Though the Obama administration seems to be berating the activities of Wall St. firms, the administration has no problem accepting donations from those same firms employees.
Figures released today, from analysis of Federal Electoral Commission filings show that the Obama administration has collected quite a few donations from the biggest investment banks on Wall St. The ‘surprising’ turn comes as the Obama reelection campaign begins to get into full swing.
Some of the largest donors were from employees of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) also known as the ‘giant vampire squid.’ CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, was also a very big supporter of the president in 2008, although the fact is ignored by most of the media.
The individuals working for these banks helped to raise $21 million for the campaign in February. Surely if the campaign is as fervent in its belief that Wall Street executives should be taxed more and the industry should be regulated more strictly it would seem more legitimate to reject such sources of income.
The president’s campaign added a SuperPAC to its armory recently amid some controversy. The incumbent’s stance and that of many of his democratic party colleagues was that the Citizen’s United ruling was wrong and the decision allowing the formation of SuperPACs should be repealed.
Despite this political stance the reelection campaign announced it would be supported by a SuperPAC claiming justification in the idea that it would be unfair to allow one side to operate by a different set of rules than the other. Filings from February with the FEC show that Priorities USA Action, Obama’s SuperPac raised around $2 million in February. The group has begun to release attack ads against former private equity manager Mitt Romney, the Republican front runner.
Figures show that the Obama reelection campaign has so far raised approximately $161 million for his reelection campaign by last month including around $84.7 million in cash. The President is slightly trailing behind his tally at the same time four years ago when he had collected $197 million. At that point the democratic donators were still split between him and Hillary Clinton as candidates.
Whatever the numbers raised and the comparisons between the candidates Mr. Obama’s campaign has made one thing clear. There are no principals in fundraising. The organisation behind the incumbent will take money from any side, including those it is actively seeking to reduce the income of through taxation, and by any means, including the use of fundraising mechanisms believed inherently wrong by the President. This is the message the campaign is sending out to their supporters.
