Rep. Bachus’ Message To Banks: Give Your Money To GOP And Make Me Chairman Of Financial Reform

By Pat Garofalo There have already been significant rumblings from Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee about revisiting the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill should control of the House switch in November. Particular ire has been reserved for the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which House Republicans have threatened to defund before it even gets off the ground.

The GOP’s zeal for repeal has led to an influx of money from the financial services industry. And according to Politico, Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), who is slated to take over the House Financial Service Committee should Republicans gain a majority, told a crowd of 100 financial services lobbyists that they should be donating to Republicans, since Dodd-Frank “hammered them”:

When Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama stepped in front of 100 financial services lobbyists at the Capitol Hill Club last month, he asked for an equal chunk of their campaign cash — and made clear he was watching closely. It is hard to believe, he told the crowd, that some in their industry were still giving more to Democrats than Republicans after, he said, Democrats hammered them with over-reaching Wall Street reform legislation, people familiar with the presentation said. Bachus told the group, for instance, that the Independent Community Bankers of America had given 68 percent of its contributions to Democrats, according to a lobbyist who was present.

And evidently Bachus’ spiel worked, as Independent Community Bankers of America Executive Vice President Steve Verdier said that “his group has started giving more heavily to Republicans and will end up giving 55 percent of its money to Democrats, down from the nearly 70 percent mark.”

But even if the ICBA gives a majority of its money to Democrats, it will be the exception in this cycle. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, “Republican candidates received 34 million dollars in donations from the finance, insurance and real estate sector since January compared to 23 million dollars given to Democrats.”

And when it comes to America’s “too big to fail” banks, as The Wonk Room explained, donations are all skewing towards the Republicans. For instance, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs are all giving a majority of their donations this cycle to the GOP.