Roll Call reports today on how the personal financial disclosure of Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) reveals his wife is business partners with someone he invited to testify before the Small Business Committee without any mention of his relationship.
From the story:
It was the second time that Graves had invited his friend and neighbor Brooks Hurst to testify before a Congressional hearing on renewable fuels, and the second time Graves has declined to mention that his wife and Hurst are investors together in renewable fuels plants in Missouri.
A spokeman for the congressman told Roll Call all ties to Hurst were disclosed on Graves' personal financial disclosures. This is true, but without direct knowledge of Hurst's business there is no mention of Hurst. The only item on Graves' 2008 disclosure is a single line among his assets, listing dividends between $5,001 and $15,000 paid by Golden Triangle Energy Cooperative of Craig, Mo., to Graves' wife Lesley.
This case highlights how much useful information is potentially hidden in personal financial disclosures for reporters and interest groups to find if they look carefully. Paul Singer, the Roll Call reporter who wrote the Graves story, has established himself as probably the most expert at dissecting these financial disclosures to reveal otherwise-unknown matters about elected leaders and their staff.
Since LegiStorm launched a comprehensive database of all congressional financial disclosures - both for members and staffers - numerous people have come under public scrutiny for what was disclosed, or not properly disclosed, in these forms.
