[Cross-posted on Blue Mass Group.]
We all know that Republican Scott Brown is one of Wall Street's favorite members of Congress. We know that Brown raked in contributions from big banks and investment firms while working behind the scenes to water down regulations on Wall Street. We know that, even after the financial reform bill was passed, Brown worked hard on Wall Street's behalf to loosen the rules and allow Wall Street to continue gambling away our economic stability.
But how does that happen? How does Wall Street capture the attention of someone like Brown? Can Wall Street honchos and other financial services muckety-mucks simply rent out Republican Scott Brown like a clown for a kid's birthday party? Yup.
You might not recognize many - or any - of the names of the folks hosting and co-chairing this past weekend's Brown fundraiser, so let's do a brief roll call.
· Host Tim Litle might be this Chairman of Litle & Co., a payment processing company.
· Host George Noble might be this investor who headed Noble Partners hedge fund, before it went under in 2009 due to "poor performance."
· Co-Chair Daniel Bathon might be this General Partner and Chairman of Windspeed Ventures, a private equity investment firm.
· Co-Chair Harvey Bines might be this lawyer from Sullivan & Worcester, focusing on corporate finance and investment management.
· Co-Chair Dennis Burns might be this managing director of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.
· Co-Chair Jim Canty might be this Partner and co-founder of Clough Capital Partners, a global investment management firm.
· Co-Chair Rich Churchill might be this "retired venture capitalist and former partner with TA Associates [private equity firm] and a co-founder of M/C Venture Partners [private equity firm]."
· Co-Chair Charles Clough might be this Chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Clough Capital Partners, a global investment management firm.
· Co-Chair David Fialkow might be this Managing Director and Co-Founder of General Catalyst Partners, a venture capital firm.
· Co-Chair Steve Karol might be this Managing Partner and Founder of Watermill Group, a private equity firm.
· Co-Chair Tom Litle might be this President & CEO of Litle & Co., a payment processing company.
· Co-Chair Jeffrey Newton might be this Managing Director of Gemini Investors.
· Co-Chair Pete Nicholas might be this co-founder of Boston Scientific medical device firm.
· Co-Chair Rod Nordblom might be this Chairman of Nordblom Company, a real estate investment firm.
· Co-Chair Jim Rappaport might be this CEO, Chairman, and Director of New Boston Real Estate Investment Funds. (You may recognize Rappaport as the 2002 Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts spurned by Mitt Romney in favor of Kerry Healey.)
· Co-Chair Robert Reynolds might be this CEO of Putnam Investments.
This assembled group of investors, businessmen, and financial services bigwigs paid handsomely to have Republican Scott Brown's full attention yesterday from 4pm to 6pm. What were these investors discussing with Brown (and asking him for) behind closed doors for two hours? Hey, they were probably just talking about the Boston Celtics' playoff run - though maybe, just maybe, they were thanking him for watering down regulations on Wall Street and asking him to keep up the great work.
Indeed, Republican Scott Brown can raise money from just about whoever he wants. He just can't honestly call himself an "independent" voice when he is so inextricably tied to the Wall Street set. In fact, Brown's "He's For Us" slogan seems rather appropriate when it's immediately above this list of names; he is for them. When Brown says he's "the People's Senator," these are the "people" to which he is referring. It's no surprise that Brown is generally very secretive about who is raising campaign funds for him.
Just remember that, while Republican Scott Brown is unwilling to hold public town hall forums at which voters can ask him questions, he is perfectly happy to hobnob with the Investor Class, for a price.
