Huffington to Use Salary to Start Charity

Carrying through on a campaign promise, freshman Rep. Michael Huffington (R-Santa Barbara), one of the wealthiest members of the U.S. House, has announced that he will donate his first year’s pay to start an organization to help needy children in his district.

Huffington’s yearly salary of $133,644 will be used as seed money to set up the Partnership for the Children of Santa Barbara County, a nonpartisan group co-chaired by his wife that will work with governments and advocacy groups to provide services to children and teen-agers. The partnership hopes to attract other private donations and enlist volunteers to perform tutoring and other community services.

“The idea about doing this came out of nowhere (during the campaign),” Huffington said Wednesday. “But once I said it, it felt like the right thing to do.

“My wife, Arianna, and I care very much about children. We lost a baby during pregnancy, and such a traumatic event changes you a bit. We wanted to help the homeless and the starving. We decided that if we gave money, we wanted to get others involved, too. This country has a great capacity for giving.”

Although Santa Barbara County is one of the state’s more affluent, the number of children living in extreme poverty there has risen 26% during the last 10 years, according to a Partnership statement.

The Partnership for Children will offer, among other services, dental care for needy children, prenatal care for teen-agers and child care for working poor families. Working with local governments, private individuals, businesses and other nonprofit agencies, the group hopes to respond quickly to problems and “fill the gaps” in the social service safety net, said Huffington press secretary Lori Arguelles.

“It doesn’t want to duplicate services or step on the toes of existing groups,” Arguelles said.

The Santa Ynez Foundation has announced that it will match Huffington’s donation. The Partnership’s first grant--$10,000--will be given to Santa Maria Catholic Charities to help cover emergency medical costs.

Huffington has earmarked next year’s paycheck to set up a similar organization in San Luis Obisbo County, which he also represents. The Partnership hopes to become a model for similar groups nationwide.

Huffington, heir to a large Texas oil fortune, refuses to divulge his net worth.

“It’s the one thing I don’t discuss,” he said.

But a Capitol Hill newspaper recently estimated his net worth to be $50 million and ranked him fourth wealthiest in Congress.

Huffington spent a record $5.2 million of his own money during last year’s campaign for a seat in the House of Representatives. The total campaign cost was $5.4 million.

The Huffington campaign expenditures shattered the previous total spending record for a House race, $2.6 million, set in 1986 by Jack Kemp.