LegiStorm

St. Patrick's Day was celebrated a day early for Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who disclosed yesterday that his wife has her very own pot of gold.

The filing states that Menendez’s wife owns as much as $250,000 worth of gold bars. Menendez and his wife’s total assets, including the gold, are worth more than $1.1 million, according to Menendez’s latest annual financial disclosure.

According to a review of congressional personal financial disclosures compiled by Insider’s Conflicted Congress project, Menendez is not the only member of Congress who has reported gold on their personal financial disclosures.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Rep. Susan Bonamici (D-Ore.), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and  Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) have all reported gold on previous financial disclosures, with Romney owning the most, at $500,000 worth of gold bullion.

Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) and Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) have both reported as much as $15,000 worth of “precious metals” in previous financial disclosures, but it is unclear if that includes gold.

A Maryland attorney claims to be volunteering to help the Ukrainian government source and procure weapons, according to a new pair of Justice Department filings.

Attorney Luke Kaczmarek characterized his arangement with the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an "oral agreement or understanding," not a formal contract. He writes in one disclosure:

"I volunteered to assist the Ukrainian-American Bar Association (UABA) with the coordination of humanitarian aid to Ukraine on February 24, 2022. On March 3, 2022, I was approached by one of the volunteers inquiring as to whether I could assist Adrian Kellgren, Director of Industrial Production at Kel-Tech CNC Industries, with an expedited export license for a batch of small arms that could no longer be delivered to its intended recipient in Odessa. I was introduced to Volodymyr Muzylov, First Secretary at the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States, in the course of assisting Mr. Kellgren. I successfully managed to resolve the export license issue for Mr. Kellgren as of March 8, 2022. On March 9, 2022, I verbally offered to assist Mr. Muzylov with the sourcing and acquisition of material for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (UAMOD), and he verbally accepted. I have since acted on the basis of our shared agreement to source existing inventory of equipment needed by UAMOD. I expect to work in this capacity for the duration of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and I have not, am not, and shall not receive any monetary compensation for my assistance."

Kaczmarek is a relatively low-profile attorney based in Bel Air, Md. In 2016, the Baltimore Sun described him as a Trump supporter who was "inspired by Trump's promise to clean up corruption in Washington." He was president of the Maryland Young Republicans' Harford County chapter until last year, when the chapter was dissolved following an anti-Semitic email sent to its listserv. According to the Baltimore Sun, Kaczmarek claimed no involvement with the incident.

Democrats led the House in 2021 office spending, according to LegiStorm data.

Of the 11 representatives who spent more than 97 percent of their official budgets, 10 were Democrats.

Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) topped the charts, with his office spending more than 98.7 percent of its annual allowance. Of his total budget, 87.5 percent went toward paying his staff, compared to a House average of 69.0 percent.

Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), the next highest spender, put 82.8 percent of his budget toward staffer pay.

Democratic Reps. Seth Moulton (Mass.), Anna Eshoo (Calif.), Peter DeFazio (Ore.), Dutch Ruppersberger (Md.), Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), Ann Kuster (N.H.) and Betty McCollum (Minn.), as well as Republican Mike Simpson (Idaho), also each spent more than 97.0 percent of their office budgets.

Democrats also spent more on average, with 87.1 percent of their budgets used. GOP members averaged 85.2 percent.

With about 62.1 percent spent, Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.) disclosed the smallest expenses of any office. It's the norm for congressional offices to report some expenses after the year is over, and Baird's office was late on reporting expenses for more than 13 percent of his 2020 budget.

Any unused funds are returned to the Department of the Treasury.

One of Sen. Thom Tillis's (R-N.C.) first Hill hires has left for Gilead Sciences.

Bill Bode joined the biopharmaceutical giant this month as director of government affairs. Gilead pumped nearly $8.2 million into its federal lobbying program last year. That makes it the country's eighth largest pharmaceutical lobbying group, according to OpenSecrets.

Bode started in Tillis's office as a legislative correspondent shortly after the senator took office in 2015 and worked his way up to become a senior policy adviser. He is concurrently working and pursuing a law degree at American University's Washington College of Law.

House staffers ended 2021 with the highest holiday bonuses of any non-election year in at least two decades, according to LegiStorm estimates.

House staffers working for member offices received 22.5 percent more money in the fourth quarter than in previous quarters - a bonus of nearly $3,800 per staffer.

In 2019 and 2017, staffers received a fourth-quarter bump of 19.2 percent and 19.5 percent, respectively. End-of-year bonuses are typically lower in non-election years.

Although GOP representatives tend to give much higher end-of-year bonuses than their Democratic counterparts, the parties narrowed the usual gap in 2021. Republicans averaged 23.0 percent more in the fourth quarter, while Democrats averaged 22.0 percent more. That's a partisan difference of only $160 more for the average Republican staffer than the average Democratic staffer. 2019 saw $350 more for the average Republican.

Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) topped the charts with an average Q4 pay of 115.6 percent more than his staff had made in each of year's the previous quarters. Aides to Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) got the second-highest increase, at 80.0 percent per staffer.

Members don't explicitly report bonuses in their quarterly expense reports. To estimate bonuses, LegiStorm compares average quarterly salaries to find payment increases.