Her opponents make much of 's wealth in her bid to become the next junior senator from Connecticut. But a review by the Connecticut Mirror of campaign finance documents of U.S senators and representatives shows that being a millionaire is pretty much the norm these days in Washington D.C.
McMahon and her husband could be worth as much as $350 million but others running for Congress, including and , are also millionaires. And some of Connecticut's sitting representatives and senators also are in the millionaire club, including Sen. , a Democrat, and Joseph Lieberman, an Independent and former Democrat.
McMahon in the last election was roundly criticized for spending millions of her own money to win a seat in the Senate. She was defeated by Blumenthal. She is currently vying to win the seat being vacated by Lieberman, who is not seeking re-election.
If elected, McMahon could well become the Senate's richest member, a spot now held by Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, who is worth about $281 million, the Mirror reports.
The reason I make this distinction is this: Linda McMahon has enough money to try to buy a senatorial election. Christopher Shays does not. If she wins this primary despite her lack of anything worthy of senate qualifications, the roll of money in politics will become pretty damn obvious. I hope for the sake of the political process Christopher Shays can pull this off.
As far as Mc Mahon, not all money is good money.
As far as what qualifications and accomplishments of the other candidates, you should look at either Christopher Shays or Chris Murphy and evaluate their legislative experience. What experience does Linda actually have? As CEO of the WWE, she's helped grow the business but it's been done by lowering costs (outsourcing merchandise production overseas and considering the performers to be independent contractors without benefits), not creating jobs. I'm willing to give Linda a fair shake and listen to what she has to say, but I don't see how she's improved her candidacy since she lost by 12 pts in 2010.
- The top 1% of earners in the United States pay about 40% of all Federal income tax. - The top 10% of earners in the United States pay about 70% of all Federal income tax. - The bottom 50% of earners in the United States pay about 2% of all Federal income tax. There's your talking point explained in more detail.