Washington, D.C. Insider Has a Net Worth of $13 million, Owned 9 DC Condos, Forgets About $1.3 Million Condo in Wisconsin
Tommy Thompson has cashed in on his Washington D.C. connections, living in the Beltway and working for special interests at an elite lobbying firm in Washington and amassing a net worth of $13 million.
Now, in a scene reminiscent of John McCain in 2008, Thompson can’t remember how many homes he has.
As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported yesterday:
“For years, then-Gov. Tommy Thompson complained that he wasn’t earning big bucks as a government official. Not any more. Simply ask the U.S. Senate candidate exactly how many residences he owns. Just like U.S. Sen. John McCain, Thompson has a hard time keeping track.”
But when asked on Friday how many homes he has, Thompson couldn’t remember and forgot about a $1.3 million condo he owns on Lake Wisconsin.
While working for the Bush Administration and then at an elite lobbying firm in Washington D.C., Thompson lived in the Beltway, buying and selling nine condos and pocketing over $500,000.
As the Journal Sentinel reported, “Over the past decade, he bought and sold nine townhouses in and around Alexandria, Va.” In 2004, while Thompson was working for the Bush administration, the Washington Post raised questions about Thompson’s real estate deals.
Thompson currently has four homes including a 10,889-square-foot condo in Florida. Earlier this year, in the middle of his campaign for U.S. Senate, Thompson cashed in with a Florida drug company as chairman of the Board of Directors. At first, his campaign said he took the position “pro-bono” but it has been recently reported that he received $75,000 stock options.
“While Tommy Thompson was working for President Bush and collecting a $166,700 paycheck from taxpayers, he was flipping condos and pocketing over $500,000. Then, he cashed in on his Washington connections working for special interests at an elite lobbying firm where he amassed a net worth of $13 million,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate on Monday. “Now, the ‘Boy from Elroy’ is a multimillionaire, Washington, D.C. insider who doesn’t know how many homes he has and forgot about a $1.3 million condo in Wisconsin. I don’t know how many farmers in Elroy have four homes, including a condo in Disney World, but I do know they would remember owning a million-dollar condo in Wisconsin, if they had one.”
