Day after vote against derivatives, McConnell attends industry fundraiser
Submitted by Adam_Smith on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 19:13
Washington, DC—Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will be co-hosting a fundraiser tomorrow in Washington, D.C. along with financial industry lobbyists, just one day after voting against legislation to regulate the out-of-control derivatives market.
“One day after voting against tough legislation to regulate Wall Street, and two weeks after secret meetings with big banks, Sen. McConnell is putting fundraising from the financial industry before the public interest,” said Nick Nyhart, President and CEO of Public Campaign. “The people of Kentucky have found out in the last few weeks who Sen. McConnell really represents in Washington, D.C.”
Another co-sponsor of the event, which is to benefit Sen. George Lemieux’s (R-Fla.) Protect America PAC is Wendy Grubbs, the Vice President for Government Affairs at Citigroup. Citigroup spent $5.5 million on lobbying this year and is a major player in the derivatives market. Since 2007, Citigroup employees and its political action committee have given $5,512, 948 in campaign contributions to federal candidates.
According to the invite obtained by the Sunlight Foundation, Sen. McConnell will serve as a co-host for the event. It comes just two weeks after Sen. McConnell joined his party’s chief Senate fundraiser, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), for meetings with Wall Street firms in New York City. Sen. McConnell has declined to discuss what was talked about at those meetings.
“As both parties battle over Wall Street’s campaign donations, the American people are tired of business-as-usual in Congress,” continued Nyhart. “Congress needs to fix its broken campaign fundraising system by passing the Fair Elections Now Act.”
Sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.), the Fair Elections Now Act would give candidates the option to run for office on a blend of limited public funds and a four-to-one match on donations of $100 or less. Instead of courting Wall Street executives for money, candidates for office can rely solely on their grassroots base of supporters. The legislation has the broad, bipartisan and cross caucus support for 144 House members and 16 Senators.
The invitation is available at http://politicalpartytime.org/party/21038/.
“One day after voting against tough legislation to regulate Wall Street, and two weeks after secret meetings with big banks, Sen. McConnell is putting fundraising from the financial industry before the public interest,” said Nick Nyhart, President and CEO of Public Campaign. “The people of Kentucky have found out in the last few weeks who Sen. McConnell really represents in Washington, D.C.”
Another co-sponsor of the event, which is to benefit Sen. George Lemieux’s (R-Fla.) Protect America PAC is Wendy Grubbs, the Vice President for Government Affairs at Citigroup. Citigroup spent $5.5 million on lobbying this year and is a major player in the derivatives market. Since 2007, Citigroup employees and its political action committee have given $5,512, 948 in campaign contributions to federal candidates.
According to the invite obtained by the Sunlight Foundation, Sen. McConnell will serve as a co-host for the event. It comes just two weeks after Sen. McConnell joined his party’s chief Senate fundraiser, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), for meetings with Wall Street firms in New York City. Sen. McConnell has declined to discuss what was talked about at those meetings.
“As both parties battle over Wall Street’s campaign donations, the American people are tired of business-as-usual in Congress,” continued Nyhart. “Congress needs to fix its broken campaign fundraising system by passing the Fair Elections Now Act.”
Sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.), the Fair Elections Now Act would give candidates the option to run for office on a blend of limited public funds and a four-to-one match on donations of $100 or less. Instead of courting Wall Street executives for money, candidates for office can rely solely on their grassroots base of supporters. The legislation has the broad, bipartisan and cross caucus support for 144 House members and 16 Senators.
The invitation is available at http://politicalpartytime.org/party/21038/.