CAUGHT ON TAPE: Bank Of America’s Director Of Public Policy Tells Rick Perry ‘We’ll Help You Out’

By Marie Diamond/Think Progress

A top Bank of America executive was caught on camera yesterday whispering to Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), “Bank of America. We’ll help you out,” as the GOP presidential candidate attended New Hampshire’s Politics and Eggs breakfast. The executive has been identified by the financial website Zero Hedge as James Mahoney, Director of Public Policy for the bank. Mahoney is on the board of directors for the New England Council, the sponsors of the Politics and Eggs breakfast. Watch it:

But far from being just a regional banker, Mahoney is a key national executive. In a statementabout the incident, bank spokesman Lawrence Di Rita told Politico the only “help” Mahoney was offering was nonpartisan policy expertise. Di Rita said Mahoney does policy and not lobbying for the bank. This unsolicited reassurance from a top Bank of America emissary comes just days after Perry appeared to publicly threaten the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke.

Over the years Gov. Perry has benefited greatly from Bank of America’s financial support, and it appears that largesse will continue as he seeks the presidency on a platform of — coincidentally enough — bank deregulation. His gubernatorial campaigns have received$125,900 from Bank of America’s PAC and executives since 2003. During the 2010 cycle alone, Perry’s campaign received $30,160 from the bank’s PAC and executives. According to Texans for Public Justice, Bank of America has also given generously Republican Governors Association, which Perry led until recently and just happens to be his largest donor, contributing $4 millionbetween 2001 and 2010.

It’s no mystery why banking executives are rushing to give Perry their support. Of all the GOP candidates, Perry is the most fervently opposed to banking regulation. As Matt Yglesias pointed out, in his book Fed Up, Perry expresses the extreme view that all banking regulation and consumer financial protection is unconstitutional.

Bank of America has been in a world of financial trouble recently, with its stock down more than 50 percent since January, as it faces a growing wave of mortgage litigation. In recent weeks it has been engaged “in the corporate version of a yard sale.” The bank announced today that it will be cutting at least 10,000 jobs, laying off 3,500 workers this quarter alone. As ThinkProgress has reported, until now Mitt Romney has been the candidate with the most backing from Wall Street.

Asked If Untaxed Corporations Like Exxon Are Taxed Too Much, Tea Party Leaders Say Yes

By Lee Fang

This morning at the National Press Club, leaders from the Tea Party Patriots, an umbrella group that helps coordinate Tea Party chapters around the country, held a press conference to celebrate the results of the election last night. During the press conference, Tea Party Patriots officers Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin announced a “40 year plan” to shift America’s educational system, fiscal priorities, culture, and values.

ThinkProgress attended the presser and asked the Tea Party leaders about some of their top priorities, namely taxes and repealing President Obama’s reforms. Presented with the fact that some of the most profitable American corporations in the world, like ExxonMobil and Bank of America, paid essentially zero corporate income taxes in 2009, we asked Meckler if he believed corporations are indeed “taxed enough already?” Meckler responded that he still believed in a tax-cutting agenda, and suggested that corporations even deserve a tax holiday. Similarly, we asked Martin about Rep. Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) pledge last night to defund the historic financial regulatory reform passed by President Obama to shore up Wall Street. She said she had “no idea” what to think about that, and said her 280,000 strong membership had never substantially commented to her about Obama’s Wall Street reforms:

TP: I know they say the “tea” stands for “taxed enough already.” Last year in 2009, ExxonMobil paid nothing in corporate income taxes. Some of the most profitable corporations like Bank of America also paid nothing, Googled paid I believe 2%. Do you believe those are appropriate tax rates?

MECKLER: You know I can’t address tax rates, but what I can tell you is that the American people will respond to things like that. [...] We’ve been suggesting a corporate tax holiday to allow these companies to come in and create jobs. [...]

TP: Last night, Congressman Eric Cantor — possibly incoming Majority Leader — said that one of the first things Republicans should do with their new Tea Party-backed majority is to defund financial regulatory reform. What do you think about that?

MARTIN: I have no idea. [...] I can’t speak personally about how I feel about it. My job is to reflect the grassroots. [...]

TP: Have you heard a lot of feedback about Wall Street reform? How do your members feel about that?

MARTIN: We’ve had a little bit of feedback on that, we haven’t had a lot. We’re bringing in policy experts to come in to talk to them about various positions. I have heard, and have had people ask about having someone come in and talk about Wall Street reform. I believe that’s one of the things we’re going to add to our list of topics.

