As 2020 Democrats Cozy Up to Wall Street Donors, Warren and Sanders Refuse to Play Big-Money Game

It is incredibly important that we assume responsibility for learning how to follow the money. There is an imperative to get large and poisonous corporate money out of our political systems. That will not happen as long as we blindly vote for and elect neoliberal politicians — whether they identify as Democrats or Republicans — who are beholden to the fossil fuel industry, Wall Street, the military industrial complex, the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, the prison industrial complex, the Koch brothers, and other donors who are wedded to neoliberal ideology and agendas. As Bernie Sanders accurately states, "That's easy money. But it's also corrupting money." Let us inform ourselves and refuse to be complicit in corruption. Let us instead choose integrity, truth, courage, and those who will act in the best interests of the people and the planet. The stakes are simply too high for us to continue with the "moderation" and the "realism" of the status quo, which is code for the corruption, greed, and unrelenting harm and suffering that is the root of neoliberalism. The eyes of the children are watching. — Molly

  

By Jake Johnson

While characterizing their campaigns as "grassroots" operations fueled by the people, many 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls have reportedly been spending a significant chunk of their time on the trail cozying up to Wall Street executives and raking in checks at big-dollar events across the nation.

Two major presidential candidates, however, are eschewing the lavish fundraisers and donor meetings that have come to encapsulate the widespread corruption of the American political system: Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

"In the past, there was no candidate who didn't come to New York, Chicago, L.A. for money," Marc Lasry, the head of Avenue Capital Group and a major bundler for Hillary Clinton in 2016, told Bloomberg.

"Today," said Lasry, "there are two candidates who aren't doing that—Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders."

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that while many major Democratic candidates are "trying to outdo each other with promises to finance their campaigns with grassroots contributions," Wall Street executives say they have seen little change in candidates' eagerness to ask them for cash.

According to Bloomberg:

In February, Pete Buttigieg stepped into the Manhattan office of Wall Street veteran Charles Myers to talk politics over deli sandwiches. Citigroup Inc. Managing Director Yann Coatanlem hosted a fundraiser in March for Kamala Harris at his Fifth Avenue apartment, where she shook the paw of the banker's labradoodle. Three days later, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Bruce Heyman raised more than $100,000 for Amy Klobuchar at his home in Chicago. He's planning an event for Joe Biden this fall.

Biden—currently the 2020 frontrunner according to most polls—was the focus of a New York Times story Tuesday that detailed how the former vice president "has constructed much of his early schedule around vacuuming up as much campaign cash as possible, as his operation presses to assert his frontrunner status with a show of financial force."

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