If you still think Congressmember Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel) was born with a silver spoon in hand, à la Creedence Clearwater Revival, maybe you didn’t see the Los Angeles Times’ ranking of the Golden State’s members of Congress by estimated minimum net worth.
Or maybe you did see the ranking of the 55 Californian electeds, and simply didn’t make it aaalllll the way down to Panetta, who came in at No. 52 with a net worth in the neighborhood of negative $470,000.
Panetta—whose dad Leon served as CIA director and secretary of defense—has assets of at least $80,000, according to a review by Roll Call of financial disclosure forms that the Times covered shortly after.
But Panetta also owes $500,000 on a mortgage for his Carmel home to go with $50,000 in student loans.
The Bay Area was well-represented on the other end of the spectrum, populating the list’s upper echelon. Sen. Dianne Feinstein was second on the list with $58.5 million, Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) was fourth with $27 million, Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) was fifth with $16 million, and Anna Eshoo (D-Menlo Park) was 12th with $2 million.
The findings are hardly conclusive, as some forms are penned by hand and hard to decipher. Mistakes earn only warning letters from an ethics panel.
But with his student loan debt, Panetta suddenly feels more relatable, although it’s probably easier to rest easy when racking up massive debts if you know that your dad is sitting on a small hill of wealth. In any case, we had hoped to talk to Panetta about the list, but his spokesperson did not respond to repeated inquiries. You know how rich kids can be sometimes.
You are clueless. Growing up and knowing Jimmy he was the opposite of your description. Truly never dropped his name and treated EVERYONE as equal.
A true friend and gentlemen.