Senate hopeful Bayh granted reprieve on financial disclosure
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Evan Bayh was granted a temporary reprieve from disclosing personal financial information that all candidates for Congress must release.
An accounting of Bayh's finances was originally due on Aug. 14. But the former Indiana governor and one-time senator was granted a 56-day extension that enables Bayh to delay submitting the mandatory annual report until Oct. 9, according to records kept by the U.S. Senate.
"We believe it is important that these documents are filed in the most accurate manner possible," Bayh spokesman Ben Ray said Friday.
That allows Bayh to wait until a month before the November election to disclose how he earns a living, what companies he holds investments in, and some types of property he may own. In 2010, the year Bayh quit the Senate, he held millions of dollars in stocks and assets, as well as a $1.85 million dollar rental home at Bethany Beach, Delaware, according to documents he filed at the time.
The campaign for Republican opponent Congressman Todd Young accused Bayh of trying to hide his finances from public view. Young's campaign also said that Bayh criticized former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012 for not revealing his full tax returns, which Romney eventually did.
"Evan Bayh should release his personal finance information if he can. That he has refused to do so raises a question. There must be something that they don't like," said Young campaign manager Trevor Foughty.
Young filed his financial disclosure from the U.S. House in May, which shows the congressman has several college investment funds worth less than $100,000. He reported owning a rental home in Bloomington, Indiana in his 2015 report that was worth between $500,000 and $1 million.
Ray said it is ironic that Young is accusing Bayh of trying to hide something, noting that Young was also given a similar extension in 2013, which was a non-election year.
"Congressman Young's campaign is ... trying to make mountains out of mole hills," Ray said.