The Many Homes of John Kerry
Netlore Archive: Email flier (with photos) purports to enumerate the personal property holdings of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
Description: Email flier
Circulating since: March 2004
Status: Roughly true (see details below)
Example:
Email contributed by Cheryl, March 30, 2004:
|
Subject: John Kerry, man of the common folk.... he understands your pain, really... trust him - lol, yeah - right The many homes of Democrat Presidential candiate, John F. Kerry. Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania (Assessed value: $3.7 million) Ketchum, Idaho ski getaway/vacation home (Assessed value: $4.916 million) Washington, D.C - Georgetown area (assessment: $4.7 million) Nantucket, Massachusetts waterfront retreat on Brant Point (Assessed value: $9.18 million) Boston, Massachusetts - Beacon Hill home (Assessed value: $6.9) oh, and he sold this estate in Italy to activist actor George Clooney, just before announcing his running for president. I guess he thought it might not sit well with the common man. ($7.8 million) other foreign property ownership by John Kerry is unknown... because he denied repeated requests for this information. Please e-mail to at least 5 people. |
Analysis: Apart from one egregious falsehood — namely that John Kerry sold an Italian mansion to actor George Clooney just before announcing his run for the presidency — the facts and figures stated above were lifted directly from an Associated Press article dated March 22, 2004, and are presumably accurate. According to that article, the combined value of the properties owned by the candidate and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, is nearly $33 million.
Please note, however, that all but one of the properties are deeded to Teresa Heinz Kerry alone, or to the Heinz family. The only residence in which candidate John Kerry owns a personal stake is the Beacon Hill brownstone in Boston.
For comparison, Forbes magazine estimates the total net worth of President George W. Bush at $15 million. His 1,600-acre ranch near Crawford, Texas was appraised several years ago at $988,353.
As to that Italian estate, contrary to Internet gossip published earlier this year by Matt Drudge, it was never owned by Kerry or his wife, let alone precipitously sold off on the eve of Kerry's presidential bid. According to the Boston Herald, the property belonged to Teresa Heinz Kerry's stepmother-in-law, Drue Heinz, who reportedly sold it to George Clooney in 2002.
Share This Article
Sources and further reading:
Five Kerry Homes Valued at Nearly $33M
Associated Press, 22 March 2004Wealth of the G7 Leaders
Forbes, 26 February 2004A Look at the Homes Owned by John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry
Associated Press, 22 March 2004Kerry Unloaded Italian Mansion Month He Decided White House Run
The Drudge Report, 18 March 2004Drudge Homes in on Error
Boston Herald, 19 March 2004Money Talk
Warwick Boar, 11 November 2002Town Near Bush's Ranch Gains Notice
Associated Press, 23 December 2000
Last updated: 07/19/04
