Wall Street donors have used their financial relationship with the Democratic Party to complain bitterly about Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s, D-Mass., influence over the direction of the party, a new fundraising document reveals. At one point, the Democratic lawmaker in charge of raising cash for House Democrats attempted to reassure donors by pointing to a news story claiming that Warren does not speak for the party.
The document, a fundraising summary compiled by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, provides a window into the relationship between the Democrats and major interest group donors. The party held meetings with donors such as Goldman Sachs and General Electric and carefully compiled their concerns, even when they whined about core progressive goals. It’s an awesome example of how money greases the wheels of Washington, D.C.
The notes were compiled on behalf of Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., the chair of the DCCC, providing a summary of his fundraising meetings with various corporate and union donors. The DCCC did not respond to a request for comment.
The nine-page document was found in a cache of files published last week by “Guccifer 2.0,” the anonymous hacker who has been accused by the Department of Homeland Security of having ties to the Russian government.
Goldman Sachs lobbyists Michael Paese and Joyce Brayboy complained to Luján that his party’s “rhetoric is problematic” and that they “don’t like Warren’s messaging,” a reference to populist Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Brayboy was a so-called “superdelegate” and at-large member of the Democratic National Committee. Warren, notably, has pushed her party to take a more aggressive stance on regulating the financial industry and prosecuting Wall Street crimes criminally.
The lobbyists’ access was likely influenced by significant contributions to the DCCC. In the 2014 election cycle, the Goldman Sachs PAC gave the DCCC $30,000; in 2016, it gave $20,000.
Similar concerns were brought to the DCCC by lobbyists for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, a trade group that represents Goldman Sachs, Fidelity, Charles Schwab & Co., and other large financial companies. SIFMA lobbyists were “upset around messaging demonizing Wall Street,” the document notes.
Like Goldman Sachs, SIFMA lobbyists complained about Warren’s influence. In response, Luján referenced a news article about House Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, declaring that Warren did not speak on behalf of the party — something the financial industry lobbyists saw as “an encouraging sign.” But the lobbyists warned that the attacks on the financial sector were creating “a larger problem when people don’t trust banks and financial institutions.”
The financial services trade group also raised concerns with the Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule, which prevents financial advisors from making retirement advice based on kickbacks from retirement funds. A vote earlier this year on legislation to obstruct the rule, proposed by House Republicans and supported by SIFMA, came down on party lines, with all Democrats opposing the effort.
SIFMA was not quite yet ready to give money to the DCCC “in large part due to messaging,” but offered to do “literacy events” with House Democrats. Indeed, campaign disclosures show that SIFMA’s political action committee donated to the committee supporting House Republicans this year, but not the DCCC. In the 2014 election cycle, they gave $30,000 to the DCCC.
General Electric was far more supportive than the banks, offering tips on tactics, campaign technology, and strategy around electing more Southern and pro-business Democrats. But the notes make clear that GE’s donations to the party would be influenced by lawmakers’ votes.
GE, the document notes, “gave $400,000 to House Dems last cycle, but they are facing headwinds this cycle.” Listed under the “headwinds” are an array of GE policy concerns, including the renewal of the Export-Import Bank, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s medical device tax, and changes regarding the Medicare reimbursement formula. The meeting, notably, was conducted not only with GE lobbyists, but also with Betsy Tower, the manager in charge of the company’s political action committee. GE’s PAC gave the DCCC $30,000 in 2014 and $20,000 this cycle.
The Laborers International Union of North America, the union for construction workers, warned that they were with Republicans supporting a “total repeal” of health reform, and that they were concerned about Democratic hostility towards the Keystone XL pipeline. The union gave $30,000 to the DCCC in 2014 and $15,000 in this election cycle.
Other union meetings were more friendly and supportive of a broader progressive agenda. A briefing with Service Employees International Union president Mary Kay Henry and political director Brandon Davis went over the need to organize communities of color, tying get-out-the-vote efforts to support for increasing the minimum wage, and other strategic imperatives. The SEIU gave $30,000 to the DCCC in the 2014 cycle and $15,000 so far in this cycle.