Watch it:

The “Tea Party” leaders’ lack of concrete ideas on financial reform, and their defense of untaxed international corporations, might seem to violate the ideals of the actual Boston Tea Party, which was a protest against the East India Trading company and its use of the British government to retain a monopolistic, undemocratic control over the American colonies.

However, considering the true political drivers of the Tea Party Patriots, their support of the wealthy elite makes perfect sense. For instance, the Tea Party Patriots listserv, which helped orchestrate many of the anti-health reform protests last year, is managed by staffers from FreedomWorks — the corporate front group run by longtime business lobbyist Dick Armey. Many of the talking points and speakers used by the Tea Party Patriots are provided by corporate front groups like Americans for Prosperity, a front for oil and hedge fund billionaires David and Charles Koch. Free training seminars and online tutorials for grassroots organizing were provided to the Tea Party Patriots by the Leadership Institute, which is funded by the Koch family as well as by other corporate interests, like the DeVos family of the pyramid-scheme company Amway. A mysterious donor even granted Tea Party Patriots with an additional $1 million for increased election-season outreach.

In fact, much of the Tea Party Patriot’s press conference was eclipsed by an announcement by Colin Hanna, leader of the front group “Let Freedom Ring” (funded by John Templeton Jr., an heir to a large Wall Street fortune). Hanna announced that his group had secretly worked with the Tea Party Patriots to place an unprecedented number of “poll watchers” in key precincts around the country to guard against voter fraud (view the handout here).

Cantor Opposes Foreclosure Moratorium: ‘People Have To Take Responsibility For Themselves’

By George Zornick In recent weeks, there have been extremely disturbing revelations about how the nation’s biggest financial institutions handle foreclosures. After widespread reports about “robo-signers” — bank officials who would sign foreclosure forms without even reading them — several large financial institutions declared they were halting their foreclosure process. For example, a Bank of America official admitted in a bankruptcy case that she signed 7,000 to 8,000 foreclosure documents a month and “typically” did not read them “because of the volume,” and last week, Bank of America announced it was stopping all foreclosures across the country until it could be sure the process was fair to homeowners. Several lawmakers have joined the banks in calling for foreclosure moratoriums until banks can carry the process out in a fair and legal manner. And a bipartisan group of attorneys general is also demanding action — for example, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican, is asking 30 lenders to stop foreclosures until they can prove it’s being done legally. On Fox News Sunday, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) called for a nationwide moratorium on foreclosures, saying “it’s absolutely imperative that we keep people in their homes.” House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) disagreed strongly, however, saying he was “just perplexed” at Wasserman Schultz’s answer, and that “people have to take responsibility for themselves.” CANTOR: I’m just perplexed to that answer, Bret… what we’re seeing if you do that, if you impose a moratorium on foreclosures what you are telling people and institutions that lend money is they do not have the protection to take the risk they need to, to extend credit for people will get a mortgage. You’ll shut down the housing industry if that is the case[...] What we’re talking about, Debbie, you have 10 percent, if that, of the population who are now in a foreclosure situation or in a mortgage that they have been unable to meet the obligations… Now, come on, people have to take responsibility for themselves. We need to get the housing industry going again. We don’t need government intervening in every step of every aspect of this economy. Watch it: Congressional Republicans have largely been silent on a foreclosure moratorium, as the Wonk Room has noted. But now, apparently, they are ready to take a stand — in defense of the housing industry. Nina Easton of Fortune Magazine piled on later on Fox News Sunday as well. “I thought it was really troubling when Congresswoman Wasserman-Schultz said we need to keep people in their homes,” Easton said. “What she should have said was ‘keep people in their homes they can’t afford.’” But of course, people may be losing their homes when they should not, due to the banks’ reckless foreclosure process. Sorting out the potentially thousands of homeowners who may have been improperly foreclosed upon is going to be a monumental task, as is reorganizing the process to ensure that no more homeowners are improperly thrown out of their homes. This is about more than simply those homeowners: it’s about upholding the rule of law and due process. A moratorium and investigations are more than warranted, despite the seeming desire of Cantor and other Republicans to protect big financial institutions. M.C.L Comment: See that people who are thinking about voting Republican? You get no help from the Republicans while those who don't need help like the top 2% of earners get the breaks.