Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, has sold out of his troubled Anniversary Inns investments, an aide to the senator confirmed Tuesday.

The two bed-and-breakfast inns in Salt Lake have been in financial trouble for some time. In February, the Deseret Morning News reported that the inns, held by Watermark Corp., a third of which Bennett owned, failed to pay property taxes for the second year in a row and owed $312,000 in back taxes and penalties. That total as of Tuesday was $323,180.

A Bennett business associate said in February that negotiations were under way to sell the inns and settle all back taxes.

In June, Watermark sold the two Salt Lake inns to the buyer that had previously purchased other Watermark hotels in Boise and Logan. Utah tax liens have or will be paid as part of the purchase, said Greg Hopkins, a business adviser to Bennett and a former member of his staff.

Bennett, first elected in 1992, came to the U.S. Senate as one of its wealthiest members — worth an estimated $30 million — from his ownership/manage- ment of the original Franklin time management firm that sold the popular Franklin Daytime planners.

The last personal financial statement filed by the senator lists his current assets at between $1 million and $5 million.

Over time, Bennett sold out his Franklin stock (now Franklin/Covey) and, following Senate rules, placed his assets into investments that he has no day-to-day control over. But a number of those investments — including the bed-and-breakfast inns — have since gone sour.

Bennett had a varied business career before running for the Senate, including being one of reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes' top lieutenants. He has said he invested in a number of start-up firms that failed to grow to their estimated potential.

Bennett, however, is not lacking for physical comforts.

Besides owning a Washington, D.C., area home, several years ago he and his wife purchased the old but recently remodeled Bennett family house, built by his father, the late U.S. Sen. Wallace F. Bennett, in the upper Avenues in Salt Lake City.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com