Obey's $1 million House
Want to know where Dave Obey spends most of his time during the year? Well here it is - his home in one of the wealthiest areas of Arlington, Virginia. According to the Arlington, Virginia Department of Real Estate Assessments, this house is valued at $871,800.
We called a couple realtors in Arlington to see what this house would sell for. They said it would list for between $900,000 and $1,000,000 and that most homes are selling for around $100,000 over their assessed values if they are in good shape.
What else is there to know about Arlington County, Virginia? It has the 8th highest per capita income of any county/city in the United States. In fact, the Northern Virginia area where this house is located has 4 of the top 11 richest counties/cities in the country.
If you notice in the photo of just the front door, you'll see the Congressional Seal as a door knocker. Nice touch Dave.
Last check, Obey listed a small condo in Wausau as his official mailing address. We understand he purchased that after being questioned about his residence in the state - apparently he had been using his parent's address for a long time.
Rumor has it that Obey is now building a home somewhere in Northwest Wisconsin. Another rumor has it that Obey spends some quality time in the sun of Arizona. This would make sense as Arizona is the third highest source of contributions for Dave Obey outside of Wisconsin last quarter. In fact, Obey raised 91% of his contributions from outside of Wisconsin last quarter. His neighbors (lawyers and lobbyists) in Northern Virginia and Washington, DC were the number one source of individual contributions outside of Wisconsin - nearly equaling the contributions from inside Wisconsin.
After the Wausau paper ran a story singling out the two Republicans' previous sources of income but doing ZERO investigative reporting when it comes to Obey's finances, we thought we should point out where his money is - real estate. According to the rules of the House of Representatives, Members of Congress do not have to report homes they own solely for personal use. So, in addition to the six figure annual pension and tidy little 401(k) style-plan Obey will retire with, he has invested heavily in real estate - all items that don't have to be disclosed publicly. I don't know how many of you own 3 or 4 homes, have a $100,000 pension waiting for you as well as a 401(k), but Dave Obey does.
Next time the Wausau paper wants to insinuate that the Republicans are in this for the money but Obey's just a poor working stiff, think again.
We'd also like to say a special thank you to our loyal reader in the DC area who took the photos and sent them to us.
posted by ObeyOut2006 at 9:16 AM
25 Comments:
expensive haus
I wish I had $2 million in assets plus a $100K pension to retire on. I wouldn't still be working.
If you've been on this site much Obey isn't working either..
Can someone e-mail this to the newspapers in the district, this is good stuff.
I love how the papers always say that Dave Obey's financial reporters show only a small amount of money. Obey's got those reporters wrapped around his little finger. They won't print this.
If you want to get the word out on this, I remind you that the "letters to the editor" section of your local newspaper is the most read section statistically, and that most local political talk shows are begging for good callers. I know one guy who writes up a letter to the editor every week, and tries to call into a talk show once a week (he lives in a different state though). This is one of the best ways to support a campaign if you can't write a check, walk in a parade, etc..
good advice on the letters to the editor and call ins . . .
I'm still laughing about the congressional seal door knocker. that is funny.
wait till Obey sees this, he'll blink his eyes so fast he might take off in flight.
I wonder what his Arizona house is like.
Earth to the Superior's Daily Telegram and Wausau Daily Herald: Good reporting should look something like this...
The Superior Telegram and Wausau Daily herald only do serious stories; like how Reid and Tyberg are giving up two years of they're lives, and the their jobs, just to get a pay increase.
By the way, the Reid team is really taking this serously, I saw one of they're staffers who told me they were covering something like 15 events this past wknd overall. That's great.
The door knocker is hilarious. Do you think Obey has Congressional Seal underwear too?
It would be neat to see what kind of houses other congress people live in and what the price of housing is in that area. I bet it is more expensive than in Northern Wisconsin.
Maybe in comparison it isn't that much, it may even be a humble house. It would be nice if a newspaper would report on it, it would be interesting.
jeremy,
I think you're suggesting that maybe Obey's house is right in line with other Congressmen live in. Maybe you're right, maybe not. But he owns 3 or maybe even 4 pieces of property. How many people in Northwest Wisconsin do you know that own 3-4 homes and have a 6 figure pension to retire on? I'd be willing to bet not many.
Jeremy,
I think the point here is that Obey is constantly playing class warfare, and blasting the "wealthy," Republicans. While at the same time claiming to represent the working man.
Three words: "out of touch"
And it's not just this house thing, Dave Obey thinks that global warming is the biggest challenge we face.
Anonymous
My point is maybe this is a modest house in that area. Aren't there a lot of people living there, in a small area, so houses in general are more expensive? I know that when I lived in Chicago you could spend $200,000 on a box condo, so I could imagine a house being very expensive.
Isn't weird that we live in a time that one million dollars doesn't seem like a huge amount of money? More than I have, but nothing compared to numbers like that were part of the Enron fiasco.
It's one of three or four houses he owns and his only source of income his whole life has been being a member of Congress. He has also racked up a huge taxpayer funded pension and a 401(k). I don't care if it's the smallest house in Arlington, that's a nice little nest he feathered for himself. Moreover, I believe the original point of the Obey Out post was that the Wausau Daily Herald made it sound like the Republicans running for this office were in it for the money, when in fact, Obey seems to be staying in it for the money.
By the way, I laughed when I saw how you worked the Enron thing in there. What's that got to do with this?
I used Enron as an example of how much money is out there and a million dollars is not that much. I guess that I could have said something like Buffets billions that he donated, or how many billions the war in Iraq is costing, or the trillion dollars the country is in debt. I don't know if it is that much, but it's a lot. Or I could have said A-Rod makes what, $27,000,000 a year.
But Dave Obey isn't in the private sector, he's a federal employee. Your point is 99% irrelevant.
Because I'm sure none of the Republicans you love live lavishly.
right.
There you have it from one of his own...Dave Obey lives "lavishly."
Is obeys son a lobbiest?
So Obey bought a house in Arlington somewhere around 20-30 years ago for probably $100,000 and it happened to appreciate. Is there anything wrong with that?
Also as far as the comments of him not working. he has consistently been RANKED ONE OF THE HARDEST WORKING MEMBERS OF CONGRESS by a bipartisan survey of house staff. look it up.
But seriously what does his house in Arlinton have anything to do with his performance as a Congressman? Every house in North Arlington cost over 750k...So who cares. Maybe a little inappropriate to post the pictures of the house. There is no actual issue addressed here. Why dont you post a picture of your house so we can all contribute our thoughts about something else that doesnt matter. This makes people who dont like Dave Obey look bad. Probably just going to erase this message.
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