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THE INFLUENCE OF BIG BANKS IN CONGRESS

By: Gregory Miller

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for a Degree in Writing

Business Writing Option

Submitted on: December 16, 2010

Instructor WRT 465/ Thesis

Advisor: Professor Briggs

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Thesis Abstract

The Influence of Big Banks in Congress

This thesis is an argument describing the growing influence of big banks in

Congress. Officials are elected to represent those who elected them. When officials act on

behalf of banks with deep pockets the democratic process fails. Lobbying is necessary, but

dangerous in its extreme. Striking a balance is imperative to the survival of the American

economy.

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Table of Contents

I . Introduction............................................................................................................................5

I I . How Much is Too Much?.......................................................................................................5

I I I . Sidetracking the Stimulus........................................................................................................8

I V . .........................................................................................8

V . ..................................................................................................9

V I . Investing in .. ..10

V I I . .. ...12

V I I I . ... ... ..13

I X . Key Legislation.. .... ....13

X . Ties to Citigroup............ ... .14

X I . . ....15

X I I . Who Are They?....... . ...17

X I I I . Industry Spending.................................................................................................................19

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X I V . . .. 19

X V . .... 20

X V I . . ...22

X V I I . ... 23

X V I I I . ........23

X I X . .. 24

X X . . 24

X X I . Associ 25

X X I I . ........ .... . 26

X X I I I . .... . 27

X X I V . . 28

X X V . 29-32

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Thesis Introduction

The growing influence of big banking in America is distorting and dominating

government policy decisions affecting labor, agriculture, small businesses, large

corporations, financial markets and The Federal Reserve System.

Government has a number of tasks it is responsible for at any one time. One of the

most important is the economy. If the economy fails, the other tasks are at risk as well.

Thus the government has no choice but to be influenced by the needs and demands of

business.

How Much is Too Much?

The question is how much influence is good? And how much is too much? The

current imbalance in the economy is the result of a profusion of influence on behalf of the

few. The persuasion of favor for the few will always come to light in the unrest of the

many.

Within the following subject matter, I will give a brief history of lobbying, discuss

landmark legislation on lobbyist activity, and show how the lobby has evolved from a once

integral part of the democratic process to one that has corrupted the process entirely.

Lobbyists are protected by the Constitution and just as the First Amendment

guarantees freedom of religion and press, it also guarantees the right to "petition the

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government for a redress of grievances", also known as lobbying (Wikipedia Contributors).

Lobbying has grown over the years into a billion-dollar industry. According to the Center

for Responsive Politics, $3.47 billion was spent on lobbying in 2009, when 13,741

registered lobbyists were active (Carliner) .

Congress over the years has tried to regulate the lobbying industry with mixed

results. The Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act, passed in 1946 initiated restraints by

requiring that lobbyists register with the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the

Secretary of the Senate (Wikipedia).

The Supreme Court further defined lobbying in 1954 in hopes that the scrutiny

would deter activity. Over the years, lobbyists found other loopholes to avoid filing

disclosure forms, some of which were closed by the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.

The Lobbying and Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601) defines a client as:

"...any person or entity that employs or retains another person for financial or other

compensation to conduct lobbying activities on behalf of that person or entity. A person or

entity whose employees act as lobbyists on its own behalf is both a client and an employer

of such employees...." The legislation also includes lobbyists that are affected: "The term

"lobbyist" means any individual who is employed or retained by a client for financial or

other compensation for services that include more than one lobbying contact, other than an

individual whose lobbying activities constitute less than twenty percent of the time engaged

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in the services provided by such individual to that client over a six month period".

(Wikipedia)

The legislation does not include those lobbyists whose "activities constitute less

than 20 percent of the time engaged in services", thus failing to regulate lesser interest

lobbying (Peterson).

The LDA states that any organization contributing more than $10,000 towards

lobbying activities must be registered. Naturally amounts that are just below this threshold

are exempt from reporting.

These records are maintained by the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the

Senate. The LDA failed in that these offices are completely understaffed and any illegal

activities or corruption has gone unchecked.

During a hearing before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration,

referred over 2,000 cases to the Department of Justice, and nothi been heard from them

again (Wikipedia).

