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The 50 wealthiest Congressmen:
The 50 Richest Members of Congress
Sept. 14, 2009
By Jennifer Yachnin, Paul Singer and Kristin Coyner
Roll Call Staff
...Roll Call calculated Members’ wealth based solely on the information lawmakers must reveal in their annual 2009 financial disclosure reports (which cover calendar year 2008).
Each Member’s minimum net worth is determined by adding the lowest number in the range selected for each asset — for example, a $1 million to $5 million asset would be evaluated at $1 million — and subtracting the lowest total liabilities.
Although lawmakers must report information on investment accounts and rental properties, the financial disclosure process shields Members from illuminating numerous other economic indicators such as the value of homes — including vacation or second homes — so long as the properties aren’t used to generate income. In addition, Members are not required to report losses from the sale of assets, such as stocks or real estate.
Among those lawmakers who qualified for the newest 50 richest list — including 28 Democrats and 22 Republicans — are 11 freshman Members.
1. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)
$167.55 million
Kerry once again ranks atop the 50 Richest Members of Congress, even as his financial disclosures show his reported holdings shrank by 28 percent in 2008.
The Massachusetts Senator reported a reduction of more than $64 million from his coffers, including the sale of a “Heinz Family Commingled Stock Fund” valued at $22.3 million in the previous year. Kerry also increased his debts to a total of $47.86 million with the addition of four new liabilities worth more than $1 million each.
Since the bulk of Kerry’s wealth is actually his wife’s money, he has dozens of assets listed as simply “over $1 million,” the category reserved for spouse assets. But even the lack of detail provides some hint of the losses: In 2007 Kerry reported more than 180 of these “over $1 million accounts”; in 2008 there were only about 130.
Click for a interactive chart breaking down the entire list.
Nonetheless, Kerry’s actual riches — which include those of his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, widow of ketchup heir Sen. John Heinz (R-Pa.) — are likely far greater. In an April 2008 article, Forbes.com estimated Heinz Kerry’s net worth at $1 billion.
2. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)
$164.70 million
Bucking the downward trend in 2008, the Golden State lawmaker continued to steadily grow his fortune in 2008, adding more than 2 percent to his minimum net worth.
The founder of Vista, Calif.-based Directed Electronics, which manufactures car alarms, Issa has his investments anchored in two corporations that own and operate office and industrial properties in California: DEI LLC and Greene Properties Inc., valued at more than $50 million and from $25 million to $50 million, respectively. Issa also lists an investment in Viper LLC, a similar real estate firm, valued at $5 million to $25 million.
Issa, who has no debts, also lists a money market fund valued at more than $50 million.
3. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.)
$112.13 million
The value of Harman’s holdings in Harman International Industries — the audio products company founded by her husband that manufactures electronics under the brand names AKG Acoustics, Harman Kardon, Infinity and JBL — plummeted last year.
Two accounts in Sidney Harman’s name were listed in 2007 as having values of at least $50 million each. In 2008, the reported value of those assets dropped by a combined $70 million. One account is now valued at $5 million to $25 million, the other at $25 million to $50 million.
The California lawmaker also reported four family trust accounts that appear to have lost significant value. In 2007 the four accounts showed a minimum value of about $84 million; last year that total dropped to just more than $64 million.
But even as Harman reported a drop of more than 50 percent in her minimum net worth, from $225.96 million in 2007, she easily remains near the top of the 50 richest.
4. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)
$80.45 million
While others lost wealth in 2008, Rockefeller maintained his fortune on a near-even keel.
A descendant of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, the West Virginia Senator’s wealth is concentrated in three blind trusts, with a combined minimum value of at least $80 million. The largest of those trusts, an account with JP Morgan Chase Bank in New York established in 1934, is valued at “over $50 million.”
Rockefeller’s spouse, Sharon Percy Rockefeller, the daughter of former Sen. Charles Percy (R-Ill.), also owns “over $1 million” in PepsiCo stock and the family lists another trust with Lincoln Financial Group valued at “over $1 million.”
The Senator lists $5.25 million in debt from two loans, a slight decrease from his $5.5 million in debt listed in his previous disclosure. Those liabilities include one loan from United National Bank for $5 million to $25 million.
5. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)
$72.37 million
The Virginia Senator lands on the highest rung among the 11 freshman lawmakers who joined the 50 wealthiest Members of Congress.
Warner made his fortune as a co-founder of Nextel telecommunications company and via an investment in Columbia Capital.
Among his assets, Warner is the beneficiary of the MRW Trust, which initially served as a blind trust after his election to the Virginia governor’s office in 2001 until 2006. The fund includes a money market account valued at $5 million to $25 million, as well as numerous city and state bonds.
Nonetheless, Warner reported nearly $19 million less in personal wealth than he did in his previous financial disclosure form filed as a candidate ahead of the 2008 elections.
Warner reported $9 million less in U.S. Treasury notes than he did as a candidate. He also reduced the value of two investment funds, Pointer LP and Signature Financial Management, both of which dropped from the $5 million to $25 million category to the $1 million to $5 million column.
In addition, Warner reports holdings in three investment partnerships worth $5 million to $25 million each.
6. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.)
$71 million
The freshman lawmaker, who made his fortune as an Internet entrepreneur, reported nearly $25 million less in his most recent financial disclosure report than he did as a House candidate last year, but he still ranks among the wealthiest Members.
Polis founded his first company, American Information Systems, while still in college and later sold it for more than $20 million. He went on to expand his family’s Blue Mountain Arts greeting card and publishing business online, and the company was sold in 1999 for $780 million. He also founded ProFlowers.com, an online florist, which later became Provide Commerce LLC and was sold to Liberty Media in 2006 for $477 million.
