We’ve got all sorts of Democrats here in the deep blue Ocean State. We’ve got progressive Democrats, young Democrats, Democrats in name only, we even boasted the lone ALEC Democrat for a spell last year before his constituents through him out of office.
Now add to the list: Wall Street Democrat. That’s the new meme being used to define Gina Raimondo.
We’ve been saying it for a while. But when a post this week about Raimondo hiring a campaign expert to manage the treasurer’s office went viral, GoLocal picked up on the idea for their expose on her fundraising prowess among the banksters. In fact, it’s the most compelling part of their story.
Darrell West of the Brookings Institute told GoLocal: “…New York financial institutions love her position on pension reform. However, in Rhode Island’s political and economic climate, she has to be careful she is not seen as a ‘Wall Street Candidate’.”
It’s entirely warranted, entirely fair and one of most relevant bullets points on the general treasurer/gubernatorial candidates’ resume. Pension cuts, payday loan reform and financial literacy are all important, but so are her deep ties to Wall Street.
Brown political science professor Wendy Schiller makes a great point in the GoLocal article.
“Politicians raise money from the people they know and meet through their jobs – so it makes sense that a treasurer would receive money from financial concerns,” she said.
It also makes sense that, if they want that money to keep coming, they will act accordingly. Gina Raimondo will surely always represent Rhode Islanders above her out-of-state Wall Street donors … the question is how close of a second will the Wall Street donors be.
Yes, you clearly have nothing against Raimondo. I look forward to your upcoming hit piece on Senator Reed, who of course has no ties to Wall Street. Progressives would do well to consider whether simply raising money from the finance sector makes one a “Wall Street Democrat.”
“Races to Watch IX: Wall Street’s Favorite Candidates”
– Quote –
At a third of his total itemized receipts, Sen. Jack Reed has collected the greatest percentage of contributions from the finance sector in the last six years compared to all other Senate incumbents. Yet the former Army Ranger’s recent legislative record doesn’t seem to put him solidly on the side of Wall Street; as lawmakers have debated the bailout bill, he’s supported it on the condition that it give taxpayers a potential stake in the profits of companies that recover thanks to the bailout…
So if Reed’s record doesn’t indicate that he caters to the Wall Street crowd, why are four of his top five most generous industries securities and investment, real estate, insurance and commercial banks? The senator’s role as chair of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment makes him a likely target for money from FIRE. This also helps explain why 70 percent of his total receipts have come from outside of Rhode Island, with New York as his second-largest contributing metro area, after Providence. And at least half of his top 20 donors in the past six years have been in the FIRE sector, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.
– End Quote –
Perhaps we should at least hear her platform before throwing around dismissive labels.
We already know her platform. Rob from the middle class, give to the financiers. We know that she invests pension money in Point Judith Capital. We know that Point Judith moved itself and its jobs out of Rhode Island the second she got elected. We know that she used dirty Enron money to go on the Engage RI smear campaign. We know she, through Engage RI, offered free iPads to Brown students to go to the statehouse and act as supporters. We know that she worked for Bain Capital just like Mitt Romney. And we know that she has the same values. Money.
Oh, and I almost forgot about the Manhattan Institute, the fact that she gave to Khazai but not Liz Warren, the fact that she has a page on rightwingwatch.org, firing Salvatore, pumping her fist in joy at the prospect of middle class folks losing money, woeful, downright bad returns on the pension fund, and this lovely picture I found in the Nesi’s Notes comments: i.imgur.com/G2Qy7.png.
Oh, and I almost forgot about how she’s against Tax Equity. She talks about shared sacrifice, but never once has asked for sacrifice from equity holders, bond holders, or the wealthy, donates massive money to for-profit corporate education (That’s her hubby’s gig), and now accepts donations from white-collar criminals. Does this paint a picture yet?
See America’s Most Liberal Governor?
I don’t know much about O’Malley. I do know the WSJ derides him while it praises Gina. Anytime you are getting praise from Rupert Murdoch’s stooge Op/Ed writers on the pages of the Wall Street Journal you’re doing something that hurts regular Americans.
And that’s what Gina will do. She very well might become governor. But her goal will be to destroy the middle class in our state. And from that perch, and with her deep-pocketed Wall Street friends, she’ll take every last dollar real working folks have and find a way to funnel it to wealthy financiers – her primary donor base.
Basically, Carcieri part 2 is what you’ll get.
Her only “problem” imho was that she took on an unpopular issue. Now she’s a convenient scapegoat for those that would have liked the GA to adopt a different solution. Like Raimondo said, “we focused on the math, not politics.” In response, the GA could have raised taxes, etc. but chose not to.
