Arkansas congressmen report millions in trips, investments and book deals

WASHINGTON — Members of the Arkansas congressional delegation disclosed book deals, multiple homes and millions of dollars in assets in their personal financial disclosure filings required by Congress.

The disclosures are to be filed annually by May 15 or else members must seek an extension. Lawmakers list a range of value for their assets and disclose outside earnings and travel — though Arkansans don’t seem to travel much.

On a current disclosure, which reflects 2021 activity, Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and his wife, Anna Peckham, and two children have 17 assets disclosed, totaling from $164,009 to $460,000. That includes bank deposits, retirement plans and mutual funds.

Cotton and Peckham also bought and sold various holdings among transactions required to be listed. Together, they sold anywhere from $24,024 to $360,000 in assets such as fixed income funds and others and bought $97,006 to $280,000.

Cotton listed two liabilities in his disclosure, a mortgage held by First Security Bank in Little Rock with a value ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 and a 30-year mortgage held by Chain Bridge Bank in McLean, Virginia, ranging from $1 million to $5 million.

He also listed a position outside of Congress that he has held, as a director of the International Republican Institute, which was founded by former President Ronald Reagan with the objective of helping countries build democracy infrastructure. 

Many Senate Republicans are active in the nonprofit organization. Cotton does not receive any compensation, according to his filing and the tax records of the institute. 

Cotton also listed two book agreements with publishers. 

He included a 2018 agreement with HarperCollins to publish “Sacred Duty: A Soldier’s Tour at Arlington National Cemetery” and another royalty agreement earlier this year with Grand Central Publishing to publish “Only the Strong: Reversing the Left’s Plot to Sabotage American Power.” The book is expected to be published in November.

He was paid $252,500 by HarperCollins, according to his personal disclosure forms from 2019. The disclosure for the amount paid for his recent book will be available in his next year’s filings. 

Boozman

U.S. Sen. John Boozman, a Republican from Rogers, requested an extension to file his financial disclosure, but has submitted transactions in 2022 related to buying and selling various assets. On May 9, he requested a 90-day extension to report his disclosures, so his filings were due Aug. 15. 

Boozman has five transactions of selling assets ranging from a worth of $5,005 to $75,000.

He also bought several with a cost ranging from $5,005 to $75,000.

House members

U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, a Jonesboro Republican, reported no assets, liabilities, trading transactions or gift disclosures for the 2021 year. 

In his filings reflecting 2020, he listed one liability, a mortgage ranging from $250,000 to $500,000. He also had an outside income of $72,000 from Empowered Healthcare.

U.S. Rep. French Hill and his wife, Martha, and their children have 66 assets ranging from a worth of $4.5 million to $12.4 million. They include holdings in companies like Biogen, Abbott Laboratories and Johnson & Johnson.

The Little Rock Republican also sold 1,000 shares ranging from $15,001 to $50,000, according to his filing.

Hill also lists several positions outside of Congress that he holds. He is the president/managing member of New Gascony Co, LLC in Arkansas; a board member at the Quapaw Area Council of the Boys Scouts of America; and a board member at the Theodore Roosevelt Association in New York. 

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack and his wife and child have nine assets, ranging in worth from $205,008 to $525,000, including life insurance policies, an inheritance from a deceased family member and a rental property in Rogers.

Womack, a Republican from Rogers, has four liabilities, a mortgage from Wells Fargo, ranging from $250,000 to $500,000 on a secondary residence; another mortgage on a primary residence from DBA Citizens Bank, ranging from $250,000 to $500,000; and another mortgage from Signature Bank ranging from $100,001 to $250,000. 

He also lists a mortgage from First Western Bank on land, ranging from $15,000 to $50,000.

U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, a Republican from Hot Springs, has 27 assets in his financial disclosure in various investment funds. The worth of his assets range from $483,026 to $1.3 million.

Westerman also bought stock, spending anywhere from $1,001 to $15,000. 

He has one liability, a home equity loan with US Bank of $15,001 to $50,000.

Travel abroad

The Arkansas delegation doesn’t spend much time traveling — in fact, the staff for each member spends more time traveling. 

For example, Boozman has only taken five trips, his last one as a House member in 2010, but his staff has taken 30 trips, totaling $69,012. All of Boozman’s trips were during his time as a House member. He won his Senate seat in 2010.

Boozman has gone on trips valued at  $13,984 while in Congress. His most expensive trip was an educational trip to Israel, sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation, totaling $10,095 in 2003. 

Cotton has not traveled since 2019. In all his years in Congress, he’s spent $58,555 on trips from 2013 to 2019. He also went on an education-based trip to Israel, sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation. The trip in 2015 cost $35,189. 

Most of Cotton’s trips were to Sea Island, Georgia, to attend global policy briefings and participate in roundtable meetings, sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.  

Crawford has only taken two trips. Both were to Cuba in 2016. His two trips to Cuba cost $7,439.51. Those two trips were paid for by the Washington Office on Latin America, a non-governmental organization that provides information to policymakers about human rights and democracy in Latin America. 

Hill has taken three trips, totaling $31,677. He also went to Israel, sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation for an education-based trip about the country. The trip cost $22,423 in 2017.  

And Womack has only taken four trips since taking office in 2015, with a value of $60,231. Womack went on two trips to Israel, both of them sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation, to meet with officials and visit historical sites. 

The trip to Israel in 2011 cost $17,546, and the trip in 2014 cost $22,800. 

Womack also took a trip in 2015 to Tanzania, Africa, to have “meetings on African political, security, foreign policy, health and economic issues; met with Peace Corps volunteers,” he wrote in his trip disclosures. The trip cost $17,556.56 and was sponsored by the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on foreign policy and domestic security issues.