As a candidate, Polis reported more than $50 million invested in the Jove Capital Fund, but in several transactions before and after the election he sold off that asset, and it had a value of zero on his 2008 financial disclosure.
Polis now lists from $25 million to $50 million in a Goldman Sachs Bank Deposit. He also retained an investment in Asia Investment Partners valued at $5 million to $25 million and a Merrill Lynch account valued from $5 million to $25 million. Polis also lists two dozen other investments worth more than $1 million.
7. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.)
$49.79 million
The Florida lawmaker continued a downward financial slide in 2008, reporting a minimum net worth of $15.7 million less than the previous year.
In particular, he reported several major real estate transactions but did not claim a dime of profit from the deals, one of which he valued at $5 million to $25 million.
Buchanan, whose empire includes auto dealerships, real estate and investment accounts, reported the profitless sale of Avon, Colo.-based Beaver Creek LLC, previously valued at $5 million to $25 million, and sold in a transaction of the same amount. He also reported the sale of a Menlo Park, Calif., “investment” condo previously valued at $1 million to $5 million and sold in a transaction of $1 million to $5 million but with no profit.
A Bowling Green, Ky., auto dealership previously valued as at least $1 million also appears as a sale on Buchanan’s financial disclosure, but he does not provide a transaction value.
Buchanan also reported the sale of several investment funds during 2008, including the sale of an account valued at $1 million to $5 million, which netted no profit.
8. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)
$48.38 million
The New Jersey Senator’s minimum net worth took a hit in 2008 when one of three blind trusts downshifted to a minimum net worth of $1 million, rather than the minimum $5 million Lautenberg reported in 2007.
While there’s no way to determine how much the fund contains — accounts on the boundary of two reporting categories may shift year to year, easily adding or subtracting up to millions of dollars from a lawmaker’s minimum net worth, even while the actual change in the value of the account is minimal — the change is a significant portion of the nearly $7 million drop in Lautenberg’s minimum net worth in 2008.
Lautenberg, who made his fortune from the payroll processing company he established in 1952, maintains two other blind trusts, one valued at $5 million to $25 million, and the other at $1 million to $5 million.
9. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
$42.94 million
Including those assets maintained by her husband, financier Richard Blum, Feinstein maintains a diverse portfolio, including several trusts, real estate and an array of “investment partnerships.”
Feinstein is beneficiary of both her own blind trust established in 1991 as well as a family trust, each valued at $1 million to $5 million.
Together with Blum, she also owns a condominium in Kauai, Hawaii, valued at $1 million to $5 million. Blum also lists a Tahoe City, Calif., condominium valued at $1 million to $5 million, which generates $15,000 to $50,000 in annual rental income.
In addition, Feinstein lists an investment in Carlton Hotel Properties in San Francisco valued at $5 million to $25 million.
Nonetheless, the California Senator’s coffers appeared to shrink by more than $9 million in her most recent disclosure.
Among the declines, Blum reported the liquidation of two limited partnerships with stock in the Korean broadband company Hanaro Telecom, reporting capital gains of “over $1 million” from each partnership. As a result of the sale, however, the value of each asset declined from “over $1 million” to a minimum of $100,000.
10. Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.)
$40.63 million
The first-term New Mexico lawmaker made his fortune as the founder of Teaco Energy Services, a Hobbs, N.M., oil services firm.
On his candidate financial disclosure form last year, Teague listed the company with a value of $5 million to $25 million. But on his first Congressional disclosure form, Teague has helpfully given exact values for all his assets — and the oil company is valued at $39,630,537.
Because Roll Call evaluates assets by the minimum value of the reported range, what was a $5 million asset is now a $39 million asset.
Teague’s only liability is a personal loan to Teaco Energy Services, valued at $1 million to $5 million.
11. Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas.)
$38.08 million
The Texas lawmaker saw his portfolio significantly increase since filing his 2007 report. McCaul’s assets grew by at least $14 million in 2008, a jump of nearly 60 percent from his reported minimum value the year before. McCaul holds the largest percentage increase in wealth among any Member.
The gain in McCaul’s wealth comes from a significant jump in his wife’s LLM Partners Family Investments, which were valued at a minimum of $25 million in 2008. The same investment was valued at a minimum of $3.3 million in 2007.
McCaul lists no assets to his name with his spouse and his dependent children claimed as his only income sources.
McCaul’s family sold off most of its investments in the media conglomerate Clear Channel Communications Inc. In 2007, family investments in the media giant came in at a minimum value of $12.1 million. The lawmaker’s father-in-law, Lowry Mays, is the company’s chairman. McCaul’s wife also sold off her investments in Live Nation, an events-planning spinoff of Clear Channel, nearly halving that reported minimum amount. In 2007, McCaul’s Live Nation investments amounted to almost $1 million.
The Texan lists no debts.
12. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.)
$31.12 million
The Florida lawmaker’s largest asset stems from an apparent financial mistake.
Grayson lists a claim valued at $25 million to $50 million against Derivium Capital.
The now-bankrupt firm managed a Ponzi scheme in which investors, including Grayson, could turn over stock to Derivium in exchange for cash loans and redeem the value later if the stock prices increased. A South Carolina court ruled earlier this year that Derivium shareholders were collectively owed about $270 million in lost profits and that Grayson’s share would be about $34 million.
In addition to that claim, Grayson, an attorney who founded the telecommunications company IDT Corp. in 1990, lists a trust valued at $5 million to $25 million. The same trust was previously Grayson’s largest asset, with a value of $25 million to $50 million when he filed a candidate disclosure form in November 2008.
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