U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree filed her financial disclosure report nearly four months after it was originally due and without including the assets of her soon-to-be ex-husband, S. Donald Sussman.

Pingree, who has been under fire from the Maine Republican Party for missing the May 15 deadline as well as an Aug. 15 extension deadline, disclosed her assets Tuesday. She listed two sources of income in 2014, two interest-yielding bank accounts, neither of which yielded more than $1,000. One account was valued between $250,000 and $500,000, the other between $50,000 and $100,000. A third asset, the Nebo Lodge Inn and Restaurant in North Haven, was valued between $1 million and $5 million, but Pingree did not report any income from it.

The 2014 report does not contain Sussman’s assets even though the couple’s divorce has not been finalized. The House Ethics Committee allows a member to withhold a spouse’s assets from the disclosure report pending divorce. Pingree’s 2013 financial disclosure included Sussman’s assets, which were significant and contained at least seven sources that generated over $1 million in income for the couple.

Sussman, founder of the hedge fund Paloma Partners, a philanthropist and former owner of the Portland Press Herald, has been the single largest donor to Democratic candidates and political action committees in Maine over the past several years. From 2013 to 2014, Sussman gave nearly $3 million to Democratic candidates and PACs, according to state and Federal Election Commission data, making him the top donor to political candidates and organizations in the state. He has also made significant contributions to progressive nonprofit organizations, but the extent of his giving is unknown because nonprofits can shield their donors.

Pingree’s decision not to report Sussman’s assets from 2014 has drawn criticism from the Maine Republican Party. The party has argued that reporting Sussman’s income may no longer be required, but omitting it deprives Mainers from knowing whether her or Sussman’s investments had any influence over her votes.

Pingree is a Democrat in her fourth term representing Maine’s 1st District. She and Sussman were married in June 2011 after having been engaged since 2008. It was the second marriage, and soon to be second divorce, for each.

Willy Ritch, Pingree’s spokesman, told the Press Herald that the congresswoman used a 30-day grace period for filing the disclosure to tell friends and family about her pending divorce.

 


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