All the rest is simply attempts by partisans to exploit that sentiment via guilt by association.
I am a partisan. I don’t pretend otherwise. I’m a democrat. I no more like Raimondo than I do Brien or Baldelli-Hunt, or any other DINO.
Raimondo was disingenuous. Then she did a nation-wide right-wing press victory lap. She could have played her hand differently. She didn’t.
She could come out in favor of tax equity (even more important now that Gov. Patrick has plans to sub out regressive sales tax for progressive income tax).
She won’t.
She could have not formed shady dark money groups with Enron billionaires and Hazen White “Mr. Republican Taco” Jr. as political partners.
She did.
She is reaping what she has sowed.
Do you really think she would be getting all this “Wall Street Democrat” press if there weren’t some truth to it?
When she spoke at the Manhattan Institute, did she have to talk about selling off public state lands and assets to the lowest corporate bidder?
Do you really think she cares at all, even a little bit, about the middle class citizens whose livelihoods she seeks to destroy?
Here’s another prediction:
If Gina becomes Governor, CCRI will be “reformed” to the now-for-profit Citizen’s Bank® Community College and Classical will be “reformed” to the now-for-profit New Schools Venture Fund® High School.
Both will charge students and taxpayers 10 times what they do now for worse results.
They’re onto her and the rest of her “make all public education for-profit” clan over in neighboring CT. Look what they figured out just by following the money:
jonathanpelto.com/2012/07/26/strange-politics-tracing-campaign-donations-part-i/
“When she spoke at the Manhattan Institute, did she have to talk about selling off public state lands and assets to the lowest corporate bidder?”
So by your standards is Mayor Taveras similarly a DINO? He proposed selling off city assets as part of his “disaster capitalism” cat-5 hurricane speach.
– quote –
- Notably, the panel recommends that the city look at selling, or as it says “privatize,” some of the attractions in the city’s Roger Williams Park: the Casino, Botanical Center and Zoo.
Late Thursday afternoon, the Roger Williams Park Zoo Director Jack Mulvena responded in a statement, “We understand that the mayor is in a tight spot and looking at all his possible options and certainly the concept of privatization is a legitimate option.
– end quote –
I didn’t agree with him, but I also didn’t start claiming he was a Republican in Democrat clothing.
As for Dacia Toll, CEO, Achievement First donating to Raimondo. Here’s “DINO” Taveras singing the praises of AF while (falsely) claiming “Achievement First schools consistently outperform city and statewide averages.” Wall Street Democrat?
There is a false dichotomy being presented here. Both Taveras and Raimondo were on the Hedge Fund Managers for Education Deform “Funky Fifteen” “Hotlist”:
www.dfer.org/2010/11/how_the_funky_f.php
Caprio, who offered himself up to the Republicans at one point, was also on the list. With Chafee dependent on how well the investments from his trust fund do and who must be beholden to the same sort of people, it isn’t hard to argue that there is but one alternative to right wing culture warriors. - Chafee/Rockefeller Republicans who may or may not be called Democrats.
Read the Bursting the Dam post by DFER, linked to on the page linked to above, about the “special interests(primarily but not limited to teachers unions) . . .”
Some people represent special interests but hedge fund managers are the true “reformers”, apparently.???
When is the press gonna get serious about this? Probably never, huh? Who is this week’s Golden Apple Award winner, I wonder?
With that thinking you’d have dismissed Martin O’Malley (an Urban Innovator Award winner) while he was still Mayor of Baltimore.
The part that cannot be forgotten is that Gina has quite a nice hand to play.
People hate their next door neighbor much more than they do Jamie Dimon.
Most don’t have a clue as to what mortgage securitization through derivatives meant in 2008, and they have little patience with that stuff today.
They were told that things were going to get better for them, and now they see that their neighbor, who was in a union, seems to be doing better, even in retirement.
That’s easy for talk radio listeners to hate.
What bothers me about Gina is that she puts herself forward as a refined, educated lady.
Not in American property law, she’s not.
She’s an untrustworthy fiduciary, an Enron type. She could do better, but she won’t, not with the crowd that she trusts most.
You’d think that grabbing the COLA interest would be enough, and that, from those savings, she’d be able to structure a stronger pension system.
But truth hasn’t bourne that out. The fund underperforms most of its peers, and that now, too, is a fact. Where is the savings bump after a year?
You see, to strengthen the system would go against her true conservative religion, that of feudalized finance.
And, on the day that she does do something for the pension system and for those who depend upon it, you can bet that Robert Rubin will no longer be willing to fall in the swimming pool.
As far the people on the ground are concerned? “You go, Gina, and cut me off a little slice.”