The 10 Richest Members of Congress
Issa first made his fortunate founding Directed Electronics - a car alarm manufacturing company in Vista, Ca. - though now he makes his money in the stock market. According to Roll Call, he ended 2012 with at least $390 million in bonds and stocks. Between 2007 and 2009, Issa secured $815,000 in earmarks to widen a road less than a mile from a medical building in Vista, Ca., that Issa purchased for $16.6 million in 2008. He sold the property the following January for $15 million. – The Washington Post
REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
McCaul was unseated by Issa this year, after his net worth fell from $191 million to $114 million. McCaul has served Texas’s 10th congressional district since 2005, and is a member of the House Committee on Ethics. Some of his wealth comes from his marriage to his wife, Linda, a daughter of the Clear Channel Communications CEO who inherited a fortune.
Reuters
Warner, who consistently makes the Wealthiest Members list, saw his net worth increase by nearly $10.5 million in 2012. The former Virginia governor made his fortune from starting ventures in energy and real estate as well as co-founding the cellular company that eventually became Nextel.
REUTERS/Stelios Varias
The majority of Blumenthal’s wealth comes from his wife, Cynthia Blumenthal, who is the daughter of New York real estate magnate Peter Malkin. Blumenthal, who is consistently one of the richest members of Congress, receives an annual pension for his 20 years of service as Connecticut’s attorney general.
REUTERS/Michelle McLoughlin
The great-grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, is worth at least $83.77 million, nearly $1 million more than last year. The majority of his assets are in three separate trusts, one at JPMorgan worth at least $50 million, one at Wells Fargo worth $25 million to $50 million and one at United National Bank in Charleston, W.Va., worth $5 million to $25 million. Though because the highest category for disclosure is $50 million, his assets could be much higher than the minimum amount he was required to disclose.
REUTERS/Brian Snyder
The richest freshman in Congress made most of his money by founding Capital Source Finance LLC, a commercial lender that works with small and midsize businesses. Delaney has stock worth at least $5 million in Maryland-based Alliance Partners, and has investments of at least $1 million in three equity or hedge funds.
House.gov
Polis made his fortune by selling his online businesses, according to The Daily Camera. He spent at least $6 million on his initial 2008 congressional campaign.
House.gov
Peters, a freshman from California, invests heavily in municipal bonds, including at least $2 million in California state water and transportation bonds, and $2 million in education bonds. His wife, Lynn Gorguze, holds more than $12 million in assets and is president and CEO of Cameron Holdings, a private equity firm.
House.gov
Feinstein is consistently one of the richest members of Congress. Her wealth mostly comes from holdings she shares with her husband, Richard Blum, the president and CEO of the private equity firm Blum Capital Partners LP.
REUTERS/Molly Reilly
Renacci owns a nursing home management firm and co-owns a California-based minor league baseball team called the Jethawks. He has significant holdings in municipal bonds and stocks of consumer electronics companies, drug makers, finance companies and oil and gas producers, according to Roll Call.
House.gov