his stock portfolio includes stock in discount shopping mecca WalMart valued between $10,001 and $50,000.
We regular citizens get to know this stuff because our elected officials have to disclose it, though not in great detail. From local councils up to the state capitol, our elected leaders must file statements of economic disclosure. And while you could request these records yourself from the government, a dandy organization called the Virginia Public Access Project saves you the work and makes it all readily available on its website.
This stuff isn't just for our amusement – though it can be amusing, I’ll confess. The reason is so that we work-a-day folks know where our legislators’ financial interests lie. Then we can tell if their legislating is really in the interest of those who elected them, or in the interest of boosting the value of their own portfolios.
As it turns out with the latest batch of disclosures, legislators from the Roanoke area, for the most part, aren’t huge stockholders. Smith owns five different stocks, some of them with values between $50k and $250k, and all of them up in value from last year.
Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, owns some Wachovia stock and Del. William Fralin, R-Roanoke, owns shares of Meadow Creek Land Company.
Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, is a significant stockholder in the Stonegate Swim Club in Salem.
Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County, has 18 different stocks in his portfolio.
Across the commonwealth, the most commonly held stocks are BB&T, Dominion, Bank of America, GE, Wachovia, Microsoft, ExxonMobil and WalMart.
So, the next time you hear about some legislation that’s going to benefit, say, Dominion Power (which is also one of the biggest givers of gifts to Virginia lawmakers), bear in mind how many legislators own Dominion stock they’d like to see go up in value.
I love VPAP. I discovered it about a year ago. I have enjoyed researching many things. I often have used it for curiosity but more importantly to see the gift givers, donors and lobbyists. As you know Mr. Chittum the site is done by a very small non partisan group. I want to also thank you for your hard work on this Datablog on the site here. It is also helpful to me. So a big thanks for your hard work.
Comment by Jonathan Brown — March 1, 2008 @ 8:05 pm