Paaaaaarty!

Politico's Zach Warmbrodt wrote this week that "American International Group (AIG)-- once one of the most scorned corporations on Capitol Hill for its pivotal role in the financial crisis-- got a Washington birthday bash on Monday night with help from House lawmakers. Little more than a decade after the U.S. government committed $180 billion to avert the collapse of the insurance giant, AIG used the hearing room of the House Ways and Means Committee to host a 'centennial congressional reception' to mark the New York-based company's first century in business. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) presided over the event, which featured AIG CEO Brian Duperreault and other company leaders. 'We believe in the power of relationships to make a better world for everyone,' AIG said in an invitation obtained by Politico."

And it was a bipartisan party-- with crooked congress members from both sides of the aisle. So far this cycle, AIG has spent $1,400,000 lobbying Congress and has handed out $109,763 in legalistic bribes disguised as campaign contributions (including $2,500 to Chairman Neal). Last cycle they handed out $344,502 in these legalistic bribes-- $107,682 to Democrats and $70,820 to Republicans. These are their top dozen recipients serving in the House today:

• Kevin Brady, then chair of Ways and Means (R-TX)- $5,000
• Steny Hoyer (D-MD)- $5,000
• Patrick McHenry (R-NC)- $5,000
• Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL)- $5,000
• Antonio Delgado (D-NY)- $3,625
• John Larson (D-CT)- $3,625
• Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)- $3,500
• Jason Crow (New Dem-CO)- $2,720
• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)- $1,938
• Elissa Slotkin (New Dem (MI)- $1,753
• Mike Sherrill (Blue Dog-NJ)- $1,656
• Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)- $1,500

There were senior members from both the Democrats and the Republicans at the festivities-- along with finance industry lobbyists. Members of Ways and Means and the Financial Services Committee who were partying with AIG included Brad Sherman (D-CA), Bill Foster (D-IL), Steve Stivers (R-OH), Dan Kildee (D-MI) and Gwen Moore (D-WI).

The celebration is the latest sign that memories of the 2008 market meltdown have faded in Washington. A display at the event outlining milestones in the company's history jumped from 1999 to 2015 — omitting the financial crisis and taxpayer-backed rescue.

AIG was the focus of widespread public outrage over the massive bailout the company got to stay afloat after it was nearly brought down by risky derivatives trades. At the time, lawmakers demanded that AIG employees renounce their bonuses.

"AIG will live forever in history as the poster child for greed, recklessness and incompetent if not delusional management," said Dennis Kelleher, who advocates for stricter Wall Street regulation as president and CEO of the group Better Markets.

But things have returned to normal for the storied insurer in recent years, as the company shrank itself and paid back the bailout funds. AIG has ramped up lobbying and restarted spending by its political action committee.

In 2017, AIG was successful in convincing federal regulators to undo the company's designation as a "systemically important financial institution"-- a label imposed on the insurer after the Wall Street meltdown that carried with it stricter government oversight.

...AIG has disclosed lobbying on retirement savings legislation under the Ways and Means Committee's jurisdiction. The company's PAC and employees have given more to Ways and Means Committee members in this election cycle than members of other committees, according to committee totals compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

"It comes as little surprise that these lawmakers would host a party for AIG, but it is deeply troubling that Congress would celebrate such a negligent and self-serving financial behemoth," said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for the watchdog group Public Citizen.

Meanwhile, progressive congressional candidates went on the attack over the party with AIG. Kara Voght, reporting for Mother Jones, wrote that "For progressives waging primary challenges against entrenched House Democrats, Monday’s event was a perfect example of what they see as the inappropriate coziness between centrist incumbents and the corporate interests they are supposed to keep in check."

“A lack of [government] involvement in allowing corporate giants to do what they please, set the rules for themselves, is what led to the [2008] collapse,” Alex Morse, who’s running against Neal, tells me. “A decade later, nothing has changed. There’s an open door policy between members of Congress and executives working at these firms, and it’s a slap in the face to the people affected by the financial crisis.” Neal, it should be noted, recently accepted a $2,500 campaign contribution from AIG’s political action committee.

Rachel Ventura-- who is running against Rep. Bill Foster, a Financial Services member who attended the AIG event-- described the gathering as “disturbing.” In a statement, she said that Foster’s presence was “not surprising” and called for an ethics investigation into how the party came to be.

For the last several months, progressive challengers have waged their primary battles on multiple fronts. Support for prized liberal initiatives, such as the Green New Deal and Medicare for All, and promises to curtail corporate influence have been the bedrock of their campaigns. But so was a sharp rebuke of centrist incumbents who did not share progressive activists’ urgency in impeaching President Donald Trump. Morse had hammered Neal over his lack of support for an impeachment inquiry back in July. “I can’t purport to know the congressman’s strategy, but people are angry and scared,” he told me then. “Our democracy is dying right before us, and we need members of Congress that are there to uphold the Constitution.”

Rachel Ventura, who has been endorsed by Blue America, told her supporters that her New Dem opponent, Bill Foster "voted for the 2008/2009 bailout and he was one of the 33 Democrats who recently voted with Republicans to roll back Dodd-Frank in 2018, relaxing protections for financial consumers and exempting some institutions from stress tests; ultimately opening up the doors to another financial crisis. As a member of the Financial Services Committee, Bill Foster has accepted over $1.4 Million in campaign contributions from commercial banks and hedge fund managers. If you ask me, that’s a conflict of interest. As a US Congresswoman, I will go in the opposite direction. My entire political journey has used the slogan, 'no strings attached.' It is even on my campaign T-shirts. In my congressional campaign I have remained consistent, rejecting all corporate PAC money and super PACs influences. The American people are sick and tired of a congress that is bought and paid for. Bill Foster is no exception. He has tossed aside his lab coat and is just another politician who is more interested in listening to his donors than being a voice for the people."