Who Is Wall Street Favoring This Cycle? And Why?

Wall Street doesn’t hand out the big bribes randomly. They pay off the members of Congress who are in position to help them achieve their legislative and regulatory goals, especially crooks who look like up-and-comers. The Open Secrets chart above shows the amounts the Finance Sector bestowed on it’s favorite House members this cycle only. And the cycle is just beginning. There’s no question why Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) top the list. As Speaker and Majority Leader, they ultimately are charged with making sure Wall Street gets what it wants-- and making sure legislation that Wall Street opposes is never debated, voted on and never sees the light of day. #3 is Kevin Brady (R-TX), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which wrote Trump’s and Ryan’s Tax Scam. Actually, the bill was largely written by Wall Street lobbyists working through Brady’s office. Since being elected to the House in 1990, the Finance Sector has shoved $3,538,810 up Brady’s ass. But it wasn’t until 2015 when he became chair of Ways and Means that Wall Street really started buying him off with serious cash. Last cycle alone, his banksters bribes amounted to $1,004,850. This cycle he’s pay-offs are expected to amount to much more.

With the exception of Pat Tiberi (R-OH)-- who chaired two important Ways and Means Committee subcommittees-- numbers 4 through 9 are all pro-bankster members of the House Financial Services Committee, the most corrupt committee in Congress. And among them you will notice 2 very corrupt Blue Dogs, Kirsten Cinema (AZ) and Josh Gottheimer (NJ), each of whom has been very helpful to the Republicans and Wall Street in dismantling Todd-Frank protections. The only other Democrat on the list, Joe Crowley (NY) is Wall Street’s insurance policy, their old amigo and former head ion the New Dems, hand-picked by Pelosi and Hoyer to take over the House Democratic Leadership when the two of them reach their 100th birthdays and finally step down.

Most of these incumbents are in safe seats and don’t need any money to defend themselves in elections. They need money to continue to buy influence and power within their caucuses. Wall Street does step up to the plate, though, when their shills do run into electoral problems. This cycle two loyal servants of the plutocrats-- House Financial Services members Ed Royce (R-CA) and Bruce Poliquin (R-ME)-- are in hot water with their constituents for consistently selling them out and Wall Street has upped the ante for each. Last cycle Royce was given $1,413,474 and Poliquin was given $936,474. This cycle each can expect well over $2,000,000 to try to protect them from surging Democrats in their districts.

CA-39 went heavily against Trump last year-- Hillary won 51.5% to 42.9%. It was Trump’s most dismal performance of many of the 4 Republican-held Orange County districts. This cycle Trump and Ryan are extremely unpopular with CA-39 voters. Suburban voters in states like California got the worst deal from the Tax Scam and, unlike Issa and Rohrabacher in very similar Orange County districts, Royce voted for the bill, showing anyone who didn’t already know it that he always puts party loyalty above the well being of his own constituents. The DCCC has recruited a worthless GOP-lite (former Republican) lottery winner as it’s candidate-- and there are several other multimillionaires who are running-- but a real progressive is in this race too, Sam Jammal, who has taken the fight right to Royce.

“This election,” Sam told us, “is going to be driven by two questions-- who we are as Americans and whether the American Dream is still possible. I believe we are a country where our government is not just the playground for the wealthy and special interests. As the son of working class, immigrant parents, I believe we are still a country where the voices of working and middle class Americans can be heard and policies are put in place the help people not just get by, but get ahead. The only way to preserve this is to make sure Democrats nominate candidates that fit and fight for the communities they seek to represent. More so, we also must retire incumbents like Ed Royce whose entire career voting record reads like a Christmas list that a banker would ask Santa Claus for. We can no longer afford this type of representative here in the 39th-- especially as we see Trump attempt to sell our government to his family and friends.”

Maine’s second district was Bernie country last year. Hard-pressed voters there wanted change and they reacted badly to the status quo candidates. When they had to choose between Hillary, the candidate of the status quo, and Trump, who was professing-- falsely as it turned out-- to bring change, they picked Trump. Many of them are very sorry now and neither Trump nor Paul Ryan has a favorable job approval rating in ME-02. Although Pelosi and the wealthy establishment in the state have their own out-of-touch richie-rich candidate, a working class champion, Lewiston state Rep. Jared Golden-- the Majority Whip of the state House-- is looking like he is the best opportunity to offer Mainers a real alternative to Poliquin and his Wall Street financiers and allies.

Yesterday we interrupted Golden’s Christmas celebrations to ask him about what he hopes to accomplish in the tax sphere when he retires Poliquin next November. He told us that “Poliquin is out-of-touch with Maine values and he toes the line for Wall Street. President Trump, said that those using the carried interest loophole were ‘getting away with murder,’ and promised to eliminate it, but couldn’t get House Republicans like Bruce Poliquin to fall in line. So instead the GOP tax law allows the carried interest loophole to stay in place, which is great for Bruce and his fat cat Wall Street donors. So they keep getting away with murder and we keep footing the bill. My tax reform priority in Congress would be to flip the GOP tax law on its head and give 83% of the tax cut to the hardworking men and women whose wages haven’t grown in years, instead of giving it to the top 1%.”