Worst Democraps Who Want To Be President Update: Gillibrand Cozies Up To The Banksters

Yesterday, we posted Chapter V of The Worst Democraps Who Want To Be President: Terry McAuliffe. You can take a look at the entire series here. Chapter II was New York's crooked, opportunistic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and I'm afraid we need a little addendum today, based on some reporting by Brian Schwartz from CNBC. First, consider this. Since first being elected to Congress in 2006, Gillibrand has taken $9,788,569 from the Finance Sector, $1,958,256 last year alone.

Let's narrow that down to just the investment industry-- Wall Street. And let's look at the men and women still in the Senate. Who got the most from Wall Street, in other words, the half dozen most corrupt members of the Senate?

• Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney (includes presidential run)- $31,663,118
• New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer- $13,051,252
• Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio (includes presidential run)- $5,075,974
• New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand- $4,828,111
• Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell- $4,547,348
• Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman- $4,136,809

And last year, Gillibrand took $893,683 from Wall Street. What about Hedge Funds? Gillibrand took $731,220 since first being elected and the 4th most of any senator running for reelection last year ($156,297), beaten only by 3 desperate Democrats in 3 states Trump won: Jon Tester of Montana ($254,072), Claire McCaskill of Missouri ($231,180) and Bill Nelson of Florida ($161,773). Mind you, she has publicly sworn off Wall Street bribes, another of her lies. That makes Schwartz's reporting all the more interesting. She's been "reaching out to Wall Street" to see if they'd help pay for a presidential campaign. And she's not calling tellers; she's calling banksters and plutocrats-- the enemies of American working families... like when she used to be the chief attorney defending the tobacco companies who were consciously giving Americans cancer. Down deep, this one never changes.

Gillibrand has personally been working the phones and calling senior executives at Wall Street firms in recent weeks to see whether they would back her campaign if she jumps into the race, according to two senior business leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Donors in the financial community helped back Gillibrand's successful re-election bid last year. Her effort to connect with business leaders this time comes as she contemplates entering what will likely be an expensive and protracted Democratic primary.

Gillibrand has gotten a mixed response from the executives, however. Some have enthusiastically kept the door open to helping her finance her possible 2020 operation while others are hesitant to return her calls.

A few business leaders and other Democratic Party donors have been privately critical of Gillibrand's early efforts to force the resignation of former Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, according to one of the sources familiar with the discussions. Gillibrand was the first Democratic senator to publicly call for Franken, a fellow Democrat, to resign after he was accused of sexual harassment by multiple women in 2017.

"While Senator Franken is entitled to have the Ethics Committee conclude its review, I believe it would be better for our country if he sent a clear message that any kind of mistreatment of women in our society isn't acceptable by stepping aside to let someone else serve," she said at the time through a Facebook post. Gillibrand's comments led to several other women in the Senate demanding Franken to step down, including at least one other prospective 2020 presidential candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA).

Franken supporters in the business community argue Gillibrand should have allowed the eventual Senate Ethics Committee investigation to conclude before rushing to demand the resignation of the Minnesota lawmaker. They also believe he was a champion for women during his time in the senate.

...Glen Caplin, a spokesman for Gillibrand, insisted that if the lawmaker from New York ran for president she would build her operation off of grassroots fundraising and would not confirm or the deny her efforts to reach out to Wall Street leaders.

"If Senator Gillibrand decides to run, she will run a campaign that takes no corporate PAC money and is powered by grassroots donations, and based on her values of standing up to those in power and returning our democracy to the people where it belongs," Caplin said in a statement to CNBC.

...[T]urning to Wall Street investors and business titans could be a risky tactic in the next election, particularly after Sen. Elizabeth Warren called on 2020 hopefuls to stay away from political action committees, say "no to the billionaires" and to focus their efforts on fundraising through the grassroots community. Warren, a frequent Wall Street critic who announced an exploratory committee for president last week, has been following her own advice and recently started shuttering her own joint fundraising committee, which allows megadonors to write six figure checks in support of candidates for public office.

...Nationally, Gillibrand is not faring well in early polls. According to a recent CNN poll, she garnered 1 percent of the vote after participants were asked who they preferred to carry the party mantle in 2020. She is not doing much better in the early caucus state of Iowa. A CNN/ Des Moines Register/ Mediacom poll shows she only picked up 1 percent of the vote from likely Democratic caucus voters in the state. Iowa's caucuses will kick off the presidential contest season in January 2020.

She's made herself into one of the most unlikeable politicians in America, even for people who don't yet know her truly disgusting record as a politician. But if she ultimately does decide to run, they will.