NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — Indiana's top elections official faces a final shot at regaining his office today when his attorney plans to ask a judge to reduce each of his six felony convictions to misdemeanors.Dan Coats was a millionaire on paper when he left Congress in 1998, and he became a multimillionaire during the 12 years he lobbied and served in the diplomatic corps, according to a report he filed as part of a requirement to be a candidate for the GOP Senate nomination.
In the past 16 months, Coats earned $821,000 in salary from King & Spalding, a Washington-based lobbying firm. Last year, he was paid $100,000 in consulting fees from Cerberus Capital Management’s Germany division to help set up deals with German companies. Coats was ambassador to Germany for four years during the George W. Bush administration.
He also was paid $75,778 in director fees and $15,000 to $50,000 worth of stock options from NanoInk Inc, a technology company; and $32,500 in director fees and $50,000 to $100,000 in stock options from Allison Transmission Inc. of Indianapolis. Coats resigned from the boards of both companies when he announced he would run for the GOP Senate nomination. He was paid $10,000 as a consultant to the non-profit Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.
According to an accounting of his personal wealth that he filed with the Senate on Wednesday, Coats and his wife, Marsha, reported that in 2009 and through this week, their assets in stocks, cash accounts, real estate and other holdings were worth $2.5 million to nearly $6 million.
At the end of 1997, Coats reported he had stocks, mutual funds, bank accounts and other assets worth between $1 million and $2.4 million and earned interest, dividends and capital gains between $59,000 and $203,000. In today’s dollars, those assets would be worth $1.4 million to $3.2 million. The net worth does not include any houses the Coatses owned.
Members of Congress and congressional candidates are required to report their assets, income sources, non-mortgage debts and positions they hold outside the government. Coats has come under fire from Democrats and fellow GOP Senate contender Marlin Stutzman for missing an April 4 deadline.
Stutzman and the Democratic Party have suggested that the reports would give voters some information about Coats’ lobbying ties.
“We all know Dan Coats made money as a Washington, D.C., lobbyist; that is within his rights to do so,” Stutzman said earlier Wednesday. “Covering up who he lobbied for, and where the money he is now spending on his campaign came from, is not within his rights or within the law. At this point we are only left to believe that Dan Coats is wholly owned by Washington special interests.”
Coats’ most recent lobbying clients – he left the lobbying firm King & Spalding shortly after announcing his candidacy in February – were publicly reported last week.
Three other candidates – John Hostettler, Don Bates Jr. and Richard Behney – have not yet filed their reports.
The Coatses’ stock holdings include investments in Fort Wayne-based WaterFurnace Renewable Energy; Regal Beloit United Technologies; Suntrust Bank in Atlanta; Schlumberger; Procter & Gamble; Pepsico; Coca-Cola; Medtronics; Johnson & Johnson; Frontier Communications; Exxon Mobil; Chesapeake Energy; Caterpillar; Marathon Oil; Aflac; Stryker Corp.; Dodge & Cox International Fund; Oil Service Holders; 3M; ATT; and Bank of America.
Dan and Marsha Coats also reported they hold the mortgages for houses for their three adult children. The mortgages are worth $515,000 to $2.5 million. Marsha Coats owns a radio station in Berlin.
