A.G. Gancarski
Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, released his financial disclosure Friday, giving a peek behind the curtain of the “blind trust.”
What was publicly available: a lot of diversified holdings, with an appetite for government bonds across the country.
More tantalizing by omission: myriad funds that the Governor has investments in.
And the total value of Scott’s holdings? Impossible to even offer a round guess from this document.
Scott is heavily invested in government bonds, which include the likes of the Massachusetts Variable Monthly Consolidated Loan Bond and California State G.O. Bond (ironic, given that Scott likely wouldn’t hold up either state as models of good governance).
He has a host of county and municipal bonds also, with a family member holding over $1 million interest in the Jackson County Mississippi Pollution Control Revenue Bond and other such innocuous sounding governmental projects.
Scott is invested in energy companies such as Exxon-Mobil (not to mention energy funds), and military-industrial complex companies such as Raytheon and General Dynamics.
Meanwhile, a host of capital funds — for which declarations of having more than $1 million in a given fund suffice for the purposes of the disclosure — tantalize.
Scott’s office released what was effectively a FAQ Friday spinning the disclosure form.
“Following the Governor signing the federal financial disclosure report, his assets were immediately placed back into a blind trust. The use of a blind trust avoids even the appearance of a conflict of interest for an elected official,” the campaign asserted.
The disclosure does not list a net worth, per se, but the campaign is no help: “That information is thoroughly provided in the financial disclosure.”
Certain companies have financial dealings with Florida, but the blind trust offers protection, per the campaign: “The Florida Commission on Ethics has recommended blind trusts be used to protect the people of Florida from having an elected official make decision for their own financial benefit.”
Scott’s assets are in a reconstituted blind trust now.
The full document is available here. This piece will be updated.
