Wall Street Political Donations Flowing to Democrats’ Coffers

In an attempt to…well, let’s face it…game the system as they always do, Wall Street has contributed $10.6 million to U.S. Senators this year, with a staggering $1.65 million going to Chuck Schumer, D-NY, alone. That’s good for 15% of the entire sum that the princes of finance have coughed up, and $7.7 million of the total contributed has gone to Democratic senators. Schumer’s take was more than five times the largest contribution to any Republican senator and the contributions to Democrats look like a clear attempt to try to either stop or heavily influence the "crackdown" on Wall Street proposed by President Barack Obama.

Others who have received funds from the financial services industry include Schumer’s fellow New York senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, who nabbed $886,000 in the influence-peddling game, Harry Reid, D-Nevada, with $814,000, Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, with $603,000, Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, with $401,000 and Blanche Lincoln, D-Arkansas, who took in $336,000. One financial services lobbyist, not even trying to hide the farcical game that he and the senators were involved in, noted, "Democrats are holding the reins in Washington now with a Democratic-run White House and Congress. It only makes sense that donors want to put their money into the coffers of those who are driving the agenda."

In what might be the funniest comment to come out of the whole revelation that Wall Street is trying to buy a "soft landing" after years of misdeeds, Scott Talbott, of the Financial Services Roundtable, noted, "We support members that understand the issues facing our industry. This is done on a case-by-case basis." A close runner up was thrown out there by Lincoln (who raked in $336,000), who said, "Contribution don’t really affect – my basis of decision making is whether it’s going to be beneficial to Arkansans." No telling what Lincoln was going to say before changing direction in the middle of that quote, but it’s worth noting that she did start speaking out of the other side of her mouth during the quick changeup.