International Herald Tribune Editorial - The wealth of candidates

International Herald Tribune Editorial - The wealth of candidates
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: May 25, 2007


The initial financial disclosure required of the U.S. presidential candidates is already shedding light on important questions of wherewithal looming beyond the glare of televised debate. As voters sort through the crowd, which includes 10 millionaires, they should find their finances useful in sizing up the contenders and whom and what they actually work for.

For one thing, former Senator John Edwards, a Democrat whose signature issue is fighting poverty, turns out to have more than $11 million in holdings in a lately controversial hedge fund that paid him $479,000 as a part-time consultant. Edwards has said investment was a motive, but so was learning more about the financial market's interplay with poverty.

Disclosures like this prompt healthy discussion.

Similarly, some veils were lowered about former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's high-powered career in law and consulting operations, in which the Republican earned more than $5 million last year. Book and speaking fees on Giuliani's constant theme - 9/11 - grossed more than $11 million. Voters can now decide whether they approve of Giuliani's profits from 9/11. But they need more information on such questions as how Giuliani advised and was remunerated by the drug company that pleaded guilty to criminal charges for misleading the nation about the addictiveness of OxyContin.

Comparable questions about other candidates' financial decisions - none necessarily nefarious - undoubtedly will arise. Several of the candidates are taking 45-day extensions before filing.

Even then, these election commission reports are more limited than the ultimate disclosure candidates should make by releasing their tax returns. This higher standard has been the tradition - though not a requirement - in past campaigns, but thus far only one of the major candidates, Senator Barack Obama, has released his return. Like other candidates who are senators, Hillary Clinton already files public financial reports in the Capitol. But these are not as definitive as tax returns, which should be part of real disclosure.