Thursday, June 17, 2010

Big Jim's stamp collection vs. Moore's net worth

Jim Sensenbrenner's stock portfolio has gotten a little ink lately, what with all of his shares in BP not presenting a conflict, in his mind, to him sitting on a panel investigating BP's mess in the Gulf.

There's also the annual Journal Sentinel story about the finances of the Wisconsin Congressional delegation, which says Sensenbrenner, who's worth $9.9-million but has disposed of all of his inherited stock in Kimberly Clark, his grandaddy's company.

Missing was the annual measure that's always been the most intriguing one: Is Sensenbrenner's stamp collection worth more than Rep. Gwen Moore's total net worth? Two years ago they were equal at about $110,000 each.

The stamp collection's value keeps going up 10 grand a year, to $130,000 now. Moore's net worth may surpass $130,000 now, but it's not clear. She reported assets worth somewhere between $19,000 and $110,000, plus a house valued at $95,000. So she may now be worth more than Big Jim's stamp collection, but not by much.

We're talking about dollars, of course. By almost any other measure, Moore is worth a lot more than Sensenbrenner.