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How rich is Sen. Ron Wyden's wife? New disclosure report hides as much as it reveals
05/27/2015   By Jeff Mapes | The Associated Press
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Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and his wife, Nancy Bass Wyden, arrive for a White House dinner for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on April 28. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

 

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and his wife, Nancy, are clearly doing quite well financially.

new financial disclosure report shows that the two earned at least $2.5 million last year, and that doesn't include Wyden's Senate salary of $174,000.

The lion's share of the income went to Nancy Bass Wyden, a co-owner of the well-known Strand Book Store in New York City.  She is also the one who owns most of the assets listed in the report, which are worth at least $8.5 million.

But that $8.5 million is just the tip of the iceberg.  She appears to have quite a bit more than that. 

In 2012, her accountant provided additional detail -- more than required by Senate rules, according to Ron Wyden's staff -- on her holdings.

The disclosure report covering 2011 said she had assets worth between $12 million and $56 million from the Strand-related businesses.  The senator's aides said he has no ownership in her business, but their combined assets vaulted Wyden into 22nd on CQ Roll Call's list that year of the wealthiest members of Congress.

Since then, Wyden's wife no longer reports the upper ranges of her holdings.  Instead, the senator's latest disclosure report, posted on the Senate website last week, merely states that her four main business holdings are each worth more than $1 million.

Nancy Wyden reported earning more than $1 million in 2014 from the bookstore operations and more than $1 million from a related real estate arm.  The bookstore is located on the edge of Greenwich Village, which is in the middle of the city's supercharged real estate boom.

Sen. Wyden has between $1.3 million and $3.3 million in his own assets, mostly in a variety of mutual funds, bonds and other financial instruments.  Senate rules allow members to report their assets, income and liabilities within broad ranges.

The Wydens were married in 2005 and have three children.  Wyden owns homes in Washington, D.C. and the Eastmoreland neighborhood of Portland, and his wife has a residence in New York and is a co-manager with her father of the Strand, according to the store's website.

(As a side note, Wyden is far from the only lawmaker with a wealthy spouse.  No. 1 on the 2012 CQ Roll Call list was Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, whose wife's father was the founder of Clear Channel Communications.  Then-Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was No. 2. His wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry is the widow of John Heinz, an heir to the Heinz food fortune who was a senator from Pennsylvania when he died in a 1991 plane crash.)

Oregon's other senator, Democrat Jeff Merkley, has never made the list of the 50 richest members of Congress.  But he has a growing real estate portfolio that now includes rental homes in Portland, Washington, D.C., and Takoma Park, Md., a D.C. suburb.

All told, Merkley reported assets valued at between $1.8 million and $3.6 million.  He owes mortgages on his rental properties of between $600,000 and $1.25 million and reported receiving rents of between $40,000 and $115,000.

--Jeff Mapes

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