Lobbyists for the hospital industry similarly offered support, and thanked Democrats for help passing legislation to change Medicare reimbursement rates. The hospital industry also spoke to Luján about contingency efforts around the Supreme Court’s King v. Burwell, a case over whether the Affordable Care Act gave appropriate authority to the federal government to set up insurance exchanges and provide subsidies. The discussion suggests the document was authored in the months before June 25, 2015, when the court upheld the exchanges. The American Hospital Association gave $30,000 to the DCCC during the 2014 cycle and during the current one.
In a separate file, whose metadata suggests it was authored by a DCCC fundraising official, instructs Luján to congratulate Rick Pollack, the newly appointed head of the American Hospital Association. The note reminds Luján that he “met with Rick on April 13th when AHA made their $15,000 contribution to the DCCC for the year.”
The DCCC has raised $144 million so far this year, according to recent disclosures. The party committee raises the cash through frequent solicitations to small donors, but also through large donations made by wealthy individuals, lobbyists, and interest group representatives.
Top photo: Rep. Ben Ray Luján speaks as, from left, House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Steve Israel, and Rep. Donna Edwards listen during a news conference to announce new members of the House Democratic leadership team on Nov. 17, 2014.
The New Dems are using the name and infrastructure of our former party, with the enthusiastic support of the corporatists, to build a right-wing, plutocratic party to replace the Republicans as they veer further and further off the beaten path (or any path recognizable to a sane person). What we need is a progressive party that will compete with them.
” But the lobbyists warned that the attacks on the financial sector were creating “a larger problem when people don’t trust banks and financial institutions.”
What lunacy as we are far beyond any human being with even minimal intellectual or moral capacity having any trust at all in the banks, financial institutions, or the corrupt bought and paid for members of all three branches of U.S state and federal governments.
Since the last financial disaster the poor are now downgraded to that of abject poverty, because they have to make room in their state of squalor for the one third of the middle class that has joined them in poverty.
The true cost of their criminality in terms of the bailout is estimated at approaching twenty trillion dollars, and maybe one low level bankster went to jail. These pinstriped criminals didn’t even lose their jobs, and at most the corporations paid tax deductible fines out of their amorally gained profits. They as individuals were able to keep the millions they outright stole to live out their lives traveling globally first class, living in luxury, exposing themselves to or buying fine art, and the like instead of staring out through bars of a real prison where they belong.
They are, of course, blaming the messengers, coz why not?
What a shock! Corporations complain about politicians who don’t like them & advocate against them.
What’s significant here is that it looks as though the Democratic Party hasn’t moved the needle because of these complaints.
liar
and you are at least the 2nd person on this thread to make this silly claim
Wow, what a shock. Companies like to complain about politicians who don’t like them.
SIFMA lobbyists were “upset around messaging demonizing Wall Street,”
You have to worry about how well your retirement funds and pensions are being taken care of if the people doing it are so intellectually stunted. They should realize that their actions are going to elicit a reaction from those people affected. If they are going to screw people over on interest rates, excess charges, and all the rest of it, then they should expect someone like Dr. Warren to come along. If their feelings are hurt, then they need to stop behaving the way that guarantees people are going to complain about them.
It doesn’t take a whole lot of intelligence to figure that out. Why can’t they do it?
The “attacks” on the financial sector are creating the distrust? Seriously? Nothing like deflecting blame.
To sum up this article,
Let’s pretend that Warren and the house democrats are the real deal.
I’d trust her more if she’d backed Sanders during the primaries.
Trusting Warren is trusting Clinton and Trump.
There is no “more” or less trust. A tendency to think that Warren is
something “more” than a party insider is very common.
Her history of real actions taken is not what her words lead people
to believe she is trying to do.
The most significant of her fakery is the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). It is assumed
by those who trust her that the CFPB is “independent,” but that is
false. The CFPB was created as a pretense within the lousy
Dodd Frank bill pretense and it was set up to be controlled
by whoever is in the oval office and it is subject to the whims
of the Secretary of the Treasury’s control over its determinations
through its control by the Financial Stability Oversight Council
(FSOC) which, again, is controlled by whichever Wall Street agent
sits in the oval office.
In short, Elizabeth Warren is one more Harvard approved
imperialistic capitalist who helps hide the truth by the words used
in her performances which are meant to hide the fact that
the democrats and republicans serve the same agenda.
