◼ FINANCE Bloomberg Businessweek May27, 201928
Democratic field is hitting up the industry’s
donors, according to money manager Marc Lasry,
who says he’s already met with about 10 Democrats.
“At the end of the day, candidates need money,” says
Lasry, who was a bundler for Hillary Clinton in 2016,
runs investment firm Avenue Capital Group, and
co-owns the Milwaukee Bucks.
There’s one notable difference. “In the past,
there was no candidate who didn’t come to New
York, Chicago, L.A. for money,” Lasry says. “Today,
there are two candidates who aren’t doing that—
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.” Few bankers
wouldwanttopromotethosesenatorsanyhow.This
month,Vermont’sSandersproposedcappingcredit
cardinterestrates,callingbanks“modern-dayloan
sharks.”Warren,fromMassachusetts,haspitched
a taxonfamilyassetsabove$50million to wipe out
student debt. She wants to jail executives whose
companies’ negligence causes harm, citing bank
bosses and the financial crisis.
Their rivalsare givingthe sense that they
sharethesamerageabouttheinfluenceofspecial
interests—including multinational corporations,
Wall Street, and Silicon Valley. But while the candi-
dates seek to polish their populist appeal, they still
needtoraisehundredsofmillionsofdollarstogetto
June’sDemocraticdebatesinMiami,theIowacau-
cusesnextFebruary,andtheendofprimaryseason
in June 2020.
To critics, accepting money from Wall Street
executives and investors but not corporate politi-
cal action committees or lobbyists has the whiff of
hypocrisy. “It’s hard to believe that they think that
campaign contributions from wealthy Wall Street
donors might not also be a liability,” says Ann Ravel,
a former chair of the Federal Election Commission.
But the field of candidates is crowded. The need to
fight off so many rivals “is a strong motivator for
them to accept it anyway.”
Near the end of April, Buttigieg said he was
returning $30,250 from lobbyists. Two days later,
Biden said he was rejecting support from super
PACs to increase his appeal to middle-class voters.
Super PACs blossomed after the Supreme Court’s
2010 Citizens United decision, and they now raise
unlimited amounts from companies and people.
New York’s Kirsten Gillibrand, who was a corpo-
rate lawyer before becoming a senator, and her
New Jersey colleague Cory Booker, a Wall Street
favorite for years, have both said they won’t take
money from corporate PACs. But Buttigieg, Biden,
Gillibrand, and Booker are meeting with bankers
and investors to talk policy or raise money. Those
four campaigns didn’t respond to requests for
comment. Wall Street fundraisers often ask gueststo give a candidate $2,800, the most allowed in
the primaries.
PresidentTrumpseemstohavefewqualms
aboutbigmoney.CantorFitzgeraldLPbossHoward
Lutnickraisedmorethan$5millionathistriplex
penthouseforTrump’sreelectiononMay16, two
days after the president’s campaign took in almost
as much at the New Orleans home of Joe Canizaro,
a director of First Bank & Trust.
Robert Wolf, who ran UBS Group AG’s Americas
unit, says he’s already donated to nine Democratic
presidential candidates and plans to meet with
about 15. “You have to, more than ever, be involved,”
says Wolf, who started the strategy and investment
firm 32 Advisors.
Besides Buttigieg, Myers has had John
Hickenlooper, the ex-governor of Colorado, and Jay
Inslee, Washington’s governor, drop by his office for
what he calls policy lunches. He says the idea isn’t
to get them to go easy on Wall Street. What he really
wants is to resist what he sees as the party’s social-
ist tilt while fighting Trump. “I don’t feel embar-
rassed at all,” says Myers, who was vice chairman
of Evercore Inc. before he started Signum Global
Advisors, which does policy research for financecompanies. “Running for president and winning a
general election is incredibly expensive, and the
other side will raise enormous amounts of money.”
He’s right so far: Trump’s reelection campaign and
joint fundraising committees raised $38.3 million in
the first quarter of 2019. Sanders, the Democratic
contender with the most cash, raised $18.2 million.
Harris raised about $12 million, with only about 37%
in amounts of $200 or less.
At the fundraiser hosted by Citigroup’s
Coatanlem, his labradoodle, named Possum,
started barking just before the senator addressed
guests, according to a person there. “I agree with
you,” Harris told the dog. “There’s a lot to bark
about.”�MaxAbelsonTHE BOTTOM LINE Contenders for the Democratic nomination say
they don’t want corporate cash or support from lobbyists and super
PACs. Most are still pitching to wealthy individual donors.Buttigieg Biden
Corporate PACsHarris O’Rourke Sanders WarrenLobbyists
Super PACs
Big-ticket fundraisersJust Saying No
Sources that candidates say they will not accept support fromDATA: CANDIDATES, BLOOMBERG