Reports Offer Peek Into Senators’ Moonlighting

WASHINGTON —  One senator collected royalties from writing music in his spare time. Another taught a law class on Saturdays. And several wrote books.

These were among the ways senators supplemented their $154,700-a-year government salaries last year, though most senators are multimillionaires, according to financial disclosure reports released Monday.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and her investment-banker husband, Richard Blum, once again submitted one of the thickest reports: 133 pages. The report shows the couple is worth at least $35 million, perhaps considerably more, thanks to holdings such as Northwest Airlines stock and an interest in a San Francisco hotel.

California’s other Democratic senator, Barbara Boxer, filed a handwritten six-page report listing most of her assets in a blind trust valued at between $1 million and $5 million.

Federal lawmakers are required to catalog in rough terms their outside income, investments, gifts and privately sponsored trips. They are not required to list their annual salary, which was increased to $158,100 this year -- nor do they have to report their spouse’s salaries or the value of personal residences.

But the forms offer a glimpse into how lawmakers, who are responsible for managing the federal budget, handle their own finances and sheds light on their personal investment tastes. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, a surgeon, reported that his sons own an interest in Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

Frist, whose family founded the private hospital company Hospital Corp. of America, now known as HCA, reported having a blind trust valued at between $5 million and $25 million, and reported that he and his family had several other trusts worth in excess of $1 million each. By contrast, Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota reported assets of $255,000 to $775,000.

The reports also detail the gifts senators receive. Feinstein received a $1,295 Hermes tote and scarf, a $150 embroidered pillow and a $300 pearl and peridot necklace. She attached to her report a letter from the Senate Ethics Committee chief counsel noting that she could accept the gifts because they came from long-standing family friends, not anyone who was involved in lobbying.

Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, reported receiving nearly $90,000 in royalties for his book, “A Call to Service,” and said he donated the proceeds to charities. The 76-page report, which Kerry released in May, showed the candidate with four trusts worth between $430,000 and $2.1 million. Kerry’s wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, has an estimated personal fortune of $500 million.

Among other authors, Daschle reported that he received $449,000 for his book, “Like No Other Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years that Changed America Forever.” He donated the proceeds to charity.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also donated to charity the nearly $160,000 he got from his three books.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) reported that she received about $2.3 million for her book, “Living History,” with more than 3 million copies sold worldwide, her aide said.

Her husband, former President Clinton took in about $4.4 million in speaking fees last year, down from the $9.5 million he received the previous year. A spokesman for the former president said Clinton was in “more demand than ever, but in light of his book writing and charitable work, he has had to turn down five requests for every one he accepted.” Spokesman Jim Kennedy added that Clinton waived his fee for a number of speeches, asking for a donation to his library foundation instead.

Other disclosures included:

* Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who stepped down from his Senate leadership job in 2002, received a $53,125 partial book advance for his memoirs.

* Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) received a $40,000 advance for his book, “Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency.”

* Sen. James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.) received $53,800 in royalties on two books.

* Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.), who often breaks from his party, received $175,000 in royalties from “A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat.”

* Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah.) collected about $33,000 in book and music royalties.

* Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) earned $20,500 from teaching a law class at Widener University in Chester, Pa.

Associated Press contributed to this report.