After it became clear that Hillary had pretty had (stolen) the nomination, minions of her die hard followers began talking about Elizabeth Warren as her VP pick. I told some of them that the day Clinton picks Warren, that will be the moment Hillary loses every Wall Street donation. Of course, the die hards continued with the illusion and delusion that Hillary was some kind of progressive reformer like Warren.
I suppose the question will be if Hillary is elected, how will she, Nancy, and Chuck muzzle Warren. My guess the public/private model she spoke about. Publicly Clinton will support Warren, privately she will tell the Wall Street banksters that Clinton has their back, and Clinton will not allow Warren to do jack shit about financial criminals.
How can a president thwart a senator?
That crystalizes the problem, too much influence from wealthy and corporations. Usurping the needs of We the People.
it’s a “democracy” of the ultra wealthy.
If Elizabeth Warren was wrong, she wouldn’t be able to say the things that she does and get reelected. She also wouldn’t be so popular.
I understand why we have lobbyists on both sides of the spectrum, because politicians are too lazy to get out and see their constituents…. they need to be fundraising instead.
Politicians look at their positions are ones of power, when in reality they are ones of responsibility. Unfortunately in 1976 the Supreme Court made it clear that the responsibility is to money not citizens in Buckley v. Valeo. Its now been put on steroids with Citizens United and McCutheon. Your representative now spends 90% of their time fundraising. That is what happens when delusional human beings think money is speech even though speech precedes money.
Pochahontas was reelected?I doubt she will in the future,with that obvious lust for the VP slot she exhibited.
Another phony 3 dollar bill,in a land of counterfeits.
So, besides being a jerk, you are a racist jerk.
Just watched Jordan Chariton go over some more e-mails. Your in them Lee Fang. You MUST be doing something right, if they are calling you a “freak”. lol
Reminds me of one my favorite lines in “All The President’s Men” .When one the first of the Watergate stories comes out, and they are waiting for the White House response. Jason Robards says something like, ” …when they start calling us goddamn liars, then we circle the wagons..” or something like that. Never happen. You guys are too thorough.
Nothing new about it. It is called “Tweedism”.
// __ Our democracy no longer represents the people. Here’s how we fix it | Larry Lessig | TEDxMidAtlantic
youtube.com/watch?v=PJy8vTu66tE
~
We just keep losing our minds about them repeatedly losing their cherry, when they don’t care about virginity at all. They are politicians, aren’t they?
I think Lessig (someone I very much respect) meant to say: “Our ‘government’ no longer represents the people”
RCL
Reason #1 I don’t give to the DCCC.
Reason #528 I won’t be voting for Hillary Clinton.
On an interesting note, for anybody actually interested in the disparate influence that “unions” vs. “business associations” or giant individual transnational corporations purportedly enjoy over US politicians, look at the respective dollar amounts being given to politicians. Unions of workers aren’t even in the same universe. So who’s agenda do you think the Dems are actually pursuing in this country? It sure as shit ain’t a union or workers agenda which is self-evident by the fact that regardless of which branch(es) of government the Democratic Party has nominally controlled, not one single meaningful fucking thing legislativey has been done for unions and/or union members to ease or expand the organizing ability, scope or influence of American unions and their workers at the federal level in the economy.
Not one fucking meaningful thing. At least not that I’m aware of. And yet unions line up to be the foot soldiers of the Democratic Party. Now it can be a little different at the state level depending on the state, but overall nada baby. Why a majority of the remaining American unions continue to back the Democratic Party, instead of run their own candidates, is completely beyond me.
A few things that I found worth stressing.
SIFMA
IMO, the messaging sucks because the players are rotten. Blame yourselves, not Democratic party.
They don’t like that they must have skin in the game in order to make financial advice. Boo hoo.
Love that they back up their rhetoric by supporting the Repubs.
Gotta LOVE Senator Warren, don’tcha?
Re LIUNA and ACA:
(Didn’t support it.)
Feel it’s unfair; they played by the rules and did the right thing all along.
Re LIUNA and Keystone:
They have higher standards and expectations for Dems and
are supportive of Republicans on ACA/Keystone.
APWU:
Not “enamored” w/Dems. Many are good allies, but don’t feel the Dems are the party of the working people anymore.
