From the Palatine Tea Party…
(Palatine, Illinois) – Representative Melissa Bean (D) Illinois 8th district and Obama share direct campaign funding ties. A closer look suggests that Bean and Obama are tightly linked.
Two mega-donors are John W Rogers and Mellody Hobson, executives at mutual fund company Ariel Capital Management, who have given more than $14,200 combined to Bean, including $4,600 in July 2009 alone, according to OpenSecrets.
Rogers is a personal friend of Barack and Michelle Obama, and his ex-wife currently serves as the White House social secretary (yes – that social secretary; she also shares a Georgetown apartment with Valerie Jarrett). Hobson has been a fundraiser for Obama since his first campaign, in 1995, and was rumored for an economic advisory post in the administration.
Obama’s “favorite banker,” JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, recently rumored to be a possible successor to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, is also a major Bean donor, giving her $5,900 since 2005 and $2,000 in 2009. Dimon is in New York now, but spent a critical period heading Bank One in Chicago, where he appears to have gotten close to Valerie Jarrett, Rahm Emanuel, and other Obama insiders.
JP Morgan executive Bill Daley (brother of Richard), another major political force in the windy city, has given Bean $8,520 over the years, and $2,000 this year. Daley is also a key Obama backer and was rumored to be a candidate for Secretary of Commerce, at one point.
In addition to support from Dimon and Daley, Bean took contributions from JP Morgan lobbyist Peter Scher, executive Blythe Masters (leading derivatives expert and chair emeritus of SIFMA), chief risk officer Barry Zubrow, chief investment officer Althea Duersten, and head of commercial banking Todd Maclin.
More recently, Obama bundler Bruce Heyman, a Chicago-based Goldman Sachs executive, maxed out to Bean in late September 2009. He shows more liberal tendencies than some of his friends, and had never given to the New Democrat before. Heyman raised over $50,000 for Obama, and contributed over $20,000 to his campaign and “victory fund.”
Other Obama-linked Chicago financial elites giving big to Bean include Penny Pritzker, Obama’s campaign finance chair; Obama bundlers Stephen Malkin and Michael Sacks, both of Grosvenor Capital Management; Obama bundler James Tyree of Mesirow Financial; and Debra Cafaro, CEO of real estate investment trust Ventas, who has given over $20,000 to Obama. Cafaro, Pritzker, and Tyree all joined JP Morgan executives in giving big to Bean in late June. The list goes on and on; we’re only scratching the surface here.
Regardless of who Bean is taking her marching orders from, Obama’s inner circle retains significant leverage over the Representative from Illinois.
If you are outraged with Bean’s actions, contact her local office (847) 517-2927 or DC (202) 225-3711 and vote her out in November!