Modest and "Connected" cannot join this club

CRP Open Secrets

No “people” reps or “public” servants — hundreds of $ millions  disconnect

News editing by Carolyn Bennett

Center for Responsive Politics reports

On average, a cool  $2.63 million (up 16 percent from 2008) is the “estimated median net worth of a current U.S. senator” so says the 2010 most recently released financial data analyzed and reported by Center for Responsive Politics.

Bipartisan Plush (2010 CPR estimates, analysis)

37 Senate Democrats and 30 Senate Republicans — 110 House Republicans and 73 House Democrats — reported an average net worth in excess of $1 million in 2010

Median estimated net worth among Senate Republicans: $2.43 million

Median net worth among members of the Democratic caucus in the Senate: $2.69 million

Median estimated net worth (2010) of a GOP House member: $834,250

Median net worth among House Democrats: $635,500

Median estimated net worth (2010) among House members, overall: $756,765

[Up 17 percent over 2008’s $765,010; down 1 percent from 2009’s $765,010

WEALTHIEST WILLIES (2010)

 Number 1: California Republican Representative Darrell Issa, wealthiest member of 112th Congress

 $195 million to $700 million (minimum to maximum estimated net worth, respectively)

Average net worth:  $448 million

Number 2: Texas Republican Representative Michael McCaul $380 million average estimated net worth

Number 3: Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry $232 million

Number 4: Wisconsin Democratic Senator Herb Kohl (Milwaukee Bucks NBA team owner) $174 million

Number 5: Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner $193 million

Number 6: Colorado Democratic Representative Jared Polis, wealthiest House Democrat

$143 million average estimated net worth

[$7 million of “his own money” spent on his campaigns since 2007]

Wealthiest Senate Republican: Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker — $60 million (average estimated net worth) [Overall Rank Number 13]

Millionaire percentage of current Congressional membership: 47 percent of Congress (250)

Executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics Sheila Krumholz said in releasing the report, “The vast majority of members of Congress are quite comfortable, financially, while many of their constituents suffer economic hardship… Few Americans enjoy the same financial cushion as maintained by most members of Congress — or have the same access to market-altering information that could yield personal financial gains.”

About one percent of Americans enjoy congress members’ high financial status. It comes as no surprise that many people charge lawmakers with “being out-of-touch.”

PUBLIC OFFICIALS INVEST IN SELF

41 separate stocks or investment funds 

in which at least 20 current members of Congress 

invested during 2010

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/11/
congress-enjoys-robust-financial-status.html 

Source

New study by the Center for Responsive Politics of lawmakers’ personal financial disclosure forms covering calendar year 2010. Center’s analysis based on the median values of lawmakers’ disclosed assets and liabilities.

“Most Members of Congress Enjoy Robust Financial Status, despite nation’s sluggish economic recovery” (CRP Communications, November 15, 2011,

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/11/congress-enjoys-robust-financial-status.html

_______________________________


Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire
_______________________________