Manchin (D-WV) Reports $1.3 Million In Coal Brokerage Income In 2009, $417K In 2010 - NYT

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is more than just a supporter of his state's influential coal producers -- he's a full-fledged industry insider. On his financial disclosures for 2009 and 2010, Manchin reported significant earnings from Enersystems Inc., a coal brokerage that he helped run before his political star rose. In the 19 months before winning his Senate seat in a hard-fought special election, Manchin reported operating income of $1,363,916 from Enersystems. His next disclosure showed $417,255 in Enersystems income.

Manchin's Enersystems earnings are less than eyebrow-raising in a chamber where more than half the members routinely report net worths above $1 million.

That he derives income from an industry while acting as one of its biggest boosters, however, puts Manchin in a smaller group of lawmakers who play a central policymaking role in sectors that help their bottom line -- such as Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), a pharmacist with health care influence on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), whose sale of stock in his family hospital chain sparked a 2005 federal probe.

Asked about his Enersystems income in a brief Capitol interview last week, Manchin said it has "absolutely not" affected his policy decisions.

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http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/07/26/26greenwire-sen-manchin-maintains-lucrative-ties-to-family-64717.html?ref=earth&pagewanted=all