Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) stated that people should “stay out” of her “personal life,” when confronted by CNN over her failure to disclose her partner’s financial assets.
In an interview with CNN, the outlet showed a clip from a “2009 hearing” where Baldwin stated she was in favor of disclosing “her then domestic partner’s financial information.”
Baldwin has faced calls from her Republican Senate opponent, Eric Hovde, to disclose her partner, Maria Brisbane’s, assets. Brisbane, who founded the Brisbane Group, works as a wealth adviser with Morgan Stanley and as an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the Columbia Business School.
“How do you reconcile that?” Baldwin was asked by the CNN host.
“Yeah, so, I don’t particularly want to talk about my past life,” Baldwin answered. “But, we have a domestic — we had a domestic law here in Wisconsin, and my ex and I, were legally domestic partners. That’s not the case in my current situation.”
When asked if Baldwin’s partner should just go ahead and “disclose” her financial assets and clients, Baldwin responded by saying, “absolutely not” and calling for people to “stay out of” her personal life.
“Should she just not disclose it?” the CNN host asked. “Put this to rest. Disclose of her assets, disclose her clients, just to keep them….”
“Absolutely not,” Baldwin interjected.
“Why not?” the CNN host asked.
“If I was dating a doctor, should they disclose their patients?” Baldwin answered. “I mean come on, stay out of my personal life. I disclose everything that I’m legally required to disclose.”
In September, Baldwin released an advertisement accusing Hovde of owning a $3 billion bank in California that allegedly took in “millions from unknown foreign interests.”
A report from Daniel Lippman, a reporter with Politico, revealed that a bill co-sponsored by Baldwin, regarding banning senators and their spouses from buying stocks, “would not apply to relationships like Baldwin” and her partner:
A new bill to ban senators and their spouses from buying individual stocks that Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) touts in a new ad wouldn’t apply to Baldwin’s partner because the couple is not married, Daniel Lippman reports.
Her opponent Eric Hovde has called on Baldwin to disclose her partner’s assets. And after a super PAC ad attacked her for not reporting jointly held assets with partner Maria Brisbane, a wealth adviser at Morgan Stanley, Baldwin responded with her own and saying that she was “leading the fight to ban senators from purchasing any individual stocks.”
But if the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act passed, the law would not apply to relationships like Baldwin and Brisbane, even though in 2021 the couple bought a $1.3 million home together in Washington, splitting the cost off the property. As written, the law would prohibit senators, their spouses and their dependant children from trading stocks but not apply to less official relationships. The Baldwin campaign noted that the bill uses the same standard for spousal and child reporting that has been in place since the passage of the Ethics in Government Act in the 1970s.
Andrew Mamo, a spokesperson for Baldwin’s campaign, told the outlet that Baldwin “follows all ethics guidelines when it comes to her financial disclosure reports.”
“Eric Hovde’s repeated attempts to attack the woman Tammy Baldwin is dating are sad and desperate,” Mamo told the outlet. “No matter how low Eric Hovde goes, voters will not forget about the massive conflict of interest presented by his continued ownership of his $3 billion California bank that receives deposits from unnamed foreign banks and governments.”
The New York Post reported that while Baldwin and Brisbane co-own a “$1.3 million DC penthouse condo” together, Brisbane’s financial assets have not been included “on her financial-disclosure reports,” even though Baldwin reported the financial assets of her former partner.
The Baldwin campaign told the outlet that Baldwin and Brisbane reportedly do not have any “jointly-held reportable assets” together.
