Landlord In The Legislature

BRISTOL, Tenn. – State Rep. Jon Lundberg smiled as he looked out a window on the third floor of a downtown building he hopes to transform into lofts.

“Candidly, I like downtown,” said Lundberg, a Republican who represents Bristol in the 99-member House of Representatives. “That’s why I started [buying real estate] and that’s why I’m here.”

Lundberg bought the State Street building two years ago. It houses the women’s clothing store, What’s Her Face? and the two floors of empty space Lundberg is renovating. The building is a few doors down from Lundberg’s first downtown purchase, which houses the K.P. Duty Restaurant and Lundberg’s marketing firm, The Corporate Image.

Because he collects rent from the three businesses, Lundberg listed them and the property’s addresses on his “statement of disclosure of interest” form submitted to the Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance in January.

The Bristol Herald Courier and News Channel 11 Connects spent four months reviewing the financial interest disclosure forms required of all public officials in Virginia and Tennessee. The investigation revealed that nearly 40 percent of about 700 forms in both states contained errors or omissions.

In Tennessee, 16 percent of the forms reviewed contained errors or omissions. In Virginia, that rate was 74 percent. While the statements did not reveal obvious or egregious conflicts of interest or intentional violations of law, the errors suggest that many public officials are uninformed or careless when filling out the statements.

As part this review, the Herald Courier also looked up the individual real estate holdings of 69 state and local officials from Sullivan County. That research revealed that 27 owned at least one piece of property in addition to their primary residences.

Of those, only Lundberg and state Rep. Tony Shipley, R-Kingsport, listed on their disclosure forms the addresses of the rental property they own. Shipley owns a rental house on Beechwood Drive in Kingsport.

Tennessee’s disclosure rules do not require such specifics as addresses and dollar amounts, but Bureau Compliance Officer Barry Woody said people must list any rental income source and any investment properties they own. He defined a piece of investment property as a piece of real estate the owner bought with “the intention of making a profit.”

Most of the 27 officials in the county varied on how they listed their real estate holdings, which in most cases were either a commercial building that’s home to their business or a vacant, residential or agricultural lot.

Among the findings of the review of disclosure forms and property records, the Herald Courier learned that:
* County Trustee Frances Harrell and Register of Deeds Mary Duncan both listed rental property on their forms. Harrell owns one house in addition to her Emory Church Road home while Duncan owns two. Harrell’s job is to collect property taxes, while Duncan maintains the county’s real estate records.
* Commissioner Clyde Groseclose of Kingsport owns 12 pieces of land with a total appraised value of $2.8 million. His properties include a mixture of residential and agricultural lots and the Putt-Putt Golf Course on West Stone Drive in Kingsport. But Groseclose did not mention any of those properties on his disclosure form.
* Commissioner Eddie Williams of Kingsport owns 10 pieces of land worth a total of $829,000. The holdings include a commercial office building and three single-family homes. He also did not mention any of these properties on his disclosure form.
* Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey owns 11 pieces of property worth $1.6 million. When Ramsey filled out his disclosure form, he listed “rental properties” and “farming” along with his work as an auctioneer with Ron Ramsey & Associates.
* Bristol City Councilman David Shumaker owns four pieces of land including his Columbia Street home and a commercial building on Sixth Street. He listed “rental properties” as one of his sources of income on the disclosure form.

gmclean@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2518