Invested Interests: Analyzing Rep. Jeb Bradley's Portfolio

You'd never guess it from his conservative views and straitlaced demeanor, but second-term Republican Congressman Joseph “Jeb” Bradley of New Hampshire was quite the iconoclast as a younger man. He once lived in Switzerland and worked as a street magician, returning in 1981 to New Hampshire, where he later opened an organic grocery called Evergrain Natural Foods. Back then, according to people who knew him, Bradley had long, rock-star hair. Think Peter Frampton.

Bradley came from a very wealthy family, so it follows that making money wasn't his top priority when he was pulling rabbits out of a hat and peddling granola. But over time he put aside childish things (peace, love, carob powder), trimmed his locks, and developed a keen interest in the stock market. Exhibit one: Bradley's financial disclosure forms, which detail a stock and bond portfolio worth more than $5 million. In 2002, the year he was elected, he lived solely off his investments.

Since then Bradley has voted in a way that makes him look more like a stockholder than an elected representative. For example, he owns nearly $1 million in oil, gas and electric company stock, and has taken over $45,000 in campaign contributions from energy industry PACs. Bradley has consistently voted with energy interests since taking office, often stripping key environmental and consumer protections in the process. It's a textbook case of why there should be some financial threshold at which it becomes mandatory for members of Congress to put their wealth in blind trusts.

In 2005, Bradley backed big energy companies at least nine times. In April 2005, he voted to allow oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes, voted against requiring electric utility companies to reduce dependence on nonrenewable energy sources, and voted to weaken the review and approval process for oil refineries in areas with high unemployment rates. The following month he voted against $15.5 million in funding for energy efficiency and conservation, and he went to bat for the industry again in October, opposing a measure that would have increased fines for price gouging to three times the profits gained.

That same year, Bradley's personal energy holdings increased from $815,848 to $916,872 while his voting record ensured a steady inflow of campaign contributions from energy companies. Then, apparently seeking to prove that he's an independent, pro-environmental type (a stance that plays well in New Hampshire), Bradley voted against President Bush's 2005 energy bill. But the energy industry didn't need Bradley to vote for the pork-laden legislation, which passed the House by an overwhelming margin. It did need him during the debate over the bill's contents, and Bradley was more than happy to help, backing numerous provisions—some of which I mentioned above—that were included in the final legislation as a result of his support.

Bradley also did well by investing in Halliburton. When he was sworn into office on January 3, 2003, Bradley owned 231 shares in Halliburton, valued at $18.71 per share, making his holdings worth $4,322. That March, Halliburton's KBR subsidiary was awarded a soon-to-be scandalous no-bid contract, capped at $7 billion, to evaluate and repair Iraq's petroleum infrastructure. Seven months later Bradley opposed an amendment—which passed by a vote of 248–179—that required normal competitive bidding procedures for all subsequent government contracts relating to Iraq's oil industry. At the same time, he voted for an $87 billion Emergency Supplemental Appropriation that included funds for Iraqi reconstruction.

In October of 2003, soon after casting those votes, Bradley acquired an additional 72 shares of Halliburton stock at $23.88. The following July he sold all of his shares in the company, at $29.15, for a total of $8,832.54. Between the day Bradley took office and the day he sold his shares, Halliburton stock climbed by 56 percent, netting Bradley $2,791.08.

Then, this spring (roughly two years after dumping his shares), Bradley became a Halliburton-basher. He joined with critics of the company and voted to penalize any contractor found to have overcharged the U.S. government on its Iraq contracts—a measure introduced by California Democrat Henry Waxman that was specifically aimed at Halliburton.

Bradley both supports and is supported by the pharmaceutical industry. He owned over $300,000 in pharmaceutical company stock when he took office in 2003. During his first year in office, he cast at least three votes that greatly aided drug companies, starting in July when he opposed reimporting low-cost drugs from Canada and other countries. Sensing a friend, the drug industry has handed him at least $14,000 in campaign contributions.

In October 2003, Bradley acquired additional shares in three pharmaceutical companies—Pfizer, Merck, and Johnson & Johnson. The next month he cast several votes favorable to the drug industry. Significantly, he opposed a measure that would have allowed the Department of Health and Human Services to directly negotiate lower prices with pharmaceutical companies and supported the Bush Administration's Medicare Part D bill. That legislation amounted to a $139 billion windfall for the industry.

The Medicare Part D bill was a perfect cooperative endeavor between capital and Capitol, and soon after it passed, its leading advocate, Congressman Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, left the Hill to cash in as the new head of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Drug company stocks shot up, and between January and December of 2003, the value of Bradley's pharmaceutical portfolio increased by about $65,000—nearly $43,000 of which was profit. (Not every stock pick can be a winner, however, and in 2004 Bradley sold a chunk of his drug shares at a loss.)

Bradley is a very wealthy man, and it's not likely that he reads the stock tables before voting. But his votes have, at times, tended to increase his personal net worth. Slamming Halliburton after pocketing the company's profits is having your cake and eating it too. And Bradley has so much cake he should open a bakery—after all, he knows how to run a health food store. Or maybe he should place his money into a blind trust so he that his constituents know that he's voting as a citizen, not as a stockholder.

Representative Bradley's office did not return phone calls for this article.

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