10 Ultra-Rich Congresspeople Who ‘Represent’ Some of the Most Financially Screwed Districts

The hard times that most Americans continue to experience don’t seem to be making an impact on their representatives in Washington. Now a new report might shed some light on why. According to a Washington Post story this week, “Between 1984 and 2009, the median net worth of a member of the House more than doubled, according to the analysis of financial disclosures, from $280,000 to $725,000 in inflation-adjusted 2009 dollars, excluding home equity.”

Members of Congress have only been getting richer over the last 25 years.

“Over the same period,” the Post continued, “the wealth of an American family has declined slightly, with the comparable median figure sliding from $20,600 to $20,500.”

Nearly half of all members of Congress are millionaires, the New York Times pointed out, and yet many of them don’t see themselves as rich. “I don’t see myself as a man of great wealth,” Representative Ed Pastor, Democrat from Arizona, told the Times. “To say that I’m enjoying a millionaire’s lifestyle — well, I can tell you, I guess a millionaire’s income doesn’t go very far these days.”

And though most Americans would probably be happy to have a net worth, like Pastor’s, over $1 milion, it’s true that compared to some of his colleagues in Washington, Pastor is merely doing all right. Compared to Sen. John Kerry, whose average net worth the Post calculated to be $231,722,794, or Rep. Darrell Issa, the richest person in Congress with an average net worth of $448,125,017, Pastor looks like a regular working stiff.

But the real comparison isn’t between members of Congress. It’s looking at these ultra-wealthy politicians in comparison to the folks they represent.

So here, we present 10 of the richest members of Congress, men and women whose wealth utterly dwarfs that of their constituents. While these aren’t the 10 richest according to the raw numbers, they’re the ones whose districts are largely still suffering the consequences of the slow economy.