For the record, this is also another fine example of "both sides are just as bad!" reporting, where the claim is made it is a bipartisan problem, despite the fact that there are only two examples of each party's House members (and the Republican members have taken way more money), despite the fact that even though Senators Harry Reid and Richard Shelby both returned their contributions only Reid (the Democrat) returned his uncashed, despite the fact that they don't the party breakdown of the 11 members of the House Financial Services Committee who took contributions, and despite the fact that its chairperson, Rep. Barney Frank (a Democrat) is the only example provided of a member who declined the money altogether.
All that said, it's scandalous no matter who the fuck's doing it, and if even two Democrats took that money, that's bad enough.
[Full transcript below.]
Matt Lauer: Now to the outrage over people profiting from companies receiving government bailout money, and—guess what?—it's not just corporate fatcats getting the payouts; in some cases, it's Washington politicians. NBC's Chuck Todd is our White House correspondent and our political director; he's got more on this. Chuck, good morning to you.
Chuck Todd: Good morning, Matt. Well, you know, the government's relationship with the financial industry has never been tighter, some even believing big firms like Citibank and Bank of America can't survive without the government's help. So, given this need, it may surprise some that many of these bailed-out firms are still making political donations, and, more surprising, these politicians are taking it.
Voiceover: Finding a member of Congress angry about a company that got government bailout money and then paid its employees bonuses isn't difficult.
Video, Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND): You are disgraced professional losers. And, by the way, give us our money back!
Video, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD): —a binge of irresponsibility and greed—
Video, John Boehner (R-OH): I think this is outrageous.
Video, Eric Cantor (R-VA): The American people are looking at this and wondering, "Why isn't it that Washington gets it anymore?"
Voiceover: But you won't find these very same members of Congress outraged that bailed-out firms are continuing another kind of business-as-usual: Giving them political contributions through their political action committees.
According to FEC records filed just last week, in the month of February, Pomeroy took $1,000 from Chrysler. Hoyer took $6,500 from Bank of America. Boehner took $5,000 from Bank of America, $5,000 from American Express, and $1,500 from USbancorp. Cantor took $2,500 from Citigroup, $5,000 from Bank of America, $1,500 from Chrysler, and $2,500 from American Express. And they weren't alone.
Thirty-six others took money from government bailed-out firms, all in February, when anti-bailout rhetoric was reaching a fevered pitch. At least nine firms, which received more than $1 billion in taxpayer help since October, handed out more than $250,000 in campaign money through their employee PACs.
And the lawmakers who took the money were a bipartisan group. Eleven of the 26 House recipients are on the House Financial Services Committee, primarily responsible for bailout oversight.
Fourteen Senators received money from bailed-out companies in February; among them, the Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid, whose office said he returned his check uncashed. The office for the top Republican on the banking committee, Richard Shelby, also said he returned money he received in February.
The political campaign committees for both parties were given $15,000 from the Bank of America PAC in February.
Campaign finance reform advocate Fred Wertheimer says the government's been bailing out banks and other major too-big-to-fail firms as these same companies continue to use their political action committees to make contributions.
Wertheimer: It all adds up to kind of a magic circle involving the government, TARP recipients, members of Congress, and campaign contributions.
Voiceover: Accepting PAC donations is not illegal, but some members of Congress have declined to take the money altogether, including the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, [Rep.] Barney Frank [D-MA].
Frank: And if I, as chairman of the committee, were taking money from these beneficiaries, even though I am doing this because I think it's in the interest of the economy, it would create the kind of distraction that we don't need at this time.
Todd: Now these companies getting bailout money point out that PACs handle the voluntary contributions of their employees, but FEC records show many donors are top officials; they're not your average bank teller. Meanwhile, many of the politicians we just mentioned told us that the donations don't influence them, but they take them because, like it or not, that's how the current campaign finance system works—although one insider, a longtime political fundraiser, he said to me, he said, you know, he thought that both the politicians and the bailed-out companies were dumb to keep up this business-as-usual practice right now in the middle of this financial crisis. Matt.
Lauer: All right, Chuck Todd. Thanks very much for that report.
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