Heating and cooling systems. A new oven and refrigerator. Mold removal. Roof repairs.
These are a few of the costs — aside from a mortgage — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh listed as contributing to debt on his financial disclosure reports.
Kavanaugh’s finances arose in written questions submitted to him from several Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee following his confirmation hearing last week.
In total, Kavanaugh received 1,278 questions from Democrats on the panel and addressed their queries — which spanned a wide range of issues — in a 263-page response late Wednesday.
In response to questions from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Kavanaugh detailed the debts he and his wife carried over the years, but told the senator they currently do not have any debts other than the mortgage on their Maryland home. The home was initially purchased with help from a loan for federal government workers purchasing their first house, he said, which has since been paid off.
Kavanaugh did, however, explain that the couple has “sunk a decent amount of money into our home” for repairs and improvements.
“As many homeowners probably appreciate, the list sometimes seems to never end,” he replied.
Kavanaugh provided a detailed list of their home improvements, including painting the exterior of their home, waterproofing the basement, and replacing porch flooring.
“Maintaining a house, especially an old house like ours, can be expensive,” he wrote.
Whitehouse also posed a series of questions to the Supreme Court nominee about gambling.
Kavanaugh stated that he has “not had gambling debts or participated in any ‘fantasy’ leagues.”
He also told the senator he has not participated in any form of gambling since 2000, has not accrued gambling debt, and has not reported a gambling loss to the IRS.
Since Kavanaugh’s financial disclosure forms were made public early in the nomination process, questions have swirled about credit card debt he incurred for Washington Nationals baseball tickets, which the White House at the time said were purchased by Kavanaugh for himself and a “handful” of friends.
Kavanaugh did not receive any questions about the tickets during the two days of questioning during his four-day confirmation hearing, but they were the focus of multiple queries from Whitehouse.
The Supreme Court hopeful described himself as a “huge sports fan” and said he purchased four season tickets to Nationals games for each season from 2005, when the team came to D.C., to 2017. He also purchased playoff packages for four years: 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2017.
“As is typical with baseball season tickets, I had a group of old friends who would split games with me,” Kavanaugh wrote. “We would typically divide the tickets in a ‘ticket draft’ at my house. Everyone in the group paid me for their tickets based on the cost of the tickets, to the dollar. No one overpaid or underpaid me for tickets. No loans were given in either direction.”
In concluding his answers to Whitehouse regarding his finances, Kavanaugh delivered a warning regarding the financial disclosure reports, saying they are “not meant to provide one’s overall net worth or overall financial situation” but rather to “identify conflicts of interest.”
“Therefore, they are not good tools for assessing one’s net worth or financial situation,” Kavanaugh wrote.