In his Jan. 27 State of the Union, President Obama called for a requirement for

lobbyists to disclose each contact they make with a federal official and strict limits on

contributions that lobbyists give to candidates (Obama) .

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Those elected to government office are expected to serve those whom elected them.

This is through the power of the democratic process.

Democracy works very well when it is not muddled by the intentions of personal

gain or favoritism. This will always be the case with human nature. Current legislation tries

to safeguard the nation from the moral failings of inherent to human nature. This is how it

is supposed to work.

Sidetracking the Stimulus

Some of the stimulus monies given to financial institutions and Banks have

immediately been invested in US treasuries for a guaranteed 3 and1/2 percent of interest.

This creates no jobs to stimulate the economy (DePaul)

Throughout the financial reform debate, the finance industry has spent an estimated

$1.4 million per day to influence Congress and hired 70 members of Congress and 940

former federal employees to lobby on their behalf (O'Connor).

The Players

The six biggest banks Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase,

Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo account for a disproportionate share of this

activity.

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Since the first federal bailout of a big bank (Bear Stearns), these banks and their

principal trade associations have hired over 240 former government insiders as lobbyists

and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to slow financial reform, shape bailout programs

and sway opinion to their favor (O'Connor).

How It Works

The big banks have employed a network of in-house lobbying teams, hired guns,

industry associations, front groups and influence personnel with connections to Congress

and the Obama administration. This group also includes the leadership of the House

Financial Services Committee, the Senate Banking Committee, the Treasury Department

and key regulatory agencies.

The lobbying spree is taxpayer-funded it follows $160 billion in bailouts from

Congress and trillions in cheap loans from the Federal Reserve.

Due to the tarnished image of their influence in Washington the banks have shifted

using front groups such as

the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Many of the current big-bank lobbyists helped design the current banking policies

while they were employed in Congress and they are now drawing lucrative salaries

from the banking industry.

of Wall

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243 lobbyists for six big banks and their trade associations used to work in the federal

government.

a) 202 lobbyists in Congress, 41 remaining in the White House, Treasury, or

other federal government agency.

b) Of the 202 there are 33 former chiefs of staff, 54 former staffers to the

House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking Committee and 28

former legislative directors (Hefflin).

I. Most of these lobbyists helped design the financial deregulatory legislation while on

congressional staff (Hefflin).

Financial deregulation first began to take hold during the Reagan administration, but

the campaign to relieve Wall Street of sensible rules and regulations was eventually taken

up by both parties. Two major pieces of deregulatory legislation were the products of rare

bipartisan consensus during the Clinton years: the Financial Services Modernization Act of

1999 (Gramm-Leach-Bliley or GLB) and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of

2000 (CFMA) (Gilani).

Investing in Persuasion

A report by the Campaign for America's Future and the Public Accountability

Initiative estimates that the six banks Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan

Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo and their trade associations have

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spent close to $600 million on lobbying and other political contributions since the first

major bailout of Bear Stearns in March 2008.

Two of the top trade associations the report lists are the Securities Industry & Financial

Markets Association and the American Bankers Association (DePaul).

In the past there have been several government departments that have attempted to

police Wall Street. The problem with this is that one hand washes the other, or

look the other way if you pay us

contributions and other favors. Other government employees may be offered high-paying

jobs after they have paid their dues as a public servant.

 been dreading all along

the time when the combined power of high finance will be greater than the power of

government. . . . If the government is to tell big business men how to run their business,

r to the government than even

restrained too much by it? Must capture the government? They have already captured it. . .

. Nevertheless, it is an intolerable thing that the government of the republic should have

got so far out of the hands of the people; should have been captured by interests which are

special and not general. In the train of this capture follow the troops of scandals, wrongs,

indecencies with which our politics swarm (Wilson).

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H eavy H itters of Wall Street

The top big-bank lobbying firm in Washington is Elmendorf Strategies, founded by

financial team includes former staff to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Maryland

Senator Paul Sarbanes, and Gephardt. The firm represents the most powerful Wall Street

banks and associations. This list includes Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, the Financial Services

Forum, and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Competing top

lobbying firms include the Podesta Group, Lowenthal and Fettig (Bogardus).

Former Senate Banking Committee chair Christopher Dodd (D-CT) led all current

members of Congress, with five former staffers having worked as big bank lobbyists.

