WASHINGTON -- Reps. Benjamin L. Cardin and Roscoe G. Bartlett are the richest members of Maryland's congressional delegation, according to annual financial disclosure forms for House members released yesterday.
Bartlett, a Republican from Western Maryland, reported assets worth $1.7 million to $6.6 million, most of it in his Buckeystown farm. The property, worth $1 million to $5 million, also brought in rental income of $50,000 to $100,000.
Cardin, who represents Baltimore and is a candidate for the Democratic Senate nomination, reported assets from $1.5 million to $3.7 million on disclosure forms that lawmakers must complete each year. The forms reflect the assets, liabilities and outside income for calendar year 2005, which are listed in ranges designed to make it hard to pin down exactly how much members of Congress are worth.
For example, Bartlett listed the value of his residence because he gets rental income, but Congress does not require its members to disclose the worth of their homes. Cardin and Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, a Baltimore County Democrat who is the delegation's third millionaire - at least on paper - did not list the value of their primary residences.
Ruppersberger reported assets worth $1.1 million to $2.7 million.
Cardin's largest listed asset is a retirement plan worth $500,000 to $1 million. Cardin said that a trust named for his father is worth $250,000 to $500,000 and will be passed along to his children. His only liabilities are through a real estate partnership in which he has a 1 percent stake.
Cardin has been selling some stock holdings since joining the Senate contest more than a year ago, according to his disclosure form. Among the sales: $2,716 worth of shares of Constellation Energy Group - the focus of a battle over rate increases this year - and more than $27,000 in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb, a major pharmaceutical company.
Cardin said that those holdings came to him after the death of his father last year and that "I just decided I didn't want to own them."
Cardin also reported receiving $4,736 in income from a pension he earned as a state legislator. He listed one trip paid for by an outside group to Aventura, Fla., for a January 2005 conference sponsored by Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
Cardin said he does not plan to use his own money to fund his Senate campaign.
