Posted by
Sue on Sunday, December 05, 2010 11:12:13 PM
Did you wonder why the current Congress members don't care about the Bush tax cuts? Does it make you wonder about how these guys made their millions? Kerry is easy, he married it. Issa worked for it. Now how about the House members?
Most U.S. Senators Are Millionaires
More than half of the current members of the U.S.
Senate are worth at least $1 million — and seven of the 10 richest
members of Congress are Democrats.
Those are two of the disclosures from the
Washington, D.C.-based newspaper Roll Call’s analysis of Congress based
on financial disclosure forms filed in 2010.
Of the 100 senators, 54 are millionaires, topped
by Sen. John Kerry, whose worth is estimated at $188.7 million thanks to
the ketchup fortune of his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.
As the economy stagnated in 2009, more than half
of the Senate’s membership saw their fortunes grow last year, the period
covered by the most recent disclosure reports.
The combined minimum wealth of the Senate was
about $680 million in 2009, more than 4 percent higher than the previous
year, Roll Call disclosed.
Members of Congress must reveal their investments
and liabilities, but only in broad ranges rather than in exact amounts.
Roll Call takes the minimum value of total assets and subtracts the
minimum amount of liabilities, so an asset valued at from $5 million to
$25 million is counted as $5 million.
Rounding out the 10 richest members of Congress, after Kerry, are:
2. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., $160 million. Issa founded Directed Electronics, which makes car alarms.
3. Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., $152.6 million.
Her husband, Sidney Harman, owns an audio products company whose brand
names include Harman Kardon and JBL; he bought Newsweek magazine in
August.
4. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., $81.5 million. He is a descendant of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller.
5. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, $73.7 million. His wife owns stakes in companies worth at least $50 million.
6. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., $70.1 million. Warner was a telecom mogul before running for office.
7. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., $56.4 million. Internet entrepreneur Polis sold two companies for more than $1 billion.
8. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., $55.4 million. His empire includes auto dealerships and real estate.
9. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., $49.7 million. He founded the data-processing company ADP.
10. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., $46 million. Her husband’s assets include holdings in Carlton Hotel Properties.
The “poorest” entry on Roll Call’s list of the
“50 Richest Members of Congress” is Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who is worth
“only” $5.34 million.