Sen. Sherrod Brown didn’t disclose wife’s six-figure pension: report

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by Josh Christenson

August 15, 2023 | 5:47 PM

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) failed to disclose his wife’s six-figure investments and pension payments in past annual financial statements, eroding his net worth by as much as $500,000, according to a new report. It says.

Brown, 70, said in a 2022 financial disclosure that spouse Connie Schultz earned $250,000 to $500,000 on a 401(k) from his days as a journalist at The Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com. He said he owned dollars.

The news agency employed Schultz as a columnist from 1993 to 2011, first reported The revelations included $100,000 to $250,000 she had held from her teacher’s pension as a former professor at Kent State University.

The disclosure was added to a subsequent brief filing from Democratic powerhouse Elias Law Group LLP, which said that Mr. Schultz’s post-retirement assets were in 2007, Mr. Brown’s first year in the Senate. It is shown to date back to the year

“Connie’s retirement was not listed, but earlier reports have been updated,” Brown campaign spokeswoman Rachel Petrie said in a statement.

The senator also has assets ranging from $133,006 to $395,000 in state employee pension plans and bank accounts, and $200,020 in mortgage debt on real estate in Cleveland and Columbus. to $500,000.

Mr. Brown earned $174,000 a year as a senator and raised about $27,000 last year from Ohio pensions as a former state senator.

The code of ethics requires senators to list assets held in a spouse’s retirement account and all transactions totaling more than $1,000.

Brown has previously accused opponents of failing to disclose funds in a timely manner. In 2012, his campaign attacked Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel for filing a personal financial return. 6 months late.

Disclosure leaks weren’t the only financial turmoil this year for the Ohio Democrats. In May, Mr. Brown mistakenly applied for tax credits on his property and repeatedly delayed payments.

His campaign says he has refunded both taxes and plans to waive those deductions going forward. The Plain Dealer reported in 2012 that the senator’s Washington, D.C. mansion was behind on similar taxes.

The economic disaster could be a roadblock for Mr. Brown as he seeks a fourth term in a competitive 2024 election.

Republican challengers, including Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, Republican State Senator Matt Dolan, and Buckeye businessman Bernie Moreno, have pushed Brown’s approval ratings into the single digits. . In several polls in June.

“Sherrod Brown has been in Washington D.C. for so long that he has lost sight of reality and his own hypocrisy,” Dolan told the Post. “After voting to raise taxes for Ohioans, Brown was caught evading paying his own taxes. Now he’s guilty of violating the same code of ethics that attacked the Republican Party. “

“Sherrod Brown arrogantly thinks the rules don’t apply to him, but next year Ohioans will be sending the message that he’s dead wrong,” he added.

Brown and Schultz married in 2004 while working at Plain Dealer, and Schultz took a teaching position at Kent State University in 2015. She dropped out this year and she took a job at Denison University’s School of Journalism.

According to the senator’s 2022 financial disclosures, Schultz earned more than $4,000 last year from his professorship, royalties from publisher Random House, and work as a columnist for USA Today.

She also paid $750 for two articles published in the Washington Post.