Banking Committee ranking member Richard Shelby (R-AL), Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and

Tim Johnson (D-SD) each has four working for big banks as lobbyists (Blumenthol).

Big banks are hiding lobbying activities in a shadow industry of generic business

associations, ad hoc coalitions and front companies. Government bailouts and partial

federal ownership have made it difficult for big banks to ramp up direct lobbying; instead,

they are routing their dollars through this shadow lobby (O'Connor).

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Sullivan & C romwell

Sullivan & Cromwell, the litigating firm defending Goldman Sachs in its Securities and

Exchange Commission fraud suit, secured the most lucrative big bank lobbying contract in

2009, a $520,000 deal with Clearing House Payments Co. a company owned by

JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Bank of America, and several other banks. The

firm also lobbied on behalf of Goldman Sachs during the same period (Peterson).

In a past financial reform fight, lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell lobbied on behalf of

Enron, and hel

The decades-long process of financial deregulation first started during the Reagan

administration. The campaign to relieve Wall Street of sensible rules and regulations was

eventually taken up by both parties.

K ey L egislation

Two major pieces of deregulatory legislation were the products of rare bipartisan

consensus during the Clinton years: the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999

(Gramm-Leach-Bliley, or GLB) and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000

(CFMA) (Gramm, Leach and Bliley).

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These pieces of legislation were key milestones that stripped away banking regulations.

Both bills were deregulatory field days for the banks. They contained provisions that led

directly to the growth of the too-big-to-fail banking sector in two primary ways:

1. The Growth of Derivatives. The Commodity Futures Modernization Act freed

derivatives from meaningful regulation. Derivatives have concentrated risk at

places like AIG and contributed to the massive government bailout of the financial

sector in 2008.

2. The Megabanks. With the departure of some Depression-era banking protections,

the Financial Services Modernization Act led to the growth of massive banking

conglomerates such as Citigroup, which lobbied heavily for the legislation

(O'Connor).

T ies to C itigroup

Citigroup has fared the worst of all the big banks in the financial meltdown, and has

biggest shareholder in early 2009.

Many of the government officials who passed this legislation went on to take lucrative

jobs in the sector that they had helped create.

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Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin earned $126 million over 10 years at

Citigroup without having an (Dash).

Currently, in the financial reform fight, many chief architects are now lobbying for the

big banks.

They are drawing much larger paychecks than they did while serving in government.

Two of the most powerful members of Congress during this period, former Democratic

House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.

They are now lobbying on behalf of the big banks. Remarkably, their offices have

produced 16 big-

big bank lobbyist in Washington (Delaney).

Big-bank lobbying stretches beyond the in-house government relations team and

well-networked CEOs. Since the Federal Reserve bailout of Bear Stearns in March 2008,

the six big banks and their primary trade associations have spent an estimated $600 million

to increase their political influence. Taxpayer funds and free Federal money have

subsidized these activities throughout this period (Gilani).

Anatomy of a Big Bank Lobby

The big-bank lobby has four components: in-house lobbying operations at each of the

banks, hired hands at outside lobbying firms, industry associations to which the big banks

belong, and a growing shadow lobby of shell companies and front groups.

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These lobbyists use a variety of tools to exercise their influence: Calling on people they

know in Congress or elsewhere in government, throwing fundraisers for and donating

money to members of Congress, and issuing policy proposals that shape legislative debates.

Each big bank has a core team of in-house lobbyists, many of whom have previous

experience as government officials in Washington. This in-house team lobbies Congress

directly, but also coordinates with outside lobbying firms and industry associations to help

In-house lawyers and top-tier bank executives also work with these lobbyists to shape

These lobbyists work at lobbying firms that specialize in banking issues or at a larger

firm with a range of clients. They often work with multiple large banks and industry

associations to push W (O'Connor).

The six big banks belong to a range of industry associations that work to build their

influence in Washington and elsewhere. The two largest lobbies are the American Bankers

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Association (ABA) and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association

(SIFMA), which spend nearly $200 million per year (Blumenthol).

SIFMA is paying $85,000 a month for polling, lobbying, and PR to counter their poor

public image.

In internal memos about confidential meetings with top financial executives, SIFMA

said that the securities industry "must be perceived as part of the solution, which will allow

it to better defend against populist overreaction" (Anstey).

