"All in the Family": Passive Investments Fuel Rep Guthrie's Portfolio Growth Since 2011
Part Two in Our Series Tracking How Politicians' Wealth Changes Over Time
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) isn’t the wealthiest lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
But Guthrie ranks among Congress’ most prolific wealth builders of the past dozen years, according to a Hunter Index analysis of congressional financial disclosure records.
Guthrie’s minimum net worth in 2023 topped $7.24 million — exponentially greater than his $208k minimum net worth in 2011.
The congressman’s annual congressional salary of $174k hasn’t changed a penny since 2011.
So what accounts for Guthrie’s dramatic percent increase in wealth — more than almost every member of Congress who’s served since the early 2010s?
Most notably, family trust arrangements.
In 2011, Guthrie reported himself as one of four children who shared in a single “Guthrie Family Irrevocable Trust” with a disclosed value of between $100k and $250k.
But by 2023, his family trust holdings had burgeoned.
That year, Guthrie reported that his 25 percent share of the “Lowell Guthrie Irrevocable Trust” was worth between $5 million and $25 million.
The congressman, who now serves as chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, indicated that the trust’s assets are fully invested in the stock of Trace Die Cast Inc., a private automotive parts company that his father, Lowell Guthrie, helped create in the 1980s.
In 2023, Guthrie also listed a separate “Brett Guthrie Gift Trust” worth between $1 million and $5 million that is “100% invested in Trace Die Cast stock” among his assets.
As for Guthrie’s direct role in Trace Die Cast, he noted in his 2023 financial disclosure that he remains an “uncompensated” company board member, although he has taken a leave of absence from working at the company — with the “right to return after government service.”
Trace Die Cast Inc. has benefited from the federal government in recent years, having received a COVID-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan of $4.36 million in 2020 from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), according to federal data compiled by ProPublica. The federal government forgave $4.41 million of the PPP loan, including accrued interest.
Trace Die Cast also received two smaller SBA loans in 2010 and 2011 “to aid small businesses which are unable to obtain financing in the private credit marketplace,” according to loan data on USASpending.gov.
Guthrie has represented Kentucky’s 2nd congressional district since 2009 and won his most recent election by more than 46 percentage points over a Democratic challenger.
Other personal assets Guthrie lists: two smaller, irrevocable family trusts among his assets, both valued at between $250k and $500k, and a 401(k) retirement account worth the same.
He also owns several four- or five-figure mutual fund, whole life insurance and bank accounts.
Guthrie’s only reported liability is a loan — between $100k and $250k — for his “daughter’s primary residence” on which he is a co-signer.
Guthrie doesn’t make parsing his personal finances easy: For example, his 14-page congressional disclosure from 2023 is handwritten, with some line items straining the boundaries of legibility.
One thing that is clear: Guthrie doesn’t own individual common stocks, which have been a source of trouble for dozens of members of Congress who’ve violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act’s disclosure and transparency provisions in recent years, including three in the past several weeks: Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Dwight Evans (D-Pa.) and Neal Dunn (R-Fla.).
Other lawmakers have made curiously timed stock trades that have led to public scrutiny, and in rare cases, Securities and Exchange Commission and FBI investigations — although the feds have never charged any member of Congress for a stock-related crime, such as illegal insider trading.
Guthrie’s congressional office acknowledged phone calls from Hunter Index but did not otherwise respond to messages left by phone and email.
Dave Levinthal is a Washington, D.C.-based investigative reporter.
Why Does It Matter?
Please be informed of your politicians’ personal finances.
That’s our goal at the Hunter Index. We believe it is important for constituents to understand how their government officials’ personal finances may affect their policy making decisions as well as understanding the potential wide disparity between their wealth and that of the people in their home state or district.
Remember our favorite questions: Would you make a decision that costs your family money for the public good? Isn’t that what we ask of our government officials?
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