Politics 88 : Well-to-Do but Frugal, Dukakis Drives ’83 Car, Lives in a Brick Duplex

Michael S. Dukakis has a net worth of at least $500,000 in property, investments and salary and is the potential beneficiary of about $1 million controlled by trusts, according to his financial disclosure forms and statements made by his presidential campaign aides.

But the Massachusetts governor, who once described himself as a “man of few wants,” lives in a duplex he bought 17 years ago for $25,000, drives a 5-year-old Dodge, buys his clothes at a bargain basement and generally vacations at the homes of friends or family.

“He and Mrs. Dukakis live comfortably, but I think frugality is one of the governor’s personal attributes,” said James Dorsey, the governor’s Statehouse press secretary, adding: “Nowadays there isn’t much time to spend money on anything.”

Bought Apartment Building

The last time the Democratic presidential nominee-to-be took a financial risk was 25 years ago when, following the lead of two uncles in Haverhill a half-century before, he took out two mortgages to buy the six-apartment building he was living in for $55,000.

The investment proved successful. In 1971, eight years after buying the apartment building in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Dukakis sold off the apartments as condominiums--one of the first condo conversions in the state--for a reported $26,000 profit.

Earlier that year, he and his wife, Kitty, moved out of the apartment building and bought half of a side-by-side brick duplex down the street for $25,000.

The Dukakises still live in that modest, three-story duplex--since Massachusetts is one of only three states that do not provide a governor’s residence. But as a result of New England’s inflated real estate climate, the Dukakis home now carries an estimated value of $367,400.

The Dukakis home is the governor’s single largest investment. But unlike many Americans, Dukakis has paid off the mortgage. The governor, who refuses to use credit cards, has no reported debts.

Robotics Manufacturer

His only independent stock investment totals less than $1,000 in a small Massachusetts-based robotics manufacturer, Automatix Inc., which brought him less than $100 in income last year, according to his financial disclosure forms.

The governor has no vacation homes--his vacations are usually mixed with family visits to a cousin’s home in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to Mrs. Dukakis’ sister’s home on Cape Cod or to her father’s summer home in the Berkshires.

He has no airplanes, boats or a garage full of cars. The only car owned by the man who likes to ride the subway to work is a 1983 Dodge valued last year at $2,750.

Dukakis, 54, has put his money into long-term investments aimed at retirement or benefiting his three children. After 25 years in state politics, first as a legislator and now as a three-term governor, Dukakis has built his state retirement account up to $49,494.

If the governor has taken out life insurance, his federal and state financial disclosure forms do not disclose it and his presidential campaign staff will not discuss it.

$44,610 in Savings

He and Mrs. Dukakis have $44,610 in various savings, individual retirement accounts and checking accounts, some of which are considered trusts for his children, the campaign staff said.

The governor and his wife reported total income last year of $108,957. Virtually all of it was from his $85,000-a-year governor’s salary and Mrs. Dukakis’ $20,000 as a part-time director of the Public Space Partnership Project at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the $2,000 she earned as director of a college textbook publisher. The Dukakis’ interest income amounted to $1,445.

Dukakis also is the potential beneficiary of money from two $1-million trusts set up by his late father, Panos. However, half the money in those trusts is slated to go to Bates College in Maine, where Dukakis’ father went to school.