"SIFMA's political action committees gave more than $1 million during the 2006

election season, putting the organization in the top 25 of all PACs. Its combined $8.5

million in spending on federal lobbying last year placed it in the top 30. The financial-

services industry is the biggest corporate player in national politics. Only organized labor

donates more money to candidates for federal offices" (Birnbaum).

Who A re They?

Wall Street justifies its existence as

cash into loans and securities, which provide money to businesses and governments. Like

any other intermediary, it needs to have a profitable spread between the cost of the money

it acquires and the return on the money it provides. That spread is not always available in

the open market.

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. The Fed has a bottomless supply of money

and it has the power to set whatever interest rate it wants. So all it has to do is make that

money available to its member banks, at a price that allows the banks to make a profit,

which they can do simply by lending the money back to the federal government, through

purchasing Treasury securities (NDAC).

This recycling of taxpayer money, with Wall Street siphoning off its percentage, has

immense consequences for the rest of us. By keeping short-term interest rates artificially

rates to get

their money (Henry). That is nice for the banks, but what about all the individuals who rely

on interest income from insured bank deposits for their rent and groceries? "When they say

the economy, the Fed means its constituency: the banks. In addition,

"  (Hudson).  

Wall Street's customers are big businesses and Federal Reserve policy is implemented

to make big businesses increase their bank borrowings and bond issues, while minimizing

their default rate. It does not seem to matter if the Fed's actions ignore, or harm small

business.

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Industry Spending

(Inst. for Americas Future)

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The Shadow Bank Lobby

Big banks hold extraordinary power in Washington, but their influence is somewhat

unwelcome. Few members of Congress care to be known as a lackey of Goldman Sachs or

Bank of America.

To get around this, the big banks fund a network of front groups ad hoc coalitions,

collectively-owned front companies, and much larger big-business lobbies to make their

case to Congress.

These front groups allow the banks to pool resources on shared legislative priorities and

hide segments of their lobbying activity, a political engineering tactic that parallels their

financial engineering activities (O'Connor).

Revolving Door Lobbyists

(Inst. for Americas Future)

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Big banks have increased their lobbying investments in the U.S. Chamber of

Commerce and the Business Roundtable. They have both played a much more prominent

role in the financial reform debate than they have in past years.

In contrast, lobbying expenditures with trade associations declined slightly from 2008

to 2009. Financial industry lobbying by the Chamber and Business Roundtable increased

dramatically during this bailout period (Inst. for Americas Future).

Beyond being members of these organizations, several big banks have also worked

closely with them on financial reform issues in the past. William Daley of JPMorgan Chase

Capital Markets

Competitiveness (Birnbaum).

Though two of these associations specialize in catering to non-bank entities mutual

funds and hedge funds big banks and their subsidiaries are members of them and have

representatives on their boards. Bank associations cater to many members, but tend to be

dominated by bigger banks.

Big banks have defeated a number of measures that would have curbed the power

of the big banks and cracked down on Wall Street.

The Brown-Kaufman amendment, sponsored by Senators Ted Kaufman and

Sherrod Brown, sought to break up the big banks: Bank of America, JPMorgan

Chase, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. The

amendment would have put caps on the size and risk profile of banks.

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The four Democrats with the most staffers lobbying on behalf of big banks Chris

Dodd (D-CT), Charles Schumer, Tom Carper, and Tim Johnson all voted against

the amendment (Nasiripour).

JPMorgan Chase

business, urging executives to make frequent trips to Washington and flex their political

muscle in states where they operate.

His motivation is that his bank could stand to lose $2 billion as a result of derivatives

regulation. -house rainmaker is

William Daley, former Clinton official, brother of Chicago mayor Richard Daley and co-

chair of the Obama inauguration (Nasiripour).

Scher was a top Democratic staffer during the Clinton years, serving as chief of staff to

Sen. Max Baucus, then to Mickey Kantor at the Department of Commerce.

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Citigroup

CEO Vikram Pandit scrambled to gain ground in 2008 and the U.S. government

largest shareholder in early 2009. Pandit and US government have yet

-funded lobbying operation.

