big sky democrats

Monday’s edition of Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, featured this year’s “50 Richest Members of Congress.” And although he’s still somewhat of a Junior Jones in terms of seniority (337 out of 435 representatives), Rep. Dennis Rehberg was listed as the 22nd richest member of Congress.

By posting an additional $3 million in net worth this year, Rehberg jumped 10 spots up the Roll Call list from last year. The publication has the millionaire developer at a total net worth of $10.56 million.

It’s interesting, though, that long-time Lee political reporter Chuck Johnson, after poring over Denny’s financial disclosure reports earlier this year, reported Rehberg as having more like $55 million in net worth. more

If that’s true, then Denny got shortchanged on the 50 Richest list. He should have been up at number 8, with Rep. Charles Taylor (R-N.C.) and his $55.3 million.

Wonder how many Montanans are worth that much.

Check it out for yourself:

Here’s the Lee story.

Here’s how Roll Call justified their numbers:

Now for the mechanics on how the numbers were compiled. Roll Call's list of Congress' richest Members is based on our analysis of House and Senate financial disclosure forms and national and local publications. In all cases, Members' wealth is defined as their publicly disclosed assets minus their liabilities. In a few of the higher-end cases, we have used numbers crunched by other media outlets where we believe that they provide a fuller accounting of a Member's net worth.Assets and liabilities from spouses are also included in estimating a Member's wealth. If a Member has not yet filed a disclosure form for the current year, then the previous year's figures are used instead. Matthew Murray ROLLCALL STAFF, 9/12/05