It's Good to be King a Senator

Roll Call has an interesting article today on the finances of U.S. Senators, based on their public disclosures which they tend to underreport. At least 46 are millionaires - almost half of the Senate. Which political party is the "party of the rich"? It's not Republicans. The richest Senators are Democrats. In fact, John Kerry - who ran for President on the platform of giving your money to the poor - has a lot of money of his own that he refuses to give to the poor.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) topped the list of richest Senators, disclosing a minimum net worth of $166.6 million. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) was a distant second with $78.2 million. An heir to the Standard Oil fortune, Rockefeller's personal wealth may be far higher than indicated on his disclosure forms....Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) reported a combined net worth with her husband of $145.1 million.

Of course, numerous Republicans are worth quite a lot. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) is estimated to be worth $30.2 million. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) is estimated to be worth $13.6 million.

Intriguingly, the three Senators who are completely in debt are all Democrats. I guess they can't manage their money any better than they can manage ours.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) reported a negative net worth of $19,000. The Wisconsin Democrat reports a pension from the state of Wisconsin worth a minimum of $15,000 and a checking account holding at least $15,000. Feingold also has a mortgage of at least $50,000 on a second home, giving him negative net worth on his financial disclosure forms.

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), another presidential aspirant in 2008, has only $58,000 in assets and $240,000 in liabilities, leaving him $182,000 in the hole. The Delaware Democrat reported getting a $112,500 book advance from Random House Publishers last year, as well as a $20,500 teaching stipend from Widener University in Chester, Pa.

But even compared to Feingold and Biden, Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) is scraping the
bottom of the barrel, reporting that he's $378,000 in debt. He listed $652,000 in assets and well over $1 million in liabilities.