DCCC Chair Wants to Get Money Out of Politics: Will Dems Start With Their Tainted Corzine Money?

January 9, 2012

FYI, a similar version of this release below went out to the following districts: Jim Cooper (TN-05), Rush Holt (NJ-12), Steve Israel (NY-02), Nita Lowey (NY-18), Ed Markey (MA-07), George Miller (CA-07), Jerrold Nadler (NY-08), Frank Pallone (NJ-06), Donald Payne (NJ-10), Charlie Rangel (NY-15), Steve Rothman (NJ-09)
DCCC Chair Wants to Get Money Out of Politics: Will Cooper Start With His Tainted Corzine Money?
Tennessee Democrat Demonstrates Hypocrisy by Clinging to His Disgraced Fundraiser’s Political Donations

Washington — Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Steve Israel made the point this weekend that there’s too much money in politics, but he failed to mention the high-profile donations Jim Cooper has kept from disgraced Democrat fundraiser Jon Corzine. Cooper should have immediately returned or donated the tainted cash he took from Corzine in light of his unscrupulous business practices that saw billions in his customers’ money go missing.

“Jim Cooper has continued to cling to his tainted campaign cash even after his disgraced donor Jon Corzine lost billions of dollars from American families and farmers,” said NRCC Communications Director Paul Lindsay. “As long as Cooper keeps his scandal-filled contributions that were produced from Wall Street greed and incompetence, Democrat complaints over the influence of money in politics will continue to ring hollow and completely hypocritical.”

Jim Cooper has taken $1,500 from Jon Corzine. (CQMoneyLine, accessed 11/03/11)

DCCC Chairman Steve Israel pointed out that money’s influence in politics is too great this past weekend, but failed to mention the high-profile downfall of prolific Democrat fundraiser Jon Corzine:

DIANA WILLIAMS: What’s it cost these days to run for Congress?

REP. STEVE ISRAEL: It depends on the media market. The short answer to your question, too much. That’s why we need to get money out of politics. (WABC’s “Eyewitness News Upclose,” 1/8/12)

Even President Obama and the Democratic National Committee donated their money from Corzine under the increasing pressure:

“President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign returned campaign contributions from Jon S. Corzine, former chairman and chief executive officer of MF Global Holdings Ltd., according to a Democratic official… Corzine, who testified before a congressional panel about MF Global’s bankruptcy and $1.2 billion in missing customer funds, has been one of Obama’s top fundraisers this election cycle.” (Hans Nichols, “Obama Returns $70,000 in Corzine Donations,” Bloomberg, 12/24/11)

The longer Jim Cooper hangs on to his tainted campaign cash from Corzine, the more hypocritical his Democrat leaders’ words become. Until Cooper returns or donates away his Corzine contributions, he will continue to demonstrate that the outrage stops when it comes to filling his own campaign coffers.

DCCC Chair Wants to Get Money Out of Politics: Will Dems Start With Their Tainted Corzine Money? http://ow.ly/8nerm #madeinwdc

###