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Source: FDLsnip1> Apparently controlling the Federal Reserve, funding their bonuses with billions in taxpayer dollars and quite nearly bringing down the global economy with their degenerate gambling habits isn’t enough. Wall Street now wants to punish any Democrat who lifts a hand against them, and they’re willing to fund primary challenges to do it. Carolyn Maloney worked to push through the Credit Card Holder’s Bill of Rights, which may not have gone far enough to limit the ability of Wall Street robber barons to gouge credit card holders. But it will cost the credit card industry about $10 billion a year, and that was apparently a bridge too far for Steve Rattner, Orrin Kramer, Maureen White and other Democratic party oligarchs who are now funding hedge fund darling Reshma Saujani’s primary challenge as a way to punish Maloney for her transgressions. snip1> snip2> From the Washington Post: has worked at three hedge funds. She speaks the arcane language of derivatives and basis points and mortgage-backed securities. Saujani has positioned herself as the anti-Maloney, the only candidate who understands how stressful and difficult the past few years have been for some of the wealthiest people in America.
Poor dears. Yes, the Masters of the Universe are so very put upon in these hard times. It’s only right that they be allowed to have their own member of Congress, if they can afford one:
Since she entered the race in November, Saujani has received more than $800,000 in campaign contributions, an impressive tally for an untested candidate. Many of those checks came from New York financiers and their spouses.
Former Morgan Stanley chief executive John Mack has given her money. So has Apollo Management founder Leon Black and the wife of J.P. Morgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon. Hedge fund mogul Marc Lasry hosted a fundraiser for her featuring singer John Legend that brought in a clean $100,000.
She has also attracted help from prominent New Yorkers. Maureen White, a major Democratic donor and wife of financier Steven Rattner, is introducing her to potential donors. Diana Taylor, a Republican former investment banker and the longtime companion of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I), is advising her campaign.
Maureen White, the former National Finance Chair of the DNC (who was able get a story about her DUI yanked out of the New York Times thanks to the close personal friendship between her husband Steve Rattner and Pinch Sulzberger), thinks that now is the right time to be publicly attacking the recently widowed Maloney for just not being quite sharp enough for the job:
Saujani’s supporters openly question Maloney’s fitness to serve and her intellectual heft. In an interview, White, the major Democratic donor, called Maloney “a good person.” But she said, “There’s a lot more to being a good representative: leadership, intelligence, hard work, a creative approach to policy, thinking things through.
“When you look at this district, it should have a star,” White added. “We need the best of the best, and I think Reshma is in that category in a way Carolyn isn’t.”
And why does White think Reshma’s got the intellectual ballast? Well, because Reshma understands that “the financial industry has been unfairly demonized in Congress”:
“Populism for the sake of populism, to increase poll numbers, is not helpful,” she said. “We need to have people in Washington who feel comfortable with understanding regulatory markets, economic terms. . . . I don’t think that she has practical real-world experience.”
Yes, that angry rabble who just don’t understand how Very Important our Wall Street Overlords are just need to STFU and graciously accept the leadership of someone like Reshma, whose glowing resume includes:
* Chief Operating Officer of a fund at Carret Asset Management, the hedge fund partially controlled by Hassan Nemazee, who recently pled guilty to running a Ponzi scheme that looted $292 million from banks to pay for a yacht, a Maserati and a Cesna, among other perks.
* Associate General Counsel for The Carlyle Group’s Blue Wave Partners Management, which invested in mortgage-backed securities. Unsurprisingly, Reshma doesn’t support current legislation to regulate derivatives trading.
* Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the Liquid Markets business at Fortress Investments, the hedge fund that owned a subprime mortgage lender that “foreclosed on New Orleans homeowners who fell behind on their payments after Hurricane Katrina.” Reshma says she was “unaware of the problem.”
Reshma has convinced the Right People that she’ll be there for them. Even Mike Bloomberg has blessed her, through his girlfriend Diana Taylor, quoted in the Washington Post article:
“Reshma has a strong fundamental understanding about how the industry works,” Taylor said. “You’ve got these people yelling and screaming who know nothing about what they’re talking about — nothing. And it just creates a huge problem.”
Oh yes, Congress and their “screaming and yelling” about Wall Street. They really have been terribly unfair to the poor banks. No wonder the Masters of the Universe feel they’re entitled to their own member of Congress to address this terrible injustice. And they’re writing the checks that fund her.
Read more: http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/07/08/wall-street-buys-itself-a-primary-challenger-reshma-saujani/
Someone please tell me I'm just having a bad dream...
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