Toomey took money from a “who’s who” of banks and Wall Street firms that crashed the economy

Washington, D.C.—Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), a member of the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, received $40,000 from the political action committees (PACs) of financial industry interests, in the third quarter of 2011, according to Public Campaign analysis of Federal Election Commission (FEC) data.

Over the weekend, Occupy Wall Street protestors marched to his office in Philadelphia, urging the Senator to “demand a recommendation that includes job creation; not tax cuts for the wealthy” related to his role on the Congressional “supercommittee.” Toomey responded that he believed the protests would not last long because they don’t “seem to have a coherent message.”

“He may not want to hear it, but Occupy protests in Pennsylvania and across the country show that Americans have a clear message for Senator Toomey and his colleagues in Washington: Congress should stop doing the bidding of Wall Street donors,” said David Donnelly, national campaigns director for Public Campaign. “Will Pat Toomey listen to his constituents or have Wall Street donations made him deaf, dumb, and blind to the concerns of everyday Pennsylvanians?”

According to the analysis:

• Sen. Toomey received $40,000 from the PACs of financial interests, including donations from PNC Financial Services Group PAC ($5,000 donation), Fidelity Investments PAC ($1,000), and American Financial Services Association ($1,000).
• He received a $2,500 donation from Thomas Patrick, the co-head of “Global Equities” for Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. Bank of America, which just announced $6.2 billion in third quarter earnings, will soon start requiring debit cardholders to pay a $5 monthly fee.
• He also received individual donors from executives as financial companies New Venture Capital ($5,000), New Frontier Capital ($1,000), Blackstone Group ($2,000), and Trian Partners ($1,000).

Toomey raised $84,933 from PACs in the third quarter, more than one-third of the $249,205 he raised in the quarter.

In August, Public Campaign and two-dozen groups urged supercommittee members to give up fundraising while serving on the panel. Just one, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), said he would stop raising money for himself while on the panel and analysis of his FEC data shows he kept to that pledge. Camp and Upton both said they would not schedule additional fundraisers, but would still attend those already on the calendar.

“Sen. Toomey should be focused on doing his job, not raising money to protect it,” said Donnelly. “A supercommittee plan that cuts Medicare to maintain loopholes for Wall Street CEOs would show Pennsylvanians who Sen. Toomey really works for in Washington.”

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Public Campaign works to ensure that the voices of regular Americans are heard in the political process by advocating for far-reaching changes in campaign finance law and by holding our elected officials accountable for the access and special favors they give big political donors.