No TV show. A salary she vowed to donate. Miami’s Salazar adjusts to life in Congress.

David Smiley, Alex Daugherty, Bianca Padró Ocasio
Updated

After a 30-year TV career that most recently included hosting a weekly Spanish-language talk show sponsored by a Miami-based health provider, ethics rules have forced newly elected Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar to sign off.

Salazar, a Miami Republican, announced in the final airing last month of “De Noche Con María Elvira Salazar” — or, “At Night with María Elvira Salazar” — that she could no longer host the Sunday night America TeVe program paid for by Cano Health. Addressing her viewers, Salazar explained that rules regulating members of the U.S. House of Representatives barred her from continuing the show.

“Once I became a congresswoman, I was informed by the Ethics Committee that I can’t do a show like this one every week because it is not allowed for someone in my position to do it,” Salazar said. She added later: “In one way, I end my journalistic career with this program.”

As an elected public official, the 59-year-old broadcast journalist — who in recent years has dabbled in healthcare promotion — is adjusting to life under a different kind of spotlight. She is shedding her public-facing business roles to comply with ethics guidelines and struggling to find a way to fulfill a campaign promise to use her $174,000-a-year salary to help constituents of her 27th Congressional District find employment.

Asked Monday during a 40-minute interview, alongside her attorney, how she’ll make a living as a member of Congress, Salazar responded: “That’s a very good question. I am soon to be married to a gentleman who is happy to support my efforts to be a congresswoman.”

Salazar declined to name her fiancé.

“We have been together for 10 years and I want to keep it this way. He’s not the one who decided to be in public office or on public television. That was me,” she said.

U.S. Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez Cantera, joined candidate Maria Elvira Salazar on stage after she won the Republican primary nomination for the U.S. Congressional District 27 to replace Ros-Lehtinen in Miami on Tuesday, August 28, 2018.
U.S. Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez Cantera, joined candidate Maria Elvira Salazar on stage after she won the Republican primary nomination for the U.S. Congressional District 27 to replace Ros-Lehtinen in Miami on Tuesday, August 28, 2018.

According to financial disclosures filed during her two runs for Congress, in 2018 and 2020, Salazar has in recent years made most of her money as a talk show host and media consultant for healthcare companies. Recently, the balance has shifted toward the latter, as her income from a company she set up to manage what her 2018 financial disclosure referred to as “journalistic activities” dropped from $165,000 in 2017 to $20,000 in 2019 and dwindled to nothing through the first half of 2020.

But in that time, Salazar — who during her campaigns has disclosed owing between $1 million and $5 million on an investment property she purchased 16 years ago with her ex-husband — became a 50% investor in a Perrine pediatric child care facility called 7 Heaven for Kids PPEC, an acronym that stands for prescribed pediatric extended care. And she continued to host “De Noche Con María Elvira Salazar” under a contract that, she reported, has paid her up to $250,000 in stock in Cano Health’s parent company, Primary Care (ITC) Holdings.

Salazar also reported during both congressional runs income for her work as a spokesperson for Dr. Orlando Rangel, founder of Tampa-based Rangel Medical Centers, which entered into partnership with Cano in 2018. And she listed consulting income for Mega TV, where she once hosted a show, and for Sima Communications, a media company also based out of Tampa.

Salazar said that while her work promoting the healthcare industry has ended, she’s not sure what sources of additional outside income will show up on her 2021 financial disclosure, which is due in May. Marriage would likely affect what shows up on the report, which requires lawmakers to list the income sources of their spouses.

“To be clear, depending on if her wedding is before May, you’re going to see a whole lot of information about her husband and his holdings,” said Salazar’s attorney, Jason Torchinsky.

Members of Congress are only allowed to earn up to 15% of their yearly congressional salary for work performed outside their official duties. There is no limit on the income a lawmaker can get from investments.

As for the pediatric facility, Salazar said the pandemic knee-capped 7 Heaven for Kids PPEC, which was licensed by the state in January 2020 and is still looking for its first patient. She said she sold most of her shares last year to infuse cash into the company, decreasing her 50% ownership to a 20% stake in a three-way partnership, with two other partners each owning 40% of the business. To comply with ethics regulations, she said her partners on Monday removed a promotional video she shot for the facility that was displayed prominently on its website.

“The congresswoman is a passive investor and that’s the only role she will hold with the company while she’s in Congress,” said Torchinsky.

Salazar’s investment in Cano Health — which does most of its business with Medicare Advantage patients — appears to be going much better.

The company, which specializes in senior care and says it treats more than 100,000 patients across three states and Puerto Rico, is in pursuit of a merger with a Cayman Islands-based “blank check” company called Jaws Acquisition Corp. The proposed merger would ultimately take Cano Health public at a value of $4.4 billion. The proposal is supposed to go to Jaws shareholders for a vote in the coming weeks.

“Existing Cano Health shareholders will roll over approximately 90% of their equity stake into the new company,” states a press release announcing the proposed merger, announced about one week after Election Day.

Salazar, who said Cano Health saved her mother’s life while treating her for COVID-19, told the Miami Herald that she doesn’t know what she’ll do with her 5,000 Class B shares of Cano Health’s parent company. She also said she didn’t know how the merger would affect her investment.

The financial holdings of members of Congress — particularly those in the healthcare sector — have been under a microscope since several senators were accused of insider trading after they appeared to react to early news of the pandemic by investing in businesses that would stand to benefit from a global pandemic.

Salazar herself highlighted the importance of politicians’ investments during her campaign, when she repeatedly attacked her opponent, former Democratic Rep. Donna Shalala, over her handling of her personal finances. Salazar accused Shalala of corruption after the former congresswoman repeatedly failed to file required paperwork disclosing her stock transactions and was fined.

Craig Holman, a government ethics expert and lobbyist with the left-leaning think tank Public Citizen, said Salazar’s efforts to end her paid work as a spokeswoman since winning election to Congress seem to show that she’s trying to follow the rules.

“These sources of financial gain for her are a conflict of interest but it does sound like she’s trying to comply with the law and the rules,” Holman said.

Even if Salazar were to continue some paid work as a spokeswoman, Holman said the prohibitions on outside income mostly apply to work that can make money for others, such as sitting on a board or working as a lawyer or accountant. And Salazar’s Cano Health investment, should the company become publicly traded, likely falls under permissible sources of unearned income, Holman said.

Torchinsky noted that Salazar is required to report stock and investment transactions within 45 days under the STOCK Act — a provision Shalala repeatedly violated by filing late disclosures. Salazar said she has already notified the House Ethics Committee of her sale of shares in 7 Heaven PPEC, which she said took place last year.

Salazar — who on the campaign trail advocated for improving Obamacare, a softer position than most Republicans — said her investments won’t influence her policy positions. She promised to follow the laws and rules regarding her investments.

“Do you really think I’m going to stain my community and my name at 59 years old for money? Money only buys what’s cheap. Money doesn’t buy prestige, credibility. And I’m going to Congress not to enrich myself like my predecessor. I’m going to Congress to represent [Florida’s 27th Congressional District] in an honorable fashion,” Salazar said.

Salazar said she will find another way to donate her salary toward job services for the people of Florida’s 27th Congressional District after House ethics managers shot down her proposal to use her paycheck to hire staff to run a job center out of her office.

“If I wanted to make money, believe me I would have stayed in the private sector making a lot more than I’m making now,” she said. “Because I’m not making anything.”

Originally published

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