Financial Affairs

By Melissa August/Washington

To you, they're House Representatives. To their bookkeepers, they're something else. Financial-disclosure forms, released last week, reveal a new side of some Congress members:

--Guy You're Most Likely to Pick Up the Tab For: Nick J. Rahall (D., W.Va.), who owes more than $70,000 on four credit cards.

--Guy Who Married Well: John Duncan Jr. (R., Tenn.), whose wife won $5,200 on a slot machine.

--Guys Who Collect Coins: William Archer Jr. (R., Texas), collection value: $16,326; Steve Largent (R., Okla.), more than $30,000; Philip Crane (R., Ill.), more than $50,000; and Ronald Paul (R., Texas), more than $100,000.

--Successful Author: Brian Baird (D., Wash.) got at least $15,000 in royalties for The Internship Practicum and Field Placement Handbook, a text on clinical internships.

--Less Successful Author: Barney Frank (D., Mass.) got $8.68 for an article.

--Incredible Record Keeper: John M. Shimkus (R., Ill.), who reported 15 pages of gifts, including a plastic letter opener from the Pontiac, Ill., Tourism Office; 21 calendars; a bumper sticker from an "outraged, anonymous citizen"; a hog sausage from the Eldred Baptist Church; and 12 jars of horseradish from Keller Farms in Illinois.

--By Melissa August/Washington