Candidate Doug Ose is a businessman with family partnerships worth at least $117 million, including burgeoning investments in real estate, stocks, farm land and mini-storage facilities.
Candidate Tom McClintock is a 22-year state lawmaker with a legislative salary and per diem expense checks and a net worth he estimates at $175,000.
Recently filed financial documents, plus tax returns and other records provided to The Bee by the leading Republican candidates in the 4th Congressional District primary race, offer clear economic contrasts between the two men.
As the contenders assail each other over financial issues and demand disclosures, the documents serve up some political grist for each campaign.
In a drumbeat of negative ads, the Ose camp pounds McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, for taking per diem checks for out-of-town expenses while living in Elk Grove, a short commute from the Capitol.
In a spirited counterattack, McClintock's campaign attacks Ose for receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in farm subsidies while on the House Agricultural Committee during three terms in Congress representing Sacramento's 3rd District.
Ose has lent more than $2 million to his bid to return to Congress in the 4th District seat being vacated by John Doolittle. Based on financial disclosure documents filed for this race, he will have little trouble making ends meet if he can't raise the contributions.
While he was in office between 1999 and 2005, the Roll Call newspaper listed Ose in a tie with California Sen. Dianne Feinstein as Congress' ninth wealthiest member. His 2008 House disclosure report indicates that the value of business partnerships Ose shares with his parents and three sisters has grown substantially from an estimated $51 million in 2003.
Two Ose Properties ventures include more than 1,200 acres and a network of self-storage warehouses in the Sacramento region. Ose and his sisters also own 88 acres of Iowa farmland.
On his House disclosure form, McClintock lists stock and investment accounts valued at between $150,000 and $350,000.
McClintock, who earns a $116,208 state salary, reported $150,941 in family income – including his wife's work as a church administrative assistant – on his 2007 taxes.
McClintock says he has refused a state pension for which he is eligible because he joined the Legislature before voters banned the benefit for future lawmakers in 1990. He says he has little equity in his Elk Grove house.
McClintock received some $36,000 in per diem expense payments last year that he is not required to report as income. The per diem payments – intended to cover expenses while on legislative business in Sacramento – are tax-free.
However, Ose says McClintock should either refuse the money or declare it and pay taxes, arguing that he lives too close to the Capitol to claim the benefit. Ose's advertising blitz lambastes McClintock for living in Elk Grove while registered to vote at his mother's home in Thousand Oaks.
McClintock said he makes "no apologies" for accepting per diem taken by all but a handful of state lawmakers. Meanwhile, he blasts Ose for "sopping up farm subsidies" while a member of the House Agriculture Committee.
For several years, Ose was involved in a partnership in which he provided 1,082 acres for rice and wheat farming. In return, he received one-fourth of the crop.
Between 1999 and 2004, Ose received $716,426 in federal farm subsidies, according to an accounting he provided The Bee.
In Congress, he backed legislation to protect subsidies for farmers but deny them to non-farming landowners such as himself. When the bill failed, Ose said he dissolved the farming partnership, leased his property for cash and stopped receiving federal subsidies. In 2005, he paid the government a refund of $4,587, his records show.
"I'm still eligible for the payments today. But I'm not taking them," Ose said. "The payments were made to produce food. I'm a landlord. I'm not in the food production business."
Ose's day-to-day business is property management and investing. His 2005 tax return lists personal income of nearly $320,000, including rent from mini-storage businesses and $120,000 in consulting fees for Ose Properties ventures.
In 2006, Ose reported income of $1.1 million. His earnings included a $923,828 profit on a 3.6-acre commercial property near Interstate 505 in Solano County he bought in 2005. He filed an extension for 2007 taxes.
Ose's wealth is reflected less in his annual income than in the property and investment portfolio shared with extended family.
According to his 2008 House disclosure statement, one Ose Properties partnership was valued at between $25 million and $50 million and another at more than $50 million. In addition, his January 2008 holdings included $42 million in stocks and investments including significant shares in Wal-Mart Stores, Citigroup, Abbott Laboratories, Merck & Co., Microsoft and Intel.
Ose described the holdings as mostly long-term investments as part of the family partnership.
"We have done very well," he said.
While the wealth of the two candidates provides insights into their livelihoods, Republican consultant Dave Gilliard said the economic disparity itself is unlikely to be an issue.
"Class warfare inside a Republican primary is never an effective election issue," he said. "Voters … are proud of a successful businessman, and they're proud of a public servant."
Call Peter Hecht, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5539.
