The Money Side of the Street

[October 1st, 2008]

As Congress bats around a proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout like a piñata, it’s helpful to remember that many of the lawmakers now competing to dump on Wall Street once opened their campaign coffers to take money from those same firms.

And thanks to a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, voters can now see how much money each lawmaker has gotten from finance firms since 1990.

Congress’ biggest collector of cash from those firms over that period (other than lawmakers running for president) is Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), with a total of more than $6.1 million or $342,882 per year, according to the Washington, D.C.-based watchdog center (opensecrets.org).

By comparison, Oregon’s two U.S. senators—both members of the Senate Finance Committee—collected more than a half-million apiece over that period (Republican Gordon Smith’s tenure dates back only to 1997, when he entered the Senate, while Democrat Ron Wyden’s goes back to 1990, when he joined the House).

There’s a wider range among Oregon’s five House reps, ranging from $200,000-plus for Democrats David Wu (a member of the House Education Committee dealing with student loans) and Darlene Hooley (a member of the House Budget Committee) to barely more than $10,000 for Democrat Peter DeFazio.

DeFazio (D-Springfield) joined Monday with Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Wu (both D-Portland) as part of the House majority voting against the $700 billion bailout. The Senate has yet to vote.

“We are ignoring the fundamental question about the size and scale of the financial services industry that is in trouble not just because of a lack of regulation, but because we had too many people pursuing unsustainable business practices,” Blumenauer said on the House floor before voting.

Voting yes were Hooley (D-West Linn), who is retiring, and Rep. Greg Walden (R-Hood River).

As Congress takes up Bailout Plan B, here’s a rundown of contributions each Oregon member of the delegation has collected from many of the same securities and investment firms and groups responsible for the current meltdown:
Click to see how lawmakers stack up