Lawmakers Cashing In on Real Estate, Financial Reports Reveal (D&R)

[rodeodance]

Source: wpost




Lawmakers Cashing In on Real Estate, Financial Reports Reveal

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 15, 2007; Page A04

When Alan B. Mollohan (D-W.Va.) entered the House of Representatives in 1983, he was coming off a year in which his law firm income was $17,474, and he was losing money on two rental properties.

By the end of 2006, according to financial disclosure reports released yesterday, after dabbling in real estate, Mollohan's wealth had soared to between $6 million and $24 million.

J. Dennis Hastert, a former high school teacher and wrestling coach, was first elected to Congress as a Republican from rural Illinois in 1986, showing assets worth at most $270,000. At the end of last year, after his own real estate investments, Hastert had a net worth of $4 million to $17 million.

Open-government and ethics watchdogs say that Mollohan and Hastert are part of a growing circle on Capitol Hill that is engaging in land deals as a path to wealth, and they argue that such transactions have the potential to benefit from legislators' political connections and official actions.

"I think what you've seen in the last three or four cycles, is you've seen on both sides this new era of the businessman-lawmaker," said Keith Ashdown, the chief investigator for Taxpayers for Common Sense. "They're deal guys. They're always looking for the angles."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/14/AR2007061402342.html

[Fridays Child]

1. Between access and earmarks, why do we bother to pay them?

[Warpy]

4. We pay them lavishly so they won't have a reason to steal

or so the theory went. Unfortunately, there is the DC social whirl where they're rubbing elbows with lobbyists and corporate bigwigs whose sultan like wealth puts lawmakers to shame. One can hardly expect them to avoid trying to amass the same sort of wealth.

However, the wealth obtained by buying and selling DC real estate might be illusory as the slide in property value is hitting there, too, although you'd never know it from HGTV. I'm sure they're all expecting to make a killing if a Democratic administration comes to town looking for places to live.

Plus, I read somewhere that an astute and lucky investor could expect his wealth to increase an indexed 2% per year. A savvy investment counselor can get about 6% per year. Congressmen average 12% per year.

If only we could insulate these guys from the vultures circling overhead in anticipation of picking the body politic clean. If only we could rein in executive salaries and limit lobbyists. If only honest men could be persuaded to stay that way once they smelt money and power.

[wordpix]

7. don't forget their health care benefits we pay for, while some of us have none

[toopers]

11. That is one thing that really irks me . . .

Our politicians do not have to pay into the social services like the rest of us, yet their health care and retirement benefits are so much better than ours. If I were king for a day, raises would be determined by the electorate, and the politicians would have to live by the rules they make!

[pnorman]

9. "Between access and earmarks, why do we bother to pay them?"

Good question! They're like headwaiters, who live LAVISHLY just on their tips. If minimum wage laws apply in DC, pay them that. Otherwise, pay them ZILCH! No, I'm not serious, but I am PISSED!

pnorman

[katsy]

2. Yeah, and in other news...

the homeless are still homeless.

Although 95% of Americans have a higher regard for them than our lawmakers.

:grr:

[whistle]

3. These parasites are part of the problem as they act like insiders

[sutz12]

5. It's happening on both sides of the aisle, too, sorry to say. nt

[wordpix]

6. It's about time the MSM starts looking into these land deals

There's a reason why Florida's wetlands are being diverted for golf course ponds and it ain't just because the residents need a pond outside their windows.

[mitchum]

8. Public parasites (not servants)

[Thor_MN]

10. Is it any wonder that all the tax breaks go to the rich?

It's time to start electing people who literally represent us, not millionaires who identify with the haves and have mores.

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Please someone look into what we're doing on the basis of property rights.

Imagine what could go wrong if someone ruthless attaches a politician's name to a development which previously had problems because of seepage problems. People are going to look the other way as the development gets built, and it's the unsuspecting homeowner who gets screwed.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

13. Fuck the greedy ruling class who then enact tax cuts for the most wealthy (themselves).