Stop Taking Money from Wall Street
October 3rd, 2008
Bankers and their friends do not invest $5 billion thinking that the money will go to waste. The U.S. House did the unusual when it said no on Monday to the Wall Street bankers and other big financial players that have pumped about $2 billion in campaign donations to federal candidates since the election cycle of 1990, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
This industry, including investment, insurance and real estate firms, has spent another $3 billion on lobbying Congress since 1998, for a grand total of more than $5 billion.
That makes the finance sector the biggest spender in Washington, D.C., easily topping such heavyweight sectors as lawyers/lobbyists with $1.4 billion, defense firms with about $1.1 billion, and even the healthcare industry, with $3.9 billion, the Center found.
Big money donors almost always get their way when working with Congress. Consider Gramm-Leach-Bliley and the bankruptcy update of 2005. Yesterday, the Senate approved the $700 billion bailout, or rescue, plan.
The public is tired of favored treatment for financiers. A recent Zogby poll found that 82 percent of likely voters believe that political parties, presidential candidates, and candidates for Congress should be banned from receiving financial contributions from lobbyists or other representatives from industries vital to the financial and national security of the country.
A Clean Elections approach offers an alternative to the current dollar-driven system of elections, and it is up and running in seven states and two cities.
Candidates running a Clean Elections campaign must get a set number of modest donations—usually $5—from people in their community. Once qualified, the Clean Elections candidate adheres to strict spending limits and stops accepting private contributions. That means the donation from the teacher and factory worker is as important as the one from the corporate CEO.
The U.S. Senate is considering the bipartisan Fair Elections Now Act introduced by Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.). Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.) and Walter Jones, Jr. (R-N.C.) introduced a companion bill in the House.
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