Durbin's net worth rises after oversight discovered

After finding that his recently filed financial disclosure documents failed to list a retirement savings account that is one of his largest personal assets, he's updating the forms -- a move that will officially restore him to millionaire status.

In his initial set of documents, Durbin listed a net worth of around $917,000. Aides say the figure is closer to $1.3 million.

"We discovered that information regarding the senator's Thrift Savings Plan (the retirement savings plan offered to all federal employees) was not included on this year's financial disclosure form," spokesman Joe Shoemaker said in a statement Thursday.

The Senate does not require its members to report the value of their Thrift Savings Plans, but Durbin has done so in the past and Shoemaker said it was "inadvertently" left off of this year's form.

"The fund is an asset valued at $346,234.34 compared to last year's total of $307,257.55," he said.

Durbin planned to file an addendum to his financial disclosure report.

Durbin's other major assets included $714,000 for his Springfield home, Chicago condominium, furniture and 2001 Ford truck with the remainder coming from the Thrift account and various credit union and other investment funds.

His net worth had topped $1 million in a report filed a year ago and Shoemaker said Wednesday that Durbin's decision to sell off holdings with any links to Sudan, the North African nation widely criticized for supporting a genocidal conflict in its Darfur region, was the primary reason for the reduction in net worth.

After researching answers to questions raised Wednesday by The Associated Press, Durbin's staff found that there actually had been no decline.