Report: Liz Cheney income is nearly $1M since 2012
Federal officials today released the second of two financial disclosure forms for candidates in Wyoming’s 2014 Republican primary race for U.S. Senate. A report just posted on the Secretary of Senate website shows Liz Cheney earned approximately $922,000 in income during the past two years. Cheney’s opponent, Sen. Mike Enzi, submitted a similar report in May that listed no additional earned income beyond his $174,000 annual salary for the last two years.
The disclosure forms reveal contrasting financial pictures for each candidate. Cheney has found financial success through her active life in the political media world of speaking engagements, writing books, and TV commentary.
Enzi’s earned income comes almost entirely through his government salary. His investments represent the accumulated wealth of a career as a senator, state legislator, mayor, and former shoe store owner. He also worked as an accountant for an oil drilling company and for Black Hills Corporation, which generates electricity and produces coal, oil, and gas. Enzi’s wife operates PinWyo, a small business that produces Wyoming-themed lapel pins.
Cheney and Enzi both announced their intention to run on July 16, 2013. According to a process overseen by the Senate Ethics Committee, candidates who are not incumbents are required to file a financial disclosure report within 30 days of declaring their intent to run.
However, in a common practice, candidates may apply for a 90-day extension, which Cheney did. Her campaign submitted the form in an envelope postmarked November 14, 2013, the final day of the 90-day extension.
As an incumbent, Sen. Enzi was not required to submit a disclosure since his routine May 15, 2013, annual report. That document listed Enzi’s total investment and cash assets between $645,000 and $1,525,000.
The filing also shows Enzi holds about 60 different investments in publicly traded funds and bonds. Most of the investments are in the $1,000-$15,000 range. Enzi’s investments of $15,000 to $50,000 included bonds for the Texas State Department of Housing, the Wyoming Community Development Authority, and the Laramie County Hospital, along with several mutual funds. The form does note require specific dollar amounts for investments, instead allowing respondents to report within a range of values.
Enzi donated Senate pay he earned during the government shutdown to the U.S. Treasury. That will make his 2013 income less than $174,000.
Liz Cheney’s earnings for 2012 and 2013 included $281,000 from her work as a pundit on Fox News, and $350,000 from a book advance for Heart: An American Odyssey, which she co-authored with her father former Vice President Dick Cheney. She also earned $162,000 from a second book advance, and $128,950 in speaking honoraria.
Cheney’s investments included a variety of mutual funds priced between $725,000 and $1,200,000. She also holds checking and savings accounts valued between $1,250,000 and $6,600,000.
The income made by Cheney’s husband Philip Perry as a partner at the large D.C. law firm Latham & Watkins was not required to be reported. The couple’s share in the partnership is valued between $500,000 and $1,000,000, according to the disclosure form.
For more on the Enzi-Cheney race, read these WyoFile stories by Wyoming political reporter Gregory Nickerson: — Wyoming, Meet Liz Cheney, July 23, 2013 — Liz Cheney and Philip Perry: A prominent couple in Washington D.C., July 19, 2013 — Liz Cheney’s staff draws on family roots and Wyoming expertise, July 26, 2013 — The Liz Cheney fishing license tangle, August 13, 2013 — Enzi, Cheney lockstep in opposition to Obama’s “war on coal”, September 24, 2013 See also these WyoFile columns by opinion writer and veteran Wyoming journalist Kerry Drake: — Liz Cheney can win in Wyoming, but she has hurdles in her way, March 26, 2013 — And in this corner: Liz Cheney, her dad and a mountain of cash, July 16, 2013 — Playing the age card won’t help Liz Cheney, July 23, 2013 — Cheney sisters can agree to disagree on gay marriage — in public, September 17, 2013 — Cheneys shouldn’t expect automatic support from any Republican, October 8, 2013Liz Cheney Financial Disclosure Report
Sen. Mike Enzi Financial Disclosure Report
— Gregory Nickerson is the government and policy reporter for WyoFile. He writes the Capitol Beat blog. Contact him at greg@wyofile.com. Follow him on twitter @GregNickersonWYIf you enjoyed this post and would like to see more quality Wyoming journalism, please consider supporting WyoFile: a non-partisan, non-profit news organization dedicated to in-depth reporting on Wyoming’s people, places and policy.REPUBLISH THIS STORY: For details on how you can republish this story or other WyoFile content for free, click here.
I am not endorsing either candidate in this fight. That being said it is a shame that Mr. Enzi did not take investment advise from Mr. Reid, his colleague for a decade plus. After a life in public service he is worth in excess of 10 million dollars and counting Did Mr. Enzi make some bad investments or was Mr Reid just “lucky”?
She doesn’t need the money, just the Power, just why she feels she has to come back to a state she abandoned for many years is beyond me. Just so she can get into the Washington government to create more hardline obstruction and destruction? Every-time I hear her speak, the hate is frightening, she is Not Wyoming, her view of equality is “If I Say So”!