Nov 17,2011
Arrested in today protests were one of the city’s top labor leaders, George Gresham, president of 1199/S.E.I.U., United Healthcare Workers East, and Mary Kay Henry, the president of the nationwide S.E.I.U.
Need any more proof that that OWS is astroturf for the re-elect Obama 2012 campaign?
Just weeks after the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) professed its support for Occupy Wall Street, the 2.1-million-member organization disclosed an early endorsement of President Obama’s reelection.
"We believe in a country that invests in good jobs here at home, where everyone pays their fair share," SEIU President Mary Kay Henry stated in a conference call to reporters.
"Do we want leaders who side with the needs of rich corporations and the 1 percent, where they are prospering at the expense of everyone else? Or do we want leaders who will side with the rest of us, the 99 percent?"
"President Obama is the only candidate for president who shares our vision of America as a land of opportunity for everyone. We need a leader willing to fight for the needs of the 99 percent, and stand with hard working families to say that the world's wealthiest corporations must pay their fair share… "
"These bankers and CEOs have used their wealth and excessive political influence to treat our state and federal governments like their personal cash drawer - spending lavishly on elections and then pressuring legislators to give them even more instead of creating jobs. It shows in the results."
Now let's review some facts......and spotlight the hypocricy:
Close to 100 of the big-money bundlers for Obama’s re-election team have ties to investment banks and other financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of America--each of which received tens of millions of dollars in bailout money at the start of the recession. The campaign has roughly 360 bundlers, the high-powered executives who vacuum up individual contributions of $2,500 and assemble them into larger packages.
Most of the companies--including Lime Rock Partners, a global company specializing in the energy sector, and Riverside Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm focused on health care--are smaller and don’t garner big headlines like Goldman Sachs.
But overall, the Wall Street-linked bundlers have brought in between $15.3 million and at least $27.7 million for the president.
Former New Jersey governor and Goldman Sachs chief executive Jon Corzine, who now works at MF Global Holdings, raised at least $500,000 for Obama.
Other heavy hitters include Bruce Heyman, a managing director for Goldman Sachs, who with his wife raised between $200,000 and $500,000.
Robert Wolf, president of UBS Investment Bank, raised at least
$500,000.
Obama’s new 2012 re-election campaign senior adviser, Broderick Johnson, has an extensive history of lobbying for big banks and corporations.
In 2007, he lobbied for JP Morgan Chase and in 2008 Johnson lobbied for Bank of America and Fannie Mae. From 2008 through 2010, he lobbied for Comcast and in 2011 he lobbied for Microsoft.
2008 Obama Presidental campaign top contributors:
University of California $1,648,685
Goldman Sachs $1,013,091
Harvard University $878,164
Microsoft Corp $852,167
Google Inc $814,540
JPMorgan Chase & Co $808,799
Citigroup Inc $736,771
Time Warner $624,618
Sidley Austin LLP $600,298
Stanford University $595,716
National Amusements Inc $563,798
WilmerHale LLP $550,668
Columbia University $547,852
Skadden, Arps et al $543,539
UBS AG $532,674IBM Corp $532,372
General Electric $529,855
US Government $513,308
Morgan Stanley $512,232
Latham & Watkins $503,295
