Opinion: War is good for John Kerry and other people who vote on ... war

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The folks over at Capital Eye have been busy with the calculators -- or, more likely, Excel spreadsheets -- and have come up with a rather jarring juxtaposition: More than one-fourth of members of Congress hold investments worth as much as $196 million in companies with Defense Department contracts.

It’s not just the companies that make bullets and the machines that fire them, or the rockets and the planes that aim them. That includes supply companies -- all those fighters have to eat, drink and get to the battle -- and, we suspect, there are some connections that might be tenuous. But still, that’s a lot of personal wealth riding on decisions that one would hope are based on criteria other than quarterly dividends and stock gains.

And even if you give the members of the House and the Senate the benefit of the doubt, and assume they don’t keep their own portfolios in mind as they vote (and you can put as much weight on that as you feel comfortable doing), there’s still an ethical question hanging there. And a credibility question.

Says Capital Eye (the newsletter for the Center for Responsive Politics): ‘Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), who are two of Congress’s wealthiest members, were among the lawmakers who earned the most income from these contractors between 2004 and 2006, with Sensenbrenner making at least $3.2 million and Kerry reaping at least $2.6 million.’

There’s the irony that should keep the talk radio folks buzzing -- Kerry the Vietnam War veteran-turned-antiwar activist increasing the family money pot through investments in companies that help wage war.

-- Scott Martelle