Rove Hid Consulting Firm Connection on Financial Disclosure Form
Gandalf Grey
Stayed part-owner of big-bucks
political consulting firm
By TIMOTHY J. BURGER
Daily News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON
Top White House adviser Karl Rove has failed to disclose his ties to a
political consulting firm in his financial disclosure form, which ethics
experts said was a serious omission.
Rove signed the document Dec. 30 without making any mention of Karl Rove &
Co., the firm he founded in 1981 that helped make him a millionaire several
times over.
He sold most of the firm in March 1999 but retained part ownership and was
listed as its president until at least September 2000, according to
documents and Bush campaign sources.
The White House disclosure form was supposed to list assets, positions held
and other aspects of Rove's personal finances dating through at least last
year.
Failure to list all assets is illegal under the federal disclosure law, but
disclosure forms often are amended to correct omissions.
Rove already has caught flak over his personal finances for not immediately
selling stock in companies with major interests in White House initiatives,
such as Bush's energy plan, while meeting with lobbyists for at least six of
the companies.
A White House aide said Rove was on vacation and not available to discuss
his disclosure this week.
"If there are any technical amendments necessary for the financial
disclosure forms of any White House staff member, they'll be made," White
House spokeswoman Anne Womack said.
Experts said Rove should have disclosed the fact that he was still president
of the firm last year, along with the amount he was paid in 2000 from the
sale, experts said.
"If he did draw income in 2000 from this company, he's got to disclose it,
period," said Larry Makinson of the Center for Responsive Politics. "We're
not talking about a technical amendment here. We're talking about errors of
omission, which are not taken lightly."
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said, "Financial disclosure forms should be
accurate, and it seems clear Mr. Rove's aren't. ... This is potentially a
serious matter, and he should make a full disclosure immediately."
Waxman has asked for the White House to seek a Justice Department probe of
Rove's meetings with lobbyists for the companies in which he owns stock.
When President Bush was gearing up for his White House bid, he demanded that
Rove sell the company and sign on full time as his chief strategist.
Although Rove said at the time that he had sold the firm, a campaign
official acknowledged to the Daily News in September that he still partly
owned and was president of Karl Rove & Co.
New owner Todd Olsen said in September that he and a partner paid Rove over
several months, with at least some of the payment made in 2000. This week,
Olsen declined to discuss the transaction.
One reason Rove retained part ownership was to work on Alabama judicial
races he had previously signed on for. Disclosures filed by the campaign of
Justice Harold See for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, for
example, list thousands in payments to Karl Rove & Co. during last year.
--
"If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so
long as I'm the dictator." George W. Bush, Televised Newsconference
December 18, 2000
"A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about
it." George W. Bush, The White House, Associated Press, July 26, 2001
"I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and
what I believe -- I believe what I believe is right." George W. Bush, Rome:
July, 2001