Happy that Dems are standing up to PBO on TPA. Not happy with WH.
(In case you are not certain – they like the progressive agenda.)
Goldman Sachs
The rhetoric is worse than 2010.
Said “these emails live forever once they come out.”
AHA – Noted that 22 of 24 Republican Senate seats are from states without state-run exchanges.
Great story, TI.
So…they gave money to oppose the new fiduciary rule…and every Democrat said “nah” and voted to keep it. Scandal!
Or…they whined about Warren’s rhetoric…and Hillary gave her prime speaking roles and major campaign surrogate duties to keep the rhetoric up.
Can I ask the other commentators here..what are you reading? What is the scandal? It seems that everything they tried to “buy” in these revelations didn’t work. A trade union against the affordable care act…and Hillary is doubling down on the ACA.
At a certain point, you become infowars. I think that point is getting closer.
As everybody else found your bait too boring to bite…..it’s still pretty funny that you would claim that somehow G-S is not getting what they wanted now.
P.S. they don’t mind if the ACA endures, it’s not exactly some kind of socialist redistribution system.
“. . . the notes make clear that GE’s donations to the party would be influenced by lawmakers’ votes.”
Repealing Citizen’s United would not change this dynamic, but the ruling did reflect a culture that views influence buying as the essence of representative government rather than anathema to it.
Sounds like the Dems need someone with a public and private position on these kind of concerns. Oh wait…
Excellent story. But oh damn, fuck and damn, if only this and so much else had come out during the primaries.
“if only this and so much else had come out during the primaries.”
It’s depressing, isn’t it? Why wait until the general election? If the people behind these leaks are doing it to damage Hillary then a loss in the primary would have been much more humiliating than a loss in the general election. I just hope that the constant flow of bad news about both candidates will cause voter turnout to be at historic lows, and that would allow Trump to get into the White House and Crooked Hillary to go away for good.
SIFMA is just a front group for organized white-collar crime:
And Pelosi, the head of the Democratic Party, is a complete tool of Wall Street interests, in bed with the Republicans and the Saudis, a poster child for everything that’s wrong with current Democratic Party leadership, as this infamous picture should make clear:
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/files/2015/03/arabia-mccain-polesi-1024×712.jpg
Just a clairification on the DOL ‘fiduciary’ rule as I understand it. The real import of it is that securities industry financial advisers have to be ‘fiduciaries’ when it comes to retirement funds. Right now, they can advise on what to invest in, but do not have to have the client’s best interest in mind… at least legally. A fiduciary is legally responsible for funds under their control. Right now if you lose money in an IRA, and you bought some crap in the energy industry as recommended by your financial adviser, it is legally your problem. (Though of course people still sue.)
When this rule passes, it will be very difficult for brokerages to treat IRAs like any brokerage account, which ALL gamble on the stock market.
All this shadiness and behind-the-scenes deal-making…and the DCCC Chair couldn’t even be bothered to spell compilation right on the header page. Perhaps there’s still room for hope.
My Plate Boileth Over
Well the “hippy” version of the boilerplate didn’t last long, and we are back to just completely uncritical repetition on the march to war.
What is very interesting is that wikileaks leaks don’t get the boilerplate, only Guccifer 2.0. leaks.
Every time we get a story about Guccifer 2.0. leaks, then we have to have the boilerplate and a line that the Russian are Coming!
We are well beyond coincidence here, and I have no idea about the insanely absurd logic that is going on behind the scenes here, but it is fucking hilarious to watch.
The reflections from your foil hat are hilarious to watch.
The kitten has claws. Meow!!!
I detected an undercurrent of anger in our last conversation, but figured you were just having a bad day. Two bad days in a row? You need to relax and take a vacation, get away from your family and the everyday stress of life.
It is what it is dude. You getting angry at me isn’t going make the Russia Bullshit better. It’s right there in black and white.
I’m still not sure if you are mad at me because you think I’m dissing Glenn, or you think I’m dissing Hillary?
You really haven’t made yourself clear. Maybe both.
You have to admit it is pretty funny that I called the Guccifer 2.0 shit last night and here we are. I thought if anyone would appreciate the humor it would be you. But for some reason you are on heavy PR patrol. (I’m still not sure for who)
You mistake bemusement for anger.
