Kay Hagan No. 35 on list of wealthiest D.C. lawmakers

North Carolina’s own Democratic blue dog, junior Sen. Kay Hagan recently made the Hill’s Rich List, an annual feature by the D.C. based newspaper, aptly named The Hill. The “Rich list” is a compilation of the 50 wealthiest lawmakers in Washington. The Hill describes their list as;

The list is a bipartisan one. Of the 50 lawmakers on the The Hill’s Rich List, 26 are Democrats and 24 are Republicans. For comparison, there are 256 Democrats in the House and 178 Republicans; in the Senate there are 59 Democrats and 40 Republicans.

The Hill based its analysis on annual financial disclosure forms that lawmakers are required to complete and file with the House clerk or Senate secretary. The disclosures are for lawmakers’ assets and liabilities as at the end of 2008. The reports are not models of transparency so the dollar numbers in the list are best guesses rather than precise figures.

The Hill cites Hagan’s stock holdings in drug makers Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKlein, Merck and Genentech as well as N.C.-based tobacco company Altria and its subsidiary Philip Morris. The majority of Hagan’s estimated $6.7 million is connected to her interest in her father’s, Joe P. Ruthven’s commercial real estate business in Lakeland, Florida.

The Hill’s rankings also list former presidental candidate, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry as the U.S.’s richest lawmaker with $167.8 million, much of which comes from his wife’s, Teresa Heinz Kerry fortune in Heinz ketchup.

Hagan is the only member of the state’s congressional delegation to make the list.