January/February 2010 Issue

Big Finance’s 10 Favorite Lawmakers (for Now)

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Here’s how to reap Wall Street’s largesse on Capitol Hill: Represent New York, sit on a financial committee, hold a leadership position—or, if you’re Chuck Schumer, trifecta!

LEGISLATOR

DONATIONS FROM
BIG FINANCE, 2009

WHY WALL STREET WANTS
HIS/HER ATTENTION

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)

$1,735,900

The Street’s favorite Dem fought regs for derivatives, credit ratings, and accounting

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

$1,019,110

As majority leader, signed off on TARP; all finance-related bills need his approval

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)

$944,950

Junior senator voted against the bailout twice—perhaps she’ll come around

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)

$745,698

Once a deregulation fan, he’s now facing a reeelction fight—and pushing for reforms

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.)

$499,197

Minority whip’s October ’09 (!) op-ed said Americans underappreciate derivatives

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)

$458,008

Used to retool bankrupt companies for conservative billionaire Philip Anschutz

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.)

$423,873

Ex-VP at Goldman Sachs, member of pro-business New Democrat Coalition

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.)

$409,300

As ag committee chair, she must sign off on any new derivative regulations

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)

$382,349

Financial Services Committee chair has called for “death panels” for failing firms

Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.)

$364,875

Tried to weaken consumer protection bill, voted against taxing giant AIG bonuses

Source: Center for Responsive Politics (donations as of 10/25/09)

This chart is part of Mother Jones’ coverage of the financial crisis, one year later.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

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