Hawaii’s senators
rank low in assets
compared to peers

The Senate has plenty of
millionaires, but Inouye and
Akaka are not among them,
disclosures show

By Pete Pichaske
Phillips News Service

WASHINGTON -- The 100-member U.S. Senate has more than its share of millionaires and high-rollers, but not from Hawaii.

Annual financial disclosure statements released today for senators show that neither Daniel Akaka nor Daniel Inouye is striking it rich.

While both listed financial accounts and real estate holdings that keep them well above the poverty line, neither topped the $1 million mark in reported assets.

The Senate's wealthier members, such as John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., Herb Kohl, D-Wis. and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., reported assets in the tens -- and in some cases hundreds -- of millions.

Akaka reported assets in various financial funds worth $18,000-$95,000. (Lawmakers report the value of assets within a broad range -- $15,001-$50,000, for example).

He also reported credit union and bank accounts worth $17,000-$80,000; assets in a family trust in Hawaii worth $100,000-$250,000; and a condominium in Alexandria, Va., worth another $100,000-$250,000. (Primary residences do not have to be reported.)

Inouye reported various stocks, money market funds and certificates of deposit worth $381,000-$865,000.

Inouye also has a vacant lot in Fern Forest, Hawaii, worth $1,000-$15,000, and an investment in his son's Web site and advertising-sales company, in Bethesda, Md., worth $1,000-$15,000.

Hawaii's senior senator also reported receiving $158 in royalties from a "Karate Kid" movie he appeared in briefly several years ago.

Neither senator received any gifts or took any trips worth more than $250. But each supplemented his senator's salary of $136,700 with state pensions from Hawaii.

Akaka earned $12,498 in pension from his years as a school administrator, and Inouye earned $1,084 from his days decades ago as a deputy state prosecutor and territorial elected official.

Financial statements for the House are due out next week. In years past, Rep. Patsy Mink, D-rural Oahu/neighbor islands, has been the wealthiest of Hawaii's four representatives here.