The latest rankings on rich dudes in Congress are out, and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis is even richer than before!
Polis climbed from number seven to the sixth richest politician on the list, with a net worth of nearly $74 million.
Looks like his investments in the oil and gas industry have paid off!
We know that in 2011, Polis’s revealed on his financial disclosure that he had invested as much as $5 million in his nemesis, the oil and gas industry, while he was suing his neighbor to block them from developing energy on their own property because it “caused a loss of enjoyment” on his million dollar vacation home in Weld County.
Roll Call revealed in their latest rankings that the “youngest lawmaker among the ten wealthiest members of Congress,” has further diversified his portfolio with some unusual investments and startups, while enjoying a Merrill Lynch line of credit worth $5 million.
The Colorado Democrat’s assets include stakes of at least $1 million in the world’s only aquaculture venture capital firm, Aquacopia; the Colorado Internet startup Confluence Commons Inc. (to which he also extended a line of credit worth at least $5 million) and the AIP Japan Fund V, which invests in senior housing in that country. Polis also has a blind trust worth at least $25 million that he set up after being elected to Congress. It delivered more than $1 million of income last year.
Diverse real estate investments in Colorado and Japan yielded at least $480,000 in additional income. And Polis benefited from the run-up in the value of stock in the ride-share company Uber Inc., with a stake now worth at least $500,000.
Confluence Commons seems to have been around for several years, but doesn’t appear to actually do anything. For an Internet startup company, their actual presence on the Internet is miniscule.
We found the investment in fish farms interesting, especially since Polis’s buddies in the environmental community (Food and Water Watch) despise the practice.
But if greenies don’t mind spending Polis’s oil and gas profits to ban energy development, it probably won’t matter that even more of his income comes from an industry they’re trying to bankrupt.
Also, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet joined the top 100 rankings this year, coming in as the 70th richest member of Congress out of 541 members. Bennet’s worth is nearly $5 million.