Exclusive: Bruning Not Only Millionaire in U.S. Senate Race
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While Attorney General Jon Bruning has taken a lot of heat for becoming a multimillionaire since entering public office about 15 years ago, financial disclosure reports show his chief critic and Republican opponent for the U.S. Senate is also a millionaire. 
State Treasurer Don Stenberg reported between $1 million and $4.4 million in assets on the financial disclosure report U.S. Senate candidates must file with the Secretary of the Senate. In an interview, he said his net worth is more than a million dollars.
The other top GOP candidate running for the U.S. Senate, Valentine rancher Deb Fischer, reported between $2.3 million and $6.7 million in assets, mostly related to her family’s Sunny Slope Ranch in Cherry County. But she also reported between $1.9 million and $6.9 million in liabilities. She would not comment on her net worth.
Bruning has taken fire for reporting between $12 million and $61 million in assets, and between $10 million and $35 million in liabilities. He has said he is worth a few million dollars. Last year Democrats accused Bruning of being a part-time attorney general while amassing wealth, and Stenberg recently joined in, accusing Bruning of being in politics to enrich himself.
But Stenberg said there’s a big difference between he and Bruning because Stenberg made his money while working in the private sector, including about 20 years in a “pretty successful law practice.” Stenberg’s assets include a condo in Naples, Fla., valued at between $100,000 and $250,000 and between $265,000 and $2.1 million in dividends and capital gains from his wife’s family’s corn seed companies, Hoegemeyer Enterprises and Hoegemeyer Hybrids.
“I have no problem with anybody being a multimillionaire,” Stenberg said. “I didn’t acquire any of those assets by being in business while serving as attorney general. I believe that a public official should be a public servant and that you should focus on your job and not try and use your position to become wealthy while in office.”
Bruning’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
After leaving the attorney general’s office in late 2002, Stenberg worked for the law firm Erickson & Sederstrom from 2003 through 2010, when he was elected state treasurer. His financial disclosure says he earned nearly $74,000 in 2010, but Stenberg said his earnings varied from year to year, depending on how much work he did.
Part of his job was helping corporate clients resolve legal issues with state attorneys general – although he disputes the characterization of what he did as lobbying attorneys general.
“Representing a client on a legal matter is not lobbying,” he said. “You’re practicing law.”
In any case, he says he did “very little” of that kind of work.
While Bruning has said he got wealthy by investing in the stock market in the 1990s, Stenberg accused Bruning of getting rich by investing in multiple ventures while attorney general, from small-town banks to storage companies to retirement homes.
“Jon Bruning, while serving as attorney general, has become a multimillionare by being involved in 24 outside businesses,” Stenberg said.
Stenberg says it’s inappropriate on its face to get involved in such ventures while attorney general, since the attorney general’s office has the ability to file lawsuits over environmental, consumer protection and banking issues. That’s why he says he sold all his stock when he was attorney general. He owns some stock now because as state treasurer he has no regulatory authority over businesses, but if elected to the Senate, he says he would sell all but his wife’s family business stock.
Interestingly, Stenberg’s financial report also shows he is still owed money from his 2000 and 2006 Senate campaigns. He is owed about $90,000 for his 2006 campaign and between $15,000 and $50,000 for the 2000 campaign.
The candidates are only required to report their assets and liabilities in broad ranges, so it’s difficult to pinpoint their net worth. Fischer recently said she would support legislation requiring candidates to divulge more specific figures, however, she declined to do so for this story.
“She strongly supports changing the law so the financial disclosure reports are more specific,” said her campaign manager, Aaron Trost. “But she’s not going to… get into a game of net worth.”
Reported by Deena Winter, deena@nebraskawatchdog.org.
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Posted under Blog, State Politics.
Tags: Deb Fischer, Deena Winter, Don Stenberg Jon Bruning wealth, Don Stenberg millionaire, Nebraska U.S. Senate race
9:36 am on January 27th, 2012
Don’s law practice was always weak, at best, according to lawyers who worked with him at Erickson and Sederstrom. He ran for Treasurer in part to get a salary and in part to get health insurance since E&S couldn’t pay him when he wasn’t producing any business. Bottom line, he couldn’t make it in the private sector. Every nickel of his net worth is from Sue’s family business, Hoegemeyer Seeds. It’s an inheritance, and its bigger than Don let’s on. Don married a woman with money, he never could make his own.
9:55 am on January 27th, 2012
Shame on Stenberg! The old “bait and switch” routine? All this time being a millionaire, pretending to be just a humble, unassuming, average earner while attacking Bruning. So much for Stenberg trying to align himself with the 99% Occupy Movement.
A politician who demonizes capitalism makes me think he is going to serve those who have made a career living off of the government. Having a SuperPac come in from outside of Nebraska to fight his fight for him doesn’t impress me either.
His actions are sounding weak to me and if that is the case how much is he willing to give up in order to go along to get along once in the Senate. No thanks, I’ll stick with someone who has a proven successful track record – I’ll be voting for Jon Bruning.
