The 50 Richest Members of Congress (2008)

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The former Senator also claims a stake in five investment funds, worth a combined minimum of nearly $5 million. He also lists multiple promissory notes from the Robert J. Dole Irrevocable Trust, including two worth “over $1 million.”

Elizabeth Dole also lists about 119 acres of land in Johnson City, Kan., valued at $1 million to $5 million.

20. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)
$15.05 million

Snowe’s net worth is largely tied to her husband’s position as chairman of the board of Education Management Corp., a Pittsburgh-based education company. Snowe lists her husband’s stock in Education Management as an asset worth $5 million to $25 million. In last year’s disclosure form, that asset was valued at $1 million to $5 million.

He also holds stock options worth $1 million to $5 million. The couple jointly holds mutual funds shares worth more than $2 million.

21. Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.)
$14.63 million

The Wisconsin lawmaker claimed a nearly 7 percent increase in his holdings over the past year, increasing his wealth by more than $900,000.

Petri’s major investments include stock in both U.S. Bank and Walgreens Co., each valued at $5 million to $25 million.

He also claims at least $1 million in stock for both Berkshire Hathaway and British insurance exchange Lloyds of London. The latter has doubled in minimum value since 2006, when Petri listed the asset as worth at least $500,000.

Petri’s only debt is a loan issued by Merrill Lynch, valued at $1 million to $5 million.

22. Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.)
$14.49 million

Having disposed of several debts, Miller’s net worth has rocketed more than 39 percent, or about $4 million, in his most recent report.

The Californian no longer lists debts of at least $1 million each for the Fontana Library Co. and the Upland, Calif.-based Church Haven Co., which he listed last year.

Miller’s assets include an account with Pomona Bank and Trust 1st Federal worth $5 million to $25 million and 382 acres in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., valued at at least $5 million.

He also added a new investment worth $1 million to $5 million in PFF Bancorp, the parent company of Rancho Cucamonga-based PFF Bank and Trust.

23. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)
$12.43 million

The Tennessee Senator’s largest asset is his stock in Processed Foods Corp., a Knoxville-based company where Alexander served on the board prior to his election to the Senate in 2002. He holds $5 million to $25 million worth of the company’s stock, and his wife holds “over $1 million” as well.

The family’s other major assets are land and real estate, in particular a patch in Nantucket, Mass., that is worth $1 million to $5 million for Alexander and “over $1 million” for his wife.

He incurred several new debts in 2007, taking out four loans totaling at least $560,000.

24. Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.)
$11.39 million

Kids. You pour your heart into them, and they grow up, leave and take all your money. Or something like that.

Campbell’s financial disclosure form for 2007 notes that one of his children reached the age of majority, so Campbell is no longer required to report the assets that were previously counted as belonging to the “dependent child.” That and the fact that one of the rental properties Campbell owns was misreported the year before (it was listed as being worth at least $1 million, but should have been listed at $500,000 to $1 million) leaves the California Congressman showing a drop of more than $2 million in the assets that he declared last year.