Head lobbyist Nick Calio was formerly a top congressional liaison for both Bush

presidents and played a crucial role in passage of Iraq war authorization.

team includes Robert Getzoff, the former senior counsel to then-Rep. Rahm

Emanuel; Paul Thornell, a former top aide to Tom Daschle and Al Gore; Heather Wingate,

formerly chief of staff to Sen. Sam Brownback; and Robert Schellhas, former chief of staff

to Rep. Robert Portman. Including hired guns, Citigroup employs 55 revolving-door

lobbyists (O'Connor).

Bank of America

lobbyist team is headed by John Collingwood. He comes from the

liaison. Collingwood was responsible for cleaning up after the incident

and PR nightmare in Waco, Texas.

When Bank of America bought MBNA, Collingwood

lobbyist. economic crisi

receive a median wage of $10.73 an hour, or $22,328 annually. In contrast to this meager

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salary was paid $34.8M for 2008, or 779 times the median teller

wage (Harvey).

Goldman Sachs

and Washington has received special attention over the past two years. Bush Treasury

Secretary Henry Paulson was previously CEO of the bank; Treasury Secretary Tim

ief of staff, Mark Patterson, was formerly a lobbyist there; several other top

Obama administration officials used to work there, including Commodities Futures Trading

Commission chair Gary Gensler.

Goldman maintains a formidable lobbying team, even with all of these connections.

Head lobbyist Faryar Shirzad joined the bank after serving as a top national security and

international economics adviser to President Bush (Harvey).

The Favor of Colleagues

There are clear lines of right and wrong and it really does come down to a black or

white issue in the end. Big-bank lobbyists exercise influence over the political process

through relationships with members of Congress and their staffs. There is an intentional

cloudy and confusing mask over what is nothing short of fraud.

Many of these relationships were developed during previous tenures in government.

Overall, 243 lobbyists for six big banks and their trade associations used to work in the

federal government 202 in Congress, the rest in the White House, Treasury, or at a

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relevant federal government agency. In their bios, many of the lobbyists tout their

experience shaping deregulatory legislation such as the Commodity Futures Modernization

Act (O'Connor).

Association Profiles

(O'Connor)

The following are brief profiles of some of the top lobbyists who contract with multiple

big banks and trade associations.

E lmendorf Strategies Founded by Gephardt chief of staff Steve Elmendorf, Elmendorf

Strategies became the top big-bank lobbying firm in Washington last year, bringing in $1.4

million from the big banks and their trade associations. This number is up nearly 200%

from the previous year, when it netted $540,000.

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Campaign Contributions and Spending

(O'Connor)

Elmendorf has hired big talent like Jimmy Ryan, formerly a top aide to Senate

and Blue Dog coalitions in Congress; and Kristi Kennedy, formerly legislative director to

Sen. Paul Sarbanes. Clients include Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, the Financial Services

Forum and the Securities Industry and Financial Market Association (Faler).

The Podesta G roup, headed by Democrat Tony Podesta, has seen business explode

since the start of the Obama administration, with lobbying revenue nearly doubling to $26

million in 2009. Podesta also led the fight against student-loan reform and has represented

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Clients include Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway, Sallie Mae and

Fortress Investment. Andrew Lowenthal and Lendell Porterield were senior staffers to

Senators Richard Shelby and Chris Dodd, and worked together in crafting the Gramm-

Leach-Bliley bill.

Andrew Lowenthall worked for Senator Dodd, and then

before joining the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Blumenthol).

Moving Forward

To this end a Financial Stability Oversight Council was created with over 1100 sections

of what one can and cannot do as a lobbyist.

The council was created to enhance the integrity, efficiency, competitiveness and

stability of United States financial markets and to promote market discipline while

maintaining investor confidence.

The purposes of the Council are:

(A) To identify risks to the financial stability of the United States that could arise from

the material financial distress or failure of large, interconnected bank holding

companies or nonbank financial companies;

(B) To promote market discipline, by eliminating expectations on the part of

shareholders, creditors, and counterparties of such companies that the

Government will shield them from losses in the event of failure; and

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(C) To respond to emerging threats to the stability of the United States financial

markets. (Peterson)

In C losing

The breach is clear and the paper trail is equally apparent. The path to economic recovery

will be navigated through strict adherence to financial policy and firm adjudication by its

intention.

 

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