All-star, that is, if you’re rooting against comprehensive financial regulatory reform and don’t want Congress to rein in excessive bonuses, risky speculating, and financial chicanery. On the day the Senate is slated to begin debating its Wall Street overhaul, the Washington Post sheds some light on the lobbying crew Goldman Sachs has assembled to fight reform and make sure whatever changes the Senate wants don’t damage the firm’s bottom line. Their lobbying team looks like a who’s-who of financially-connected politicos with ample connections throughout Washington. Consider it the Yankees—or, if you’re a soccer fan like me, the Real Madrid—of financial lobbying, the best money can buy.
Leading Goldman’s lobbying shop is Michael Paese, a former aide to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the powerful chairman of the House financial services committee. Frank’s committee largely crafted the House’s version of financial reform legislation, and will play a huge role in reconciling the House and Senate’s bills likely later this spring. Frank, the Post reported, banned Paese from lobbying his committee for two years, just as the chairman more recently banned a former aide, Peter Roberson, who left the committee to lobby for the derivatives industry.
Filling out Goldman’s lobbying roster are more familiar names like Dick Gephardt, the populist former Democratic majority leader turned Big Finance shill. Harold Ford Jr., the telegenic former Tennessee congressman, who recently mulled a Senate run in New York and did time with Merrill Lynch, is also lobbying for Goldman now. A few more well-connected Goldman lobbyists:
- Faryar Shirzad, a former economic aide to George W. Bush
- Joe Wall, a former legislative affairs aide to Dick Cheney
- Richard Roberts, who’s served as a powerful Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner and aide to Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), a top GOPer on financial reform
- Eric Edwards, formerly a staff director on a House financial services committee’s subcommittee
It’s a star-studded lineup, to be sure. That said, with public ire against Goldman rising, its reputation sinking, and even President Obama shunning the firm, even the Yankees of lobbying will have their work cut out for them.
