wall street and mr Blunt

odd this is asked of wall street for a "defender" of main street.


Published on Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (http://www.citizensforethics.org)

A blatant example of how money, politics and policy collide
By crew
Created 14 Apr 2010 - 9:59am
As the Senate begins debate over financial reform, Chris Harris from Media Matters [1] documents how politics and policy are influenced by Wall Street money. And, it doesn't seem like the Senate Republican leadership is being the least bit subtle about it:

In February, the Wall Street Journal reported [2]that Republicans were "stepping up their campaign to win donations from Wall Street. In discussions with Wall Street executives, Republicans are striving to make the case that they are banks' best hope of preventing President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats from cracking down on Wall Street."

Two months later, it seems the GOP is relying on the same strategy. In return for obstructing Democratic legislation to hold Wall Street CEOs accountable, Republican lawmakers are pressing bankers for financial help heading into the November elections.

FoxBusiness.com reported [3]that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman John Cornyn (R-TX) had a "private meeting" with "25 Wall Street executives, many of them hedge fund managers." After listening to "numerous complaints the executives have with the bill," the GOP lawmakers reportedly assured the bankers that Republicans would be their ally in the fight. After discussing likely Republican electoral gains this November, "McConnell and Cornyn made it clear they need Wall Street's help."

A day after the story broke about McConnell's "private meeting" with Wall Street bigwigs, he stormed onto the Senate floor to spout false attacks [4] on Democratic efforts to hold those bankers accountable. The timing was no coincidence.


No coincidence at all.

A few weeks ago, Reuters [5] reported that the Ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, Richard Shelby from Alabama, told a gathering of bankers that the best way to defeat reform:

Asked what bankers could do to change the agenda, Shelby said, "What you can do is elect more Republicans to the U.S. Senate, that would help immensely." He asked each of the attendees to send $10,000 to Roy Blunt, a former House leader who is now running for Senate as a Republican in Missouri.





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Source URL:
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/44724
Links:
[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-harris/after-hobnobbing-with-ban_b_536005.html
[2] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703575004575043612216461790.html#printMode
[3] http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/government/street-execs-pols-earful-financial-reform/
[4] http://mediamattersaction.org/factcheck/201004130004
[5] http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62H3Q520100318