Alexander’s financial disclosure surprises wind advocates

Alexander has never hidden the Massachusetts property, listing it on required disclosure forms since he bought it in 2001.

But its appearance on disclosure forms released Tuesday surprised wind supporters, and raised questions about whether a contentious proposal to erect 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound factors into Alexander’s recent opposition to windmills.

“It raises a question,” said Jaime Steve, legislative director for the American Wind Energy Association. “This is high-level ‘not in my backyard.'”

The two-term Tennessee governor said he bought the lot in 2001, thinking he was “permanently out of politics.” Those plans changed, and Alexander said he never built a home on the land, which was valued at between $500,001 and $1 million.

Alexander, who has spoken out frequently against the cost and inefficiency of wind-power, said owning the Nantucket property was not what determined his stance on windmills.

“It’s a favored tactic of the windmill developers to say that people who don’t like them have a house nearby,” Alexander said. “I wouldn’t like seeing them wherever my house might be and I don’t want other people to have to look at them either.”

Alexander and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, like all U.S. senators, were required to make their assets and earnings public Tuesday, a day before their House counterparts. The forms require lawmakers to report their assets in broad ranges.

Alexander earns $158,100 a year as a senator. His assets, which include stock holdings, property and other investments, were listed as being worth between $8 million and more than $34 million.

Some of his largest holdings included between $1 million and $5 million of stock in Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Inc., which he helped found in 1987, and between $5 million and $25 million of stock in Processed Foods Corp.

Alexander’s wife also owns numerous stocks, bonds and investment accounts, and portions of several commercial properties in Victoria, Texas, where she was raised.

Tennessee’s senior senator received a higher salary — $175,700 — in 2004 because he was majority leader.

Frist listed blind trusts — where the owner has no knowledge of where the money’s being invested — worth between $7 million and $35 million. The largest one produced between $1 million and $5 million in income last year, his paperwork shows.

But this year’s disclosure forms also shows Frist has a $1 million to $5 million line of credit with Suntrust Bank. That’s significantly higher than the $50,000 to $100,000 credit line listed at the bank in last year’s disclosure forms.

Frist spokesman Nick Smith said the senator is renovating his father’s former home in Tennessee, which Frist moved into several years ago after his father passed away.

Frist’s wife, Karyn, lists a blind trust worth more than $1 million. Each of his three sons also have two trusts apiece worth more than $1 million.