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Kirsten Gillibrand says her 'values are never for sale.' Here are the receipts washex.am/2ROFXHY
It is true that Gillibrand doesn’t take PAC money. But she only got clean recently, on Feb 13, 2018, to be exact.
In an Instagram video on that day, the senator swore off corporate cash condemning “the corrosive effect of corporate money in politics.” Kicking that habit must have been hard.
The senator has taken tens of thousands of dollars from Wall Street PACs and millions more from financial industry employees and owners.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the checks have come rolling in from financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs ($30,000), Morgan Stanley ($23,500), Citigroup Inc ($17,500), JPMorgan Chase ($10,000), Blackstone Group ($7,500), and others.
Gillibrand also swore off lobbying money in that parking lot. Again, this is a recent development. She didn’t have a problem taking $105,032 from the lobbying industry while running to keep her Senate seat last year ($137,282 from individuals and another $2,700 from PACs).
Altogether throughout her career, K Street has kicked a cool $1,008,944 her way.
Not only has Gillibrand been caught red-handed chatting up Wall Street, her good government conversion seems born from political expediency not conviction. Don’t follow the money though, Gillibrand said in her defense. Look at her voting record.
“I voted against the bailout twice, I am co-sponsor… for a bill to do a transaction tax,” Gillibrand said somewhat nervously. “I believe that Glass-Steagall makes sense … I supported Dodd-Frank.
“Just look at the facts, look at my record, I always speak for what’s right regardless of who might be angry or disappointed or not agree.”
This laundry list of progressive good works sounds good. It just doesn’t mean much.
This laundry list of progressive good works sounds good. It just doesn’t mean much.
Both Dodd-Frank and Glass-Steagall help the big banks at the expense of the little ones.
Dodd-Frank creates the kind of regulatory barriers that the big banks can easily overcome but trip up the little ones.
Dodd-Frank creates the kind of regulatory barriers that the big banks can easily overcome but trip up the little ones.
Meanwhile Glass-Steagall, which was repealed by President Bill Clinton, kept brick-and-mortar lending separate from investment banking. A revamped Glass-Steagall like Gillibrand supports would carve out more business for one of her biggest backers.
Her friends at Goldman Sachs don’t operate a commercial bank. Their competitors like Bank of America do, meaning that their business model would be outlawed by Glass-Steagall leaving Goldman to sail smoothly on.
Gillibrand can get away with all of this talk in Manhattan where Wall Street knows that the senator is just going through a phase. They know exactly how much her values cost. They wrote her the checks. (Via @PhilipWegmann)
