Mink richest
from Hawaii
in Congress

Her assets are worth up to
$1.4 million and she has no
outstanding debt

By Pete Pichaske
Phillips News Service

Rep. Patsy Mink has cemented her status as the wealthiest of Hawaii's four members of Congress with assets worth as much as 1.4 million and no debts.

Meanwhile, her House counterpart, Rep. Neil Abercrombie, is at the other end of the spectrum, with assets worth no more than $165,000 and liabilities (on a cooperative apartment in Honolulu) as high as $50,000.

The information was included in financial disclosure statements for 1998 released here today for members of the House of Representatives.

The statements for senators were released last week, and both Sen. Daniel Akaka and Sen. Daniel Inouye reported assets valued somewhere between those of Mink and Abercrombie.

Mink reported assets worth from $567,000 to $1.4 million, slightly more than the previous year. Lawmakers report assets and liabilities within a broad range: $1,001 to $15,000, for example.

Among the Democrat's assets were IRA accounts (the bulk of the money), insurance policies and stocks, including shares in Alexander & Baldwin Inc., Hawaii's largest remaining sugar producer, worth $15,000 to $50,000.

Mink also was owed $100,000 to $250,000 from her own political campaign for a loan during last year's election campaign.

Mink reported donating $2,000 to charity from a speech she made. She reported no trips paid for by special interests.

Abercrombie reported one trip: an overnighter to Kona in April courtesy of the Sterling Experience, described by an Abercrombie aide as a mainland travel agency, to deliver a speech on foreign policy in the Mideast.

Abercrombie's assets were precisely the same as last year: a cooperative apartment in Honolulu, an IRA account and an account in the University of Hawaii Credit Union, worth a total of $66,000 to $165,000.

The mortgage on the Honolulu apartment was reported as a liability of $15,000 to $50,000.

Abercrombie received no income from the novel he wrote two years ago.

Both Abercrombie and Mink did collect pensions from their years in the Honolulu City Council and state Legislature. Abercrombie got $23,914 and Mink earned $10,000.

Both Mink and Abercrombie also earn the standard congressional salary of $136,700.