Jerry who? Catching up with Weller

10 Aug 2008 // Funny how public officials announce their retirements and then disappear from the news.

Take U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, the Republican who holds the 11th Congressional District seat. Headlines accrued in 2006 and 2007 questioning land purchases in Nicaragua and whether he fully disclosed them on required ethics statements.

He also took an unusual exemption to House rules that protected him from revealing the assets of his spouse, Zury Rios Sosa, a Guatemalan elected official. She then formed a charitable organization with some of Weller's family members on its board.

Questions arose surrounding Weller's interests in Puerto Rico, campaign donations from Puerto Rican businessmen, and Weller's intervention in a legal dispute involving a telecommunications executive, who also donated to his campaign.

Last fall, Weller acknowledged he received a subpoena to testify in a criminal case against a defense contractor linked to former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who pleaded guilty to accepting bribes. Weeks later, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, D.C., included Weller on its list of "most corrupt" politicians based on the compilation of news stories.

And then in September, Weller announced his retirement.

Republican Marty Ozinga, Democrat Debbie Halvorson and the Green Party's Jason Wallace are competing to replace him.

Since the fall, Weller has faded to the background. A once-reliable vote in Washington, Weller has missed 242 votes so far this year, according to washingtonpost.com. Last week, he rejected pleas from his House Republican colleagues to interrupt Congress' August break to vote on energy legislation he is co-sponsoring.

Weller's measures in the legislation include a tax credit for property owners who install energy efficient devices in their homes. Weller's spokesman told Small Newspaper Group the congressman planned to return to Washington Sept. 2, not before.

With his retirement announcement, Weller knew the gas pedal would let up on the various interrogations into his activities.

He didn't have to go through a taxing re-election campaign and sit before nagging newspaper editorial boards. He avoided further investigation by the news media into the land deals and his ethics statements.

He was able to, once again, keep information about his wife's income and assets out of the public realm.

Here's what his latest financial disclosure forms reveal:

He lists 1250 Andrea Court, Morris, a duplex, as his residence. He also owns a unit at 19806 S. Wolf Road, Mokena, worth no more than $500,000. From that property, he collected rent.

He lists assets that include dividends and capital gains of no more than $8,500 and interest less than $2,000.

He holds 5,000 shares of First Community Bank of Joliet stock worth no more than $100,000.

His liabilities include his mortgage on the Morris property, a loan on the Mokena rental, a personal construction loan between $100,000 and $250,000 from Grundy National Bank, and a line of credit between $50,000 and $100,000 from Lafise in Miami. According to its Web site, Lafise is an investment management service.

On his disclosure form, Weller says he bought three lots in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua, valued between $50,000 and $250,000. In 2006, the three lots were consolidated into one property and then subdivided into 37 separate properties, he says.

By the end of 2006, 26 lots remained, valued between $500,000 and $1 million.

Of the sold lots, he earned a minimum of $275,000 and a maximum of $550,000. The reports only require a "range" of values, not specific earnings.

To the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, Weller wrote a letter indicating he would not include his wife's income or assets as required because he has no knowledge of them, has not contributed toward them, and does not expect to benefit from them.

"I am aware my wife may possess assets in her native Guatemala. However, I do not know what those assets are, nor have I inquired," Weller wrote the committee.

He consulted with the committee and an attorney, he wrote, who advised him the exemption "is being properly applied. I believe my situation continues to meet all the requirements for this exemption."

I doubt the committee will fight him.

Retirement has its perks.