Luis Gutierrez Hasn't Sold Out, And He Needs Our Help
Three years ago, I served with Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) on the House Financial Services Committee, a/k/a "Cesspool of Corruption."
At the time, the Sunlight Foundation bluntly noted that "top committee members have been the recipients of disproportionate campaign contributions from the very industry that they are tasked with regulating." The Sunlight Foundation identified twelve committee members who had received over one-third of their campaign contributions from the financial sector, which the committee regulates. Six Democrats and six Republicans.
Rep. Gutierrez wasn't one of them. Even though he was a subcommittee chair.
Luis Gutierrez hasn't taken dirty Wall Street money. Now he is facing a primary challenge on Tuesday. He deserves our help.
Here is how one Wall Street lobbyist who isn't afraid to mix metaphors puts it: ""It is almost like investing in a first-round draft pick for the N.B.A. or N.F.L. There is potential there. So we make an investment, and we are hopeful that investment produces a return." Whether you're talking football or finance, those lobbyists want a "return" on their "investment": regulatory "relief," protection against competition, lower capital requirements, bailouts, tax breaks, whatever. And, sadly, any Wall Street lobbyist who ever "invested" in Luis Gutierrez had to write off that investment, as a loss. (But don't feel bad for the lobbyists; there's plenty more where that came from.)
Now you know why the New York Times refers to the Financial Services Committee as the "cash committee." It recently reported that seats on that committee are "coveted" because of the special-interest campaign cash that they generate. Members of the Financial Services Committee pine for special-interest contributions like Charles Foster Kane ached for "Rosebud." But Luis Gutierrez isn't like that.
Luis Gutierrez didn't take all of that special-interest campaign cash. And now he has to campaign without it, this Tuesday. Luis Gutierrez doesn't work for Wall Street banks and lobbyists, he works for us. Let's show him that we appreciate his honesty and integrity.
I was on the playing field when the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was being shaped and enacted. I saw who stuck their hands into the pockets of Wall Street lobbyists, and who didn't. Luis Gutierrez didn't. Although he was Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, an extremely influential and powerful position, he didn't have his hand out. Just like Committee Chairman Barney Frank didn't have his hand out, either.
Luis helped give birth to the bill that gave us Elizabeth Warren's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and is making the banks pay for their own bailouts. He has helped to put that awful phrase "too big to fail" out of our lives. He is helping us to return to a sane banking system. Which means that he won't be inundated by that gusher of cash known as "Wall Street campaign contributions."
Let me put this as plainly as possible: If we don't help Luis Gutierrez when he is facing an election challenge, then he'll be gone. And Members of Congress like him will be gone. Replaced, both Republicans and Democrats alike, with Wall Street tools and shills.
Is that what you want?
If not, then click here. Show Luis Gutierrez, and show the world, that an elected official doesn't have to be on the take to survive.
Courage,
Rep. Alan Grayson
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