SOURCE:  Oregonian

Note:  The Oregonian asked me to review both US Senate Candidates personal financial disclosures and this is the first of two stories that resulted.  See blog for related posts. 

Monica Wehby seeks another extension on personal financial disclosure for Senate candidacy

Jeff Mapes

June 24, 2014

Oregon Republican Senate candidate Monica Wehby has received a second extension on the deadline for filing a disclosure report on her personal finances.

Wehby's campaign says she sought the extension to get all of her documents in order, but she drew a rebuke from rival Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley's campaign, which accused her of "trying to hide her Personal Financial Disclosure."

Wehby, a Portland pediatric neurosurgeon who reported earning nearly $1 million in medical income in 2012, was originally supposed to file her report on May 15. She has received two extensions for a total of 90 days and now has an Aug. 13 deadline for filing.

Members of Congress and congressional candidates are required to file annual reports that provide an overview of their financial holdings and income.

Michael Antonopoulos, Wehby's campaign manager, portrayed the extensions as routine.

"We just want to make sure we're getting the most updated information on everything ," he said.

Merkley campaign spokesman Jamal Raad charged that Wehby has been largely avoiding voters and the press in recent weeks "so that it's hardly a surprise" that she hasn't yet filed her financial disclosure report.

Raad, however, did not directly respond to questions about information in Merkley's financial disclosure report showing that he had taken out a 2012 mortgage with Wells Fargo Bank.

Bill Parish, a financial advisor in Lake Oswego who assessed Wehby's 2012 report and Merkley's 2013 report for The Oregonian, said it was "somewhat hypocritical" for the senator to do business with the bank given that it participated in lending practices before the 2008 crash that Merkley had criticized as unfair to consumers.

Parish, who also wrote a blog post on his analysis, noted that Merkley appeared to use a credit union for his day-to-day banking but said he was surprised that Merkley gave his mortgage business to "Wells Fargo rather than to a credit union or a bank like US Bank with a better consumer based corporate governance record."

Asked about Parish's analysis, Raad responded with a statement that Merkley had helped pass legislation leading to the "biggest crackdown on predatory mortgage lending in decades."

In her 2012 report, Wehby listed assets valued at between $2.1 million and $7.6 million. Much of her wealth is tied up in a Cannon Beach real estate venture valued at between $1 million and $5 million.

Known as Ecola Point Development, the venture once consisted of eight vacant lots that Wehby and her ex-husband, Jim Grant, were able to get annexed to the city of Cannon Beach in 2005, according to a story in the Daily Astorian.

State Corporation Division records show that Wehby controls Ecola Point Development along with Ronald Seedall, who is listed as now living in Bend. He could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Merkley's report showed that he had assets valued at between just under $1.3 million and $2.7 million. He listed five rental properties that made up the bulk of his holdings. He listed liabilities of between $265,000 and $550,000.

Wehby did not list any liabilities.  In 2012, she reported earning $948,677 from Legacy Health Systems and $48,400 as a board member of the American Medical Association.

-- Jeff Mapes