Rick Lazio reports at least $2.6M in income, assets

ALBANY - Rick Lazio released financial disclosure forms Thursday showing at least $2.6 million in income and assets in 2009.

A JPMorgan Chase lobbyist on leave while running for governor, Lazio's net worth could be far higher, but the state Commission on Public Integrity form he was required to file asks candidates to give only broad ranges for income, gifts, stocks, bonds and retirement plans.

The highest category is "$250,000 or over," in which Lazio listed his 2009 salary, a JPMorgan Chase stock sale and deferred compensation plan, two JPMorgan stock portfolios, his two-bedroom, Upper East Side co-op apartment and holdings in a JPMorgan-affiliated company, OEP III Co-Investors that online SEC filings say is based in the Cayman Islands.

The Republican nominee made at least $500,000 in salary and stock sales, held at least $560,000 in retirement funds and deferred compensation and owned at least $1.59 million in stocks and bonds, according to the disclosure forms.

Asked for specifics of Lazio's remuneration, spokesman Barney Keller said Lazio collected a salary of $260,000 and a $300,000 bonus in 2009 from JP Morgan Chase but Keller declined to state the exact value of Lazio's other holdings. Lazio worked on Wall Street and as a lobbyist after losing a U.S. Senate campaign to Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2000.

In 2008, he was paid a $325,000 salary and a $1.3 million bonus, Keller said.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic nominee, released in April a summary of his tax filings, showing he made less than $200,000 in 2009.

Lazio did not release tax information Thursday. Keller said: "We're going to be releasing his tax returns in the not-too-distant future."

Democrats pounced on Lazio's returns, saying the filings showed he was out of touch with the average person.

"The only thing this disclosure makes crystal clear is that Rick Lazio made a killing as a Wall Street lobbyist while the rest of the economy burned," said Charlie King, executive director of the New York State Democratic Committee.

Lazio's investments included stock holdings in PepsiCo, Nokia, Signature Bank, Goldman Sachs and Hain Celestial, a Melville natural food company known for its Celestial Seasonings tea brand.