Simply by moving from Utah to Wyoming, Ian and Annette Cumming may have spawned a minor fiscal crisis. In 1999, Utah legislators suddenly found that state income-tax receipts had plunged by $26 million. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, many Republican lawmakers blamed the departure of the Cummings, considered the state's wealthiest residents -- and its most prominent Democratic fundraisers.
The Cummings left the source of their substantial wealth, the Leucadia National Corporation, behind in Salt Lake City. A diversified holding company, Leucadia is involved in everything from sub-prime auto loans to Spanish copper mines. Its insurance brands include Empire, Allcity, Centurion, and the Reliance Group, making it particularly sensitive to new insurance regulations. Among the Cummings' contributions in the last election cycle was $4,000 to Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, who votes on insurance issues as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Securities Commission.
Leucadia's banking operations are run through American Investment Financial and the American Investment Bank. Leucadia also owns $87.5 million in foreign real estate through a French subsidiary, $196.5 million in domestic real estate, a plastic netting manufacturer, and two West Coast wineries, among other investments.
Despite his role at the head of such a vast network of companies, Ian Cumming keeps a low public profile, rarely granting interviews with the press and omitting his photo in the company's annual report. According to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cumming owns about 18 percent of Leucadia's common shares.
Annette Cumming founded Utahns for Choice and serves on the national board of Planned Parenthood. "I like to support women with progressive agendas and groups that are pro-choice," she said in 1995.
-- Michael Scherer
