Woolsey's wealth surges, mirroring trend in Congress

Publication: The Press Democrat

Guy Kovner
May 14, 2008

Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, has come a long way financially from her days as a single mother on welfare in the late 1960s, with a net worth of $681,511 in 2006, a watchdog group reported.

Woolsey's average net worth has more than quadrupled in the last 11 years, rising from $119,675 in 1995, according to the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation.

In comparison, the average American family's average worth has increased 31 percent from 1995 to 2006, the group said.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, had a 5 percent increase in net worth from $1.7 million in 1998 to $1.8 million in 2006.

But Thompson, a former state legislator and vineyard owner, and Woolsey, a former Petaluma city councilwoman and personnel agency owner, are comparative paupers among their 535 peers on Capitol Hill, many of them multi-millionaires whose fortunes have recently soared.

Two Californians, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), are the wealthiest federal lawmakers.

Harman, married to Harman International chairman Sidney Harman, had a worth of $409 million in 2006, up $168 million, or 70 percent, from $241 million in 2000.

Issa, who built a fortune in the electronics industry, ranks second at $337 million in 2006, but his gain of $210 million, or 165 percent since 2000 was the largest in Congress.

The Sunlight Foundation posted on its Web site the first-ever comparison of the House and Senate members' latest available net worth with their earlier disclosure statements. The forms don't require any explanation for shifts of fortune.

The group also noted that its figures should be taken "with a boulder-sized grain of salt," based on information from Congress' own "seriously flawed" disclosure system