11:48 am on January 27th, 2012
Just goes to show that those of us who have worked all our lives and paid taxes SHOULD have become State or Federal employees to make sure we had job security!!! And the benefits are swell, too!!! I wish I had multiple retirement funds to take care of me in my old age. It’s a well-known fact that if you want to be part of the “1%” you need to be involved in government so you have inside information to put you first in line for the really good deals! I am quite sure if you had access to the financial situation for our elected officials you would find out that being part of that exclusive club in common place in Lincoln OR Washington!!!
The bottom line??? It has become fashionable to be either in the top 1% or the bottom 50% if you want to pay little or no taxes in comparison to what you make!!! There is a BIG difference between free enterprise and being wealthy – that means you worked hard, took financial risks and became a successful business person – and a died-in-the-wool lifetime politician who makes money off the backs of those they represent!
12:06 pm on January 27th, 2012
Well perhaps Stenberg’s wife is smart & keeps all of her wealth in her name & in fact Stenberg is nothing more than a penniless kept man??
On another note; anyone see the debate between Howard & Ewing? Comments? I’m surprised Dog didn’t mention it or do a story on it???
12:17 pm on January 27th, 2012
It would interesting to know how much if any of their weath might have been subsidized by taxpayers via farm subsidies. I know how those from their side of the isle love complain about those living off the taxpers money.
12:54 pm on January 27th, 2012
Don was a registered lobbyist in the 80′s in NE and again after his time as AG. He wasn’t very good at it or able to make a living, hence using the name ID associated with his dozen runs for office to come back as State Treasurer.
8:45 pm on January 27th, 2012
Again, why is everyone punishing achievement in this country? Sure there are some questions about one candidate, but Don’s declaration about his net worth is both short of what is excessive in the minds of those Occupy types and just respectable to those who have been in politics and business for years.
This is a non issue. There are a lot better topics to be reporting on.
10:20 pm on January 27th, 2012
Stenberg is attacking Bruning as far as I can tell, not the other way around.
10:18 am on January 28th, 2012
No one is suggesting that small business owners and entrepreneurs who really are working hard, taking the financial risks in order to grow their businesses, have paid ALL of their taxes on time (unlike Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway), and have played by the rules should be punished! In fact, it is a sad day for America when one of the new legislative proposals in Washington would outlaw “insider trading” in Congress!!!!
So when someone uses their position as a PAID State or Federal employee to gain information not readily available to the general public to line their own pockets, then I consider them to be “bottom feeders” and indeed deserve to be given a higher level of scrutiny! Just because it apparently is NOT against the law to use “insider” information to their advantage does NOT mean it is the right thing to do, and I, for one, do not want that kind of person representing me in my government! One of the basic needs we are lacking in our government officials is integrity/trust.
By designating this as a “non-issue”, that says to me that you don’t CARE how these people amassed their wealth, and that you TRUST them to be honest and above board as your ELECTED representative in government. I’m sorry . . . THAT doesn’t make any sense to me because the bottom line is that the REAL fundamental problem in this country right now stems from corruption, deception, and misuse of power rooted in money!!!!!
And you are a member of Nebraska Tea Party Patriots???? I wouldn’t have guessed!
1:00 pm on January 28th, 2012
So who cares if either one of them is a millionaire? I only care if they used their office influence to earn the money. If they did then jail is probably a better place for them than the Senate. People should be proud of success rather than belittle each other for it. Talk about class warfare. Nebraska republicans use it even against each other.
12:42 am on January 29th, 2012
Has anyone seen any data on how many Millionaires there actually are on Capital Hill???…I wouldn’t be surprised if more than 75% of the politicians there are millionaires…Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney are millionaires…Romney makes more than $20 million per year!!!
12:57 pm on January 29th, 2012
The Tea Party is just another of the many front groups funded by the most evil of the 1% – the Koch Brothers. You may know them as the owners of 5/9ths of the US Supreme Court (Alito and Thomas are wholly owned subsidiaries of Koch Enterprises) , the financiers of the fake “populist” group, the Tea Party, funders of A.L.E.C. who is responsible for the draconian laws restricting voter registration and employee rights in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and here in Nebraska and the owners of most of the refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast that would have been refining the Tarsands Crude of the now non-starter Keystone XL. They also happen to be the financial backers of much of this state’s GOP candidates and elected officials – and thus we wind up with tools like State Senators Janssen and Nelson and their voter restriction laws to solve non-existent problems and the active efforts of certain state senators during the last regular session to block in committee any meaningful pipeline regulation legislation.
For Jim Mason/Nebraska Tea Party Patriots to try to comment on anything about Occupation is the height of hypocrisy considering he is nothing more than one of the 1%’s minions, even though he’s obviously too clueless that he’s just being used as a tool by them. The same holds true for Touchas Turtle, you have no business (pun intended) trying to speak for the Occupy movement for the same reasons.
8:09 pm on February 9th, 2012
Stenberg said he did not make his money while AG, but from 2003-2010 when he worked for E&S, his job was to basically “lobby state attorney generals seeking to influence the investigations they were pursuing and the outside help they hire, according to former state attorney generals.” With the information he learned as AG from 1991-2003, he was probably able to make a lucrative amount. Please see http://www.stateline.org/live/printable/story?contentId=235172