Gina Raimondo: Wall Street Democrat

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.