Jeff Brewer writes Where the Streets Are Paved With Gold: The legacy of Robert Torricelli:
Public servants used to go to Washington to serve the public interest-not their own. It was well understood that for many people, getting elected to public office was not the path to getting rich. It was presumed that some noble or higher call, rather than the desire to amass personal wealth, motivated people to serve.Er ... maybe he got investment advice from Hillary Clinton and Terry McAuliffe?
Evidently, Robert Torricelli didn't subscribe to this concept. Rather, he did the improbable; he's become a rich man on a congressional salary. Indeed, since first winning public office in 1982, Torricelli has accumulated wealth and extravagance beyond any reasonable level. Unfortunately for him, much of it was garnered through unethical, if not illegal means. As the record shows, Torricelli repeatedly benefited from favorable loans and the occasional quid pro quo.
Consider that in 2001, Torricelli sold his home for $905,000, even though the 2,415 square foot home appraised for only $328,400. In turn, Torricelli bought his favorite estate in Rosemont, NJ - an expansive, $1.2 million dollar farm.
While Torricelli shopped for a million dollar home, he was also looking at yachts. He even found one to his liking - for $405,000. According to his spokeswoman, the Senator would use the proceeds from the sale of his home in Englewood, NJ to buy the boat. Of course, since Torricelli had agreed to put the money gained from his home's sale towards the Rosemont property, the spokeswoman?s comments were false.
So where did Torricelli plan on getting the money to buy a luxury yacht and the million-dollar estate in Rosemont? He has been a public servant for the last twenty years. When he first took office in 1982 as a representative, congressional salaries were $69,000 annually. Considering that Torricelli maintained two homes - one in Washington, D.C. and the other in New Jersey - it's difficult to craft a scenario that would allow him to acquire additional luxuries unless, of course, someone supplemented him along the way.
Or maybe they should all be in the big house.
