WASHINGTON — Republican congressional candidate Lisa Wilson-Foley and her family own about 70 different companies in Connecticut. Their holdings range from the AllStar Therapy Corp., a physical therapy firm that generated as much as $5 million in income last year, to the Rock n Bowl recreational facility in Simsbury, which netted no income at all.
Wilson-Foley has touted her business smarts as a key credential in her congressional bid. And without question, her financial disclosure forms reflect an entrepreneurial bent.
She sits at the top of the heap, at least when it comes to wealth, in the 8-candidate field to replace Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5th District, who is running for Senate.
The value of her and her family’s assets is at least $175.89 million and as much as $653 million, according to her financial disclosure form filed in July, which covers 2010.
Her campaign noted, however, that Foley-Wilson’s slice of the family pie is just a fraction of that tally-between $13.2 million and $62.6 million, with the rest held by her husband and or in accounts for their children.The family also listed liabilities ranging between $65.2 million and $119.5 million.
Candidates for federal office only have to list the worth of their assets in wide ranges. And candidates don’t have to report the value of their homes or their cars, among other things. So the disclosure reports paint a limited financial picture.
But Foley-Wilson appears to outstrip real-estate magnate Mark D. Greenberg, another GOP contender, when it comes to personal bank accounts.
To be sure, Greenberg is also a millionaire many times over; his disclosure forms show that his assets are worth between $63.7 million and $261 million. He has liabilities of between $27 million and $57 million, but much of that is a line item reflecting the taxes he would owe if he chose to sell his properties.
Among the first listings on Greenberg’s form are 59 condos in New York City, worth a combined $15 million to $75 million. Also among his myriad holdings, he owns an interest in office buildings in Windsor, a shopping plaza in Southbury, and a hardware store in Goshen.
There’s only one other multi-millionaire in the campaign pack: Elizabeth Esty, one of four Democratic candidates in the race. Her filings show that the Esty family has assets worth between $3 million and $8.7 million. And unlike her wealthier GOP competitors, she lists no debts.
Esty, a former one-term state representative from Cheshire, has a wide-ranging investment portfolio, with stock in Anheuser Busch, Chevron Texaco and Procter and Gamble. She reported that her husband, Dan Esty, who is now Gov. Dannel Malloy’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection chief, last year received honorarium from the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and the Electric Power Research Institute ($20,000 each).
The five other candidates in the field are hardly paupers, although their holdings pale in comparison to Wilson-Foley, Greenberg, and Esty.
Farmington Town Council Chairman Michael Clark, a Republican and former FBI agent, has assets worth between $409,000 and $1.1 million. He owns one investment property — a home in Sarasota, Fla., with his brother. But he has a mortgage on that running between $100,000 to $250,000.
Justin Bernier, another Republican, is a Navy reserve intelligence officer from Plainsville.
If elected to Congress, he at least wouldn’t have to go apartment hunting in Washington. That’s because he and his wife already own a place here, an apartment she bought when she was working as an FBI agent in Washington (she now works for the FBI in Connecticut, and they rent the apartment out). His assets run between $288,000 and $723,000, the disclosure forms show.
House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan, a Democrat from Meriden, reported assets are worth at least $188,000 and as much as $1.14 million. His investments include a Fidelity IRA, US Savings Bonds, and his SEIU 401K plan.
Daniel Roberti, a Democratic candidate from Kent, has assets worth between $430,000 and $950,000. His investments are a set of family trusts and partnerships. For example, he reported owning 50 percent of Roberti Associates Global, described as a crisis management and government relations firm based in Kent. He also reported owning 50 percent of Roberti Family LLC, a real estate development firm in Kent.
The fourth Democratic contender is Michael J. Williams, a visiting assistant professor at Wesleyan University. He reported between $252,000 and 530,000 in assets. His most valuable by far is an apartment in London, where he was a teacher until recently. Williams said he’d love to sell it, but with the housing market so low, he’s renting it out for now.