Jim McTague‘s latest “D.C. Current” column for Barron’s explores the latest financial disclosure data for members of Congress.
[I]t’s safe to say that regardless of who wins, deep-pocketed Americans of all political persuasions will be amply represented in next year’s Congress. Our lawmakers are loaded! There are 189 millionaires out of 538 members according to an analysis of financial data by Roll Call. That’s 35%—an impressive concentration of wealth few country clubs can beat.
Roll Call, the granddaddy of three newspapers focused on congressional coverage, has compiled an interactive list of the wealthiest members, which you can find on its Website. The data, culled from 2013 disclosures, are an eye opener. The three biggest money bags serve in the House, not the Senate, the chamber traditionally associated with the aristocracy. They are Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California, who owes his estimated net worth of $357.25 million to making auto alarms; Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, whose $117.54 million comes mostly from his wife, Linda, daughter of Clear Channel Communications founder L. Lowry Mays; and Maryland Democrat John Delaney, with $111.92 million generated by his small-business lending company.
WHAT’S THE WORLD COMING TO? You must count down the list to No. 4 before a U.S. senator appears. That’s Democrat Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, who gained his fortune estimated at $108.05 million merely by being born to the right parents. In the old days, there used to be many more trust-fund politicians in Congress. As late as 2004, 10 of the top 20 on the Roll Call list had either inherited fortunes or married into wealth. No more. Republican Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey is the only other silver spooner in the top 20, at No. 19, with a net worth estimated at $22.2 million. Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, a celebrity silver spooner by virtue of his famous name, is only the 21st richest in Congress, with a net worth pegged at $20 million.
“The heir to the family fortune has become an endangered species at the apex of congressional wealth,” writes Roll Call’s David Hawkings. “Now it’s dominated by the self-made multimillionaire.”