Have you ever wondered how a member of Congress like Rosa DeLauro, U.S. representative for Connecticut's 3rd congressional district, could amass a net worth of $16,280,000 after 26 years in office? If she had stashed every dollar of her starting salary of $125,100 growing to $174,000 annual salary under her mattress, she’d still be millions shy of that figure. So where did the fortune come from? The answer is as old as Washington itself: influence, connections, and the silent art of leveraging proximity to power.
