Are We Doomed To Suffer From Political Corruption Forever? Only Voters Can Really Put A Stop To It

Not all corrupt politicians are Republicans: Gina & Andy

I haven't read Matt Taibbi's new book, The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap, yet. But Matt Taylor did an interview with him at Vice.com that gives you a good idea about which trees Taibbi is barking up. Taylor asked him about the assertions in the book that the Bush administration was much tougher on financial crime than the Obama White House. "How much of the blame for that," he asks, "can we lay on Attorney General Eric Holder and how much can be attributed to Obama and his prerogatives?" Taibbi didn't beat around the bush.

I never buy the excuse that the president has been misinformed or the president has been duped by his advisers. We've heard that excuse in other arenas: the national-security arena, the civil-rights arena, the whole question of rendition and torture and drone assassinations. We hear people saying, "Oh, if only Obama knew!" This is funny for me, because in Russia they have this saying: "If only the czar knew!" That existed for centuries-- people had this implicit belief that the czar was a good man and it was just the people around him doing all these terrible things at the local level. That speaks to the desire of people to want to believe in the goodness of their leaders. I voted for Obama; I spent time around him on the campaign trail. I like him personally, you know, from a distance, just as a person. And he's smart. But there's just no way around it-- on this issue he hasn't been good. And it's hard to make any other argument that he's not responsible for a lot of this. I wish there was a way to make that argument.

Right now, Blue America is only backing two candidates for governor-- Angel Taveras in Rhode Island and Zephyr Teachout in New York. Both are running against excruciatingly corrupt candidates, respectively, Gina Raimondo and Andrew Cuomo, politicians well-known for their shady relationships with Wall Street predators. We have enough Chris Christies, Nathan Deals, Scott Walkers, Rick Scotts and Bob McDonnells… and they are not all Republicans. Conservative Democrats like Cuomo and Raimondo are just as corrupt as Republicans.



Providence Mayor Angel Taveras is taking on Wall Street in his role as the city's chief executive and in his bid for Governor. Providence is suing Santandeer Bank for redlining in minority areas and Providence is serving as the lead plaintiff against high frequency traders who used their influence to game the market.

Angel is now running against big Wall Street backed former venture capitalist, Treasurer Gina Raimondo, who not only has taken well over $500,000 in campaign contributions from Wall Street but is doing everything she can to protect shady hedge fund contracts that manage public dollars.

The Providence Journal reported Raimondo's rationale for keeping these hedge fund contracts secret "to limit the ability of competitors to poach their people and avoid the disruption that could follow" and to "minimize attention around [hedge fund manager] compensation. Such attention led to the kidnapping of [a] prominent hedge fund manager."

Angel then took Raimondo to task:

"Treasurer Raimondo is keeping hedge fund contracts secret, because she is more worried about hedge fund managers being kidnapped or losing an employee than the public’s right to know what’s in these mega-million dollar contracts. The Treasurer should be looking out for our interests-- not Wall Street and hedge fund billionaires.

"As a former Venture Capitalist, Treasurer Raimondo has consistently shown that she will choose the Wall Street way of doing business over what’s best for Rhode Island working families. While we are paying $70 million in fees to these hedge funds, the Treasurer is choosing their wishes on what’s publicly available over the Providence Journal’s. In a nutshell, it’s a value statement."

Zephyr's opponent is already in the next stage of corruption-- intense scrutiny and growing public revulsion. Last night we caught up with her by phone while she campaigned Upstate. She reminded us that "as Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo was in the position to investigate and prosecute the worst financial criminals, those who brought about the 2008 crash. Instead, he gave immunity to Clayton Holdings, the firm that oversaw tens of thousands of fraudulent loans which were then packaged and sold by Wall Street. Clayton was a client of his close aide, Howard Glaser." She was just warming up. 

He also agreed to take no action against ratings agencies and "terminate all investigations" against them, and they admitted no wrongdoing. Andrew Cuomo also took no action on the foreclosure fraud scandal.

Contrast that to his position as Governor, where he has refused, despite overwhelming popular support, to decriminalize marijuana, leading to young men and women-- disproportionately those of color-- being imprisoned for smoking a joint.

In Andrew Cuomo's New York, there, are two sets of laws, one for the wealthy and well-connected--who get a pass-- and another for the rest of us.

This failure to understand the very idea of law-- that is applies the same to all, regardless of wealth-- has been on display in the last two weeks, as new revelations show that his administration tried to block corruption-related subpoenas to his close friends and business associates.

The most fundamental job of democratic government-- before partisan or policy preferences-- is to treat all participants equally. But right now the criminal justice system is upside down, and those in power get preferential treatment, while those out of power aren't given a second chance.

Please consider helping Blue America's law-and-order gubernatorial candidates here.