January/February 2010 Issue

Big Finance’s 10 Favorite Lawmakers (for Now)

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Here’s how to reap Wall Street’s largesse on Capitol Hill: Represent New York, sit on a financial committee, hold a leadership position—or, if you’re Chuck Schumer, trifecta!

LEGISLATOR

DONATIONS FROM
BIG FINANCE, 2009

WHY WALL STREET WANTS
HIS/HER ATTENTION

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)

$1,735,900

The Street’s favorite Dem fought regs for derivatives, credit ratings, and accounting

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

$1,019,110

As majority leader, signed off on TARP; all finance-related bills need his approval

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)

$944,950

Junior senator voted against the bailout twice—perhaps she’ll come around

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)

$745,698

Once a deregulation fan, he’s now facing a reeelction fight—and pushing for reforms

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.)

$499,197

Minority whip’s October ’09 (!) op-ed said Americans underappreciate derivatives

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)

$458,008

Used to retool bankrupt companies for conservative billionaire Philip Anschutz

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.)

$423,873

Ex-VP at Goldman Sachs, member of pro-business New Democrat Coalition

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.)

$409,300

As ag committee chair, she must sign off on any new derivative regulations

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)

$382,349

Financial Services Committee chair has called for “death panels” for failing firms

Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.)

$364,875

Tried to weaken consumer protection bill, voted against taxing giant AIG bonuses

Source: Center for Responsive Politics (donations as of 10/25/09)

This chart is part of Mother Jones’ coverage of the financial crisis, one year later.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

You're here for reporting like that, not fundraising, but one cannot exist without the other, and it's vitally important that we hit our intimidating $390,000 number in online donations by June 30.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. It's going to be a nail-biter, and we really need to see donations from this specific ask coming in strong if we're going to get there.

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