Financial disclosure reports for Senator James “Jim” Bunning’s foundation appear to be excluding certain information regarding incomes and assets, as Bunning takes more money from the foundation, than what charities are receiving.
The most recent financial disclosure report for Bunning, a representative for Kentucky, states that total assets for the Jim Bunning Foundation in 2008 were $97,684. Bunning removes $20,000 yearly from the total amount raised by the foundation each year. This amount is his salary for working an average of one hour per week, according to his 2007 tax filings. This averages to about $357 per hour.
When the foundation was initially created in 1996, it was not until 1998 that Bunning began earning a salary from the foundation. His salary began at $15,000 a year and increased $5,000 in 2002. The foundation does not have a committee to approve of these salary changes.
The president of the foundation is his wife Mary C. Bunning. Richard Robinson, an attorney for Graydon Head & Ritchey LLP in Kentucky, is the secretary of the foundation and Robert B. Sumerel, a tire dealer in Cincinnati, is the treasurer. None of the three receive any pay for their positions. Richardson and Bunning’s wife are also on the advisory council for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Cincinnati, according to the organization’s web site.
Any money that Bunning receives from autographs, sports shows or other related activities, which are mostly a result of his former pitching career with major league baseball, is supposed to go to foundation to be donated to charities, since Bunning is not suppose to accept outside income. This is the main reason why the foundation was created.
“Federal law and Senate rules restrict the amount and source of outside income that members, officers, and employees of the Senate may accept,” according to the Senate Ethics Manual. “For the most part, these restrictions limit earned income, that is, payments for services rendered, but not returns on investments.”
The manual clearly states that is not ethical to earn money outside of the senator’s duties. According to the LegiStorm web site, Bunning’s salary as a senator is $174,000, the default annual salary for 2009. However, Bunning increases his yearly income by $20,000 received from his own foundation.
Bunning has profited by $200,000, since he began earning a salary in 1998, according to disclosure reports. However, only $154, 947 has been given to charities in that same length of time, a difference of $45,053.
Even though Bunning is not supposed to gain an outside income, he has still earned roughly 27 percent more money than the total amount that has been given to charities. A year after the foundation was started, Bunning profited $18,000 from “autograph sessions,” specifically listed in his financial disclosure report for that year.
Salary expenses reported in his financial disclosures since 1997 have fluctuated but never totaled the same amount as salary expenses. In 1998, the expense was $26,000 but the only salary paid was $15,000 to Bunning himself, leaving $11,000 unaccounted for. The same has happened throughout all the disclosures filed since then. Since 1998, salary expenses have totaled $294,700. That leaves $94,700 unaccounted after Bunning’s total salary is deducted.
The net worth of the Jim Bunning Foundation in 2008 was $97,684, a decrease of almost $30,000 since the previous year. The 23 percent decrease from $126,952 in 2007, may have had an impact on why charities receive more than $4,000 less than 2007, but Bunning still received his $20,000 salary.
When the foundation was first created in 1996, Bunning listed an account on his financial disclosure reports, as a publicly traded asset or unearned income source. The account was held at Citizens Bank. He has listed the amount of money in that account as cash on one of the balance sheets for the foundation each year.
However, the past three years, he has not also included that bank account on his publicly traded assets or unearned income forms. The balance sheet reports there is $3,934 in the account as of 2008 but there was roughly $20,952 in the account in 2007.. Neither year included the account on his asset chart. The only assets he now reports are his Equitable Life Insurance and a checking and savings account at Fifth Third Bank.
The asset value for the life insurance is $500,001 to $1 million with an amount of income being $50,001 to $100,000. Bunning’s worth based on the insurance is higher than his worth based on only the checking and savings account. The value of the account is $15,001 to $50,000 with an increased income of 1 percent to 2 percent, or $201 to $1,000, in 2008, most likely from interest gained since it is a savings account.
On the first page of Bunning’s financial disclosure report for 2008, he checks “yes” stating that he, his wife or dependent child purchased, sold or exchanged an asset worth more than $1,000. If checked yes, part 5, the transaction section, is supposed to be included. Bunning has checked yes on the reports for the past three years and neglected to include any sort of transaction sheet, showing what assets he bought, sold or exchanged.
Bunning’s net worth for 2008 is unclear because disclosure reports were submitted just last month. However, his net worth in 2007 was $501,003 to $1.05 million a dramatic increase of 46 percent to 50 percent from his 2006 net worth of $252,004 to $570,000, according to the Open Secrets web site.
The net worth increase from 2007 to 2008 was quite large, but Sen. Jim Bunning’s foundation reports appear to leave several questions unanswered and some financial assets and incomes not clearly reported.
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