Tea Party-backed candidates swept into office on the wave of anger over the government’s bailout of Wall Street are now bringing in the big bucks from the financial sector at the same time they’re lining up to rewrite financial regulations.
Nicole Duran of The Deal reports (sub. req.):
That so many Tea Party-backed lawmakers are now pushing pro-Wall Street legislation draws into question their commitment to the populist ethos that has characterized the movement.
The freshmen members of the House Financial Services Committee tapped by Republican leaders to sponsor a host of bills seeking to undo or dilute provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act all received significant industry contributions during their campaigns. After winning and getting their committee assignments, nearly all with significant Tea Party support, they raked in even more, according to campaign finance reports.
The 10 Republican freshmen on the House Financial Services Committee have taken in nearly $600,000 from the financial industry since Election Day, according to the Sunlight Foundation.
A spot on the committee gives them “easy access to one of the most generous sectors as it seeks to influence public policy,” Duran reports. Almost all of the 10 GOP freshmen on the committee are from swing districts where they barely won their races in November. Democrats, for their part, appointed 11 of their most vulnerable members to the committee.
