Zinke’s financial disclosure shows assets worth up to more than $30 million

Then Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke speaks at EPA headquarters in Washington in Dec. 2018.
Then Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke speaks at EPA headquarters in Washington in Dec. 2018.
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A financial disclosure filing by U.S. House candidate Ryan Zinke on Monday shows assets worth up to $32.5 million and that he earned more than $800,000 in income in one year.

Zinke filed the disclosure on Monday after missing an earlier deadline and claiming he was not required to file the disclosure for months. Financial disclosure statements are required of any candidate running for Congress and any campaign that reaches more than $5,000 in fundraising within 30 days of hitting that mark, which Zinke met sometime between July and September.

The disclosures also only require the candidate to report their assets and liabilities in broad ranges — putting Zinke’s total assets somewhere between $7.6 million and $32.5 million and his liabilities between $1.3 million and $5.6 million.

Monday’s filing shows a significant increase in combined asset value compared to a 2018 public financial disclosure report filed by Zinke. In 2018, he reported between $800,000 and $1.8 million in assets, not including a family trust valued at more than $1 million.

Zinke has served as former President Donald J. Trump’s Secretary of the Interior, in the Montana legislature and twice as the state’s lone congressional representative. Currently, Zinke is campaigning for the GOP primary in the state’s western congressional district, which was created this year to account for population gain.

The bulk worth of his assets are properties held by his wife, Lolita, in California valued at between $6 million and $30 million, according to the report. Also listed are properties in his hometown of Whitefish worth up to $2.25 million. Two of those properties are associated with Double Tap LLC and Snow Frog LLC, a brewery and bed and breakfast that Zinke attempted to open but shelved after concerns from neighbors.

Other assets include a family art and furniture collection and car collection, which have both doubled in value since 2018, as well as a pontoon boat, stocks and bank accounts ranging in value from almost $1 million to $1.7 million. Rent payments accounted for $75,000 to $181,000 of Zinke’s income.

Since he departed from the Trump administration in early 2019, Zinke has been working as a consultant. He raked in $788,000 from consultation this year, up from $547,025 in 2020. He also brought in $38,000 of retirement income from the U.S. Navy.

Around half of his income came from JVL Enterprises, which paid Zinke’s consulting firm Continental Divide International $350,000. Other clients include oil company Conoco Phillips, which paid CDI $220,000, and Cyber Range Solutions, which paid $50,000 in consulting fees.

The house GOP hopeful reported liabilities ranging from $1.31 million to $5.61 million, mostly made up of a loan to his wife between $1 million and $5 million for the Santa Barbara property. The couple also has a joint mortgage between $250,000 and $500,000 on a house in West Whitefish.

The Daily Montanan is a nonprofit news outlet based out of Helena covering statewide policy and politics. It is an affiliate of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by grants and a coalition of donors and readers.

This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Zinke’s financial disclosure shows assets worth more than $30 million