I reserve anger for those who are malevolent, which you aren’t. You’re merely given to seeing a conspiracy where there is none.
This is the first time anyone has suggested I may be a Hillary supporter, which is cause for further bemusement. I was recently banned from The Guardian for pointed criticisms of her and of her shills at that journal. Please, dis her with even greater ferocity.
As for Glenn, he wrote another stern piece today about the Democrats peddling their anti-Russia hysteria. He doesn’t need PR from me.
Everyone can play along at home.
Next time the Intercept cites leaks from Guccifer 2.0, then we can check and see if there is the accompanying boilerplate with the mandatory Russia Bullshit.
It’s just that easy, Lemon Squeezy.
You have got to realize that I am working the refs, and I can’t wait to be wrong about my prediction. I would love if we never see any more of this Russia Crap.
I just want to point out again that the current boilerplate is still unsupported by the linked text.
First off, “ties to the Russian government” is so NeoMcCarthyism.
Here is the relevant text:
Second, “the Guccifer 2.0 online persona” is my new favorite phrase.
Third, The closest we get to “ties” is “consistent with the methods and motivations” which is my second new favorite phrase.
Forth:
—–
Note to editors from The Government: While we appreciate you jumping to conclusions (this is exactly why we wrote these things the way we wrote them), and we understand your need to rewrite things in your own words, but stop fucking with our copy. If we wanted to say “ties to the Russian government” we would have said it. We have master bullshitters working for us who have perfected the art of innuendo without actually saying anything, and we don’t need you putting in your two cents, because people will stop jumping to conclusions and start asking questions. So just repeat the exact words we give you to repeat. For God’s sake people, this really isn’t that hard. Stop editorializing. No…zip it…nope…stop…no…la la la…not listening.
—–
So I hope we can both agree that the boilerplate is unsupported by the underlying documentation. That should be an uncontroversial meeting of the minds.
And from there we should have no problem agreeing:
How fucked up is it that the “Intelligence Community” is inserting itself into the last month of an election and is taking sides with one candidate…and no one even blinked. I don’t want to imply that this doesn’t happen all the time, but still, it’s like everyone wants to pretend the Iraq war didn’t happen.
So the CIA is going to be Snopes from now on, except they will talk in tea leaves, spook speak and innuendo, without actually ever providing evidence, and people are OK with that?
That’s not even close to democracy. That’s not even close to rational.
If this is real, Obama has to own this and give a televised press conference explaining why he is interfering in an election, why it is the right thing to do, and then release air tight evidence proving that Russia is hacking Hillary and backing Trump.
Instead we get master bullshit.
Best case Obama is using the CIA and NSA (I mean the “Intelligence Community”) to launder his partisan manipulations, and worst case the spies are off the leash. Neither is appealing.
See how much we are agreeing on already!!!
Hey TLMC,
Did you ever read Guccifer’s letter to Fox News wherein he claimed that Hillary was a “high priestess”of the Illuminati? And then there was a Pando article that I found to be fairly illuminating:
https://pando.com/2015/03/20/exclusive-interview-jailed-hacker-guccifer-boasts-i-used-to-read-hillarys-memos-for-six-seven-hours-and-then-do-the-gardening/
I suspect that the PTB feel that it is far more prudent and tactical to claim that Guccifer is an agent of Russian Intelligence than to keep repeating the term “Illuminati.”
Of course the banksters are against Warren. She wants them all prosecuted for financial crimes. As they should be. As for the unions, they have been the minions of the corporations for decades and no longer speak for the workers. What the unions do is try to keep the workers under control while helping the corporations rip them off.
The Republicans (and the Democrats, let’s not let them off the hook) are enemies of the working class and always have been.
Preach that sh** sister, you hit the nails on the head! We have ONE party in DC and they ain’t on OUR side!
We have Bernie Sanders, Alan Grayson, Warren (although she should have stood by Bernie) and a few on the way who represent US, the People.
If only we could put a Loud and Proud Fighter AND Woman in OUR White House named Jill Stein…what a wonderful nation we could one day have.
Peace
Typo, I think:
Goldman Sachs lobbyists Michael Paese and Joyce Brayboy … Brayboya was a so-called…
That should be “Brayboy not Brayboya?