2016 Postmortem

portlander23

(2,078 posts) Mon Oct 19, 2015, 09:08 AM Oct 2015

While Sanders Scores Small Donors, Clinton and Bush Buoyed by Wall Street

While Sanders Scores Small Donors, Clinton and Bush Buoyed by Wall Street
Deirdre Fulton
Common Dreams

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports indicate that Bush and Clinton—both of whom are facing challenges from insurgent candidates—"continued to win with bankers, even as their fundraising slowed down last quarter," Politico reported Friday:

Bush collected more than $922,000 from people who said they work in finance, about even with his take from the industry in the previous quarter, and amounting to 7 percent of his total haul. Clinton trailed with some $682,000 from self-identified bankers and investors, well below the $2 million she drew from the financial industry in the second quarter, but tracking an overall decline in her take.

Wall Street's support for its former champion in the U.S. Senate, Clinton, is not surprising, despite her recent pledges to get tough on corporate malfeasance and Wall Street greed.

"She’s doing that because of Bernie," Camden Fine, the head of the Independent Community Bankers of America, said in an interview with Morning Consult this week. "She’s gonna all of a sudden become Mrs. Wall Street if she’s elected. So it’s all Bernie theatrics right now. She’s a Clinton, for God’s sake. What do you expect?"

However, warned Common Cause researcher Jay Riestenberg on Friday, "The question now for Sanders and [Republican candidate Ben] Carson is how long they can remain competitive when their opponents are collecting and stockpiling million-dollar checks in supposedly 'independent' super PACs and politically active non-profit groups, both of which can accept unlimited gifts from individuals, groups and corporations."

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