New York's Congressional Delegation: What's Their Worth?

Editor’s Note: Patch is re-running this popular story in case you missed it the first time around.

Written by LANNING TALIAFERRO (Patch Staff)

There’s no denying we love to know how much money people are worth whether it’s a celebrity, a business mogul, or a politician.

Thanks to Roll Call’s new Wealth of Congress Index we know a lot about how much each U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative is worth.

There are 541 members of the U.S. Congress. Most of them are not millionaires -- and that’s true for most of the New York delegation, including senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.

Still, New York does crack the top 20 richest list, and there’s no one representing the Empire State who’s in the “poorest” list.

U.S. Rep. Chris Collins, an Erie County resident, is No. 19 on the list of richest members, with a net worth of $28.3 million Last year, the Republican ranked No. 18, but his net worth was $22.5 million.

That makes him a piker compared to the guy who tops the list. Darrell Issa (R-Calif) clocks in at No. 1, with $254 million net worth (and Roll Call suspects it’s higher, but the highest disclosure category for investments is “more than $50 million.”)

Collins’s net worth largely comes from sizable investments in a number of biotech companies, some of which he founded, according to Roll Call. The former Erie County Executive is chairman of Zepto Metrix Corp. and maintains positions in 13 other companies. His wife Mary receives a salary from two of his corporations; she is not obligated to disclose it, according to Roll Call.

Here’s how New York’s senators and members of Congress ranked among the 541 members of Congress in terms of net worth (assets minus liabilities):

19. Chris Collins (R-27th) -- $28.3 million

27. Richard Hanna (R-22nd) -- $16.13 million

34. Nita Lowey (D-17th) -- $12.03 million

41. Carolyn Maloney (D-12th) -- $9.15 million

192. Charles Rangel (D-13th) -- $1.01 million

258. Grace Meng (D-6th) -- $0.51 million

280. Dan Donovan (R-11th) -- $0.40 million

284. Charles Schumer (D) -- $0.39 million

329. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-18th) -- $0.20 million

334. Elise Stefanik (R-21st) -- $0.17 million

347. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-7th) -- $0.14 million

354. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) -- $0.12 million

360. Peter T. King (R-2nd) -- $0.10 million

361. Lee Zeldin (R-1st) -- $0.10 million

374. Yvette D. Clarke (D-9th) -- $0.07 million

379. Kathleen Rice (D-4th) -- $0.06 million

384. José E. Serrano (D-15th) -- $0.05 million

415. Paul Tonko (D-20th) -- $0.00 million

454. Brian Higgins (D-26th) -- $-0.11 million

455. John Katko (R-24th) - $-0.11 million

467. Chris Gibson (R-19th) -- $-0.15 million

475. Tom Reed (R-23rd) -- $-0.18 million

478. Hakeem Jeffries (D-8th) -- $0.20 million

491. Jerrold Nadler (D-10th) -- $-0.26 million

494. Steve Israel (D-3rd) -- $-0.29 million

521. Joseph Crowley (D-) -- $-0.46 million

526. Eliot L. Engel (D-16th) -- $-0.55 million

528. Gregory W. Meeks (D-5th) -- $-0.57 million

Other highlights:

Ten members of the delegation list liabilities higher than their assets; but, none of New York’s representatives to Congress are on Roll Call’s “poorest list.”

The poorest member of Congress is Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) -- and that brings us to our last point.

Roll Call does point out that the numbers given aren’t all these folks are worth, necessarily. There are limitations on congressional financial disclosure forms. Lawmakers’ houses, for instance, don’t count as assets. Valadao owns a dairy farm, and his $10 million in liabilities are primarily farm-related lines of credit.

Read the full Roll Call report and see the net worth of all 541 U.S. lawmakers here.

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