Senate Leaders Do Well Despite Poor Economy

Senate leaders overall remain quite wealthy, even during these dark economic times. Senate Leaders Do Well Despite Poor EconomyBy Cliff Montgomery – June 23rd, 2008The White House, all 435 House seats and a full third of the 100 seats in the Senate will be parceled out by voters this November.  This apparently has put career politicians of all stripes on the campaign trail, claiming that the current poor economy has hurt them too.Don’t you believe it.Take Senate leaders, who overall remain relatively wealthy even during these dark economic times–thanks in part to an average salary of $165,200, family assets and low debt, reveals 2007 disclosure statements released on June 13th.Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), each listed their salary as the only income they earned last year.Senator Reid declared a $14,000 gift: a 4-acre plot of land in Searchlight, NV, which he received from a friend’s grateful widow. But that’s a sliver of the large, multi-million-dollar land holdings in Nevada owned by Reid.The Senate majority leader apparently has been partial owner of over 200 acres of Nevada mining claims for years, which include claims around Reid’s hometown of Searchlight. The estimated value of Reid’s varied land holdings sky-rocketed from $496,000-$1.39 million for 2006 to $845,016-$1.975 million last year.Reid also owns mutual funds; numerous state, county and school district bonds; and “a pension and profit sharing plan,” according to The Associated Press (AP).Sen. McConnell, meanwhile, acknowledged having received a $500 crystal sculpture award from the American Ireland Fund.McConnell at first glance appears to possess only modest holdings, which he maintains in individual retirement account funds and a family trust. But that’s because the family’s larger assets are retained by his wife, Bush Administration Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. These include a massive Vanguard 500 index mutual fund valued at between $1 million-$5 million.Disclosure filings from the two major presidential nominees, Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ), showed that both men belong to wealthy families.Obama made $4 million in 2007 from book sales, which surged as his presidential campaign caught fire. The reports disclosed that his family’s total worth was between $2 million to $7.4 million.Sen. Obama and his wife, Michelle, sunk $1 million-$5 million into a money market fund; purchased $500,000 to $1 million in U.S. treasury notes; and invested in college savings plans, each worth between $100,000-$250,000, for their daughters–Malia, 9 and Sasha, 6.The McCains are far wealthier, but most of that wealth belongs to the senator’s wife and children. Cindy McCain is the inheritress of a massive Arizona beer distributorship, a business with an  estimated worth of over $100 million. She reported an income of $6 million in 2006, the most recent year of publicly released tax returns.The McCain disclosure reports are especially vague when it comes to this wealth. Several assets controlled by her and/or her children simply are declared to have an estimated value of more than $1 million.But the Arizona senator’s personal assets are far more modest–and much easier to unravel. Sen. McCain’s forms reveal a 2007 income of $405,409. He holds $16,000-$65,000 in two personal accounts, and another $2,000-$30,000 in joint bank accounts he shares with his wife.Why is it so tough to determine a lawmaker’s worth? Disclosure reports allow him or her to reveal only the value range of any asset. For example, Sen. John Kerry’s total assets for 2006 were valued at anywhere from almost $222 million to nearly $314 million, according to that year’s disclosure filings.How then to determine real worth? The Center For Responsive Politics (CRP) invented a novel solution. It added together each congressperson’s range of assets, subtracted his or her range of liabilities, then calculated the midpoint of those findings.”Using this method provides a ranking that more closely reflects reality than using either the minimum or maximum values,” states the center.Below we offer a CRP chart exposing the average net worth of the 25 wealthiest senators, according to 2006 filings:Rank           Name                                                           Average Net Worth1                  John Kerry (D-Mass)                                   $267,789,8052                  Herb Kohl (D-Wis)                                       $171,423,0113                  Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass)                  $102,822,5194                  Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa)                             $91,713,0125                  Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif)                           $79,555,6576                  Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ)                       $79,051,0907                  Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)                                 $43,867,0728                  John McCain (R-Ariz)                                   $36,431,0999                  Hillary Clinton (D-NY)                                   $30,691,00310                Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn)                         $27,800,15511                Claire McCaskill (D-Mont)                            $23,686,57112                Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore)                            $23,352,57013                Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala)                           $20,469,01114                Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine)                      $18,963,03115                Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)                                $15,601,63416                Ben Nelson (D-Neb)                                    $13,383,02717                Sam Brownback (R-Kan)                            $13,341,04618                Johnny Isakson (R-Ga)                               $13,203,03719                Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)                                      $7,895,03520                Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas)                   $7,881,55221                Evan Bayh (D-Ind)                                          $7,726,01422                Judd Gregg (R-NH)                                        $6,446,03923                Maria Cantwell (D-Wash)                               $6,181,00624                John W. Warner (R-Va)                                  25                Mitch McConnell (R-Ky)Like what you’re reading so far? 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