NEW: Taveras Criticizes Raimondo on Wall Street “Blind Spot”
Monday, July 14, 2014
Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Providence Mayor Angel Taveras has blasted opponent General Treasurer Gina Raimondo for her ties -- and attitude towards to Wall Street.
"Raimondo has spent a lifetime benefiting from Wall Street, Rhode Islanders haven't," said Taveras in a release.
Taveras pointed to comments from Raimondo during a Rhode Island Public Radio debate in which Raimondo was asked whether the hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions she has received from the financial services industry was a problem, to which Raimondo responded, “Campaigns are expensive.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“It says a lot that, when most Rhode Islanders are struggling, Treasurer Raimondo is taking a ‘business as usual’ attitude to Wall Street,” said Taveras Communications Director Dawn Bergantino. “Her campaign is bankrolled by Wall Street and the Treasurer would rather talk about anything else.”
Hitting on Track Record
The Taveras campaign pointed out that once Raimondo was elected, she moved more than a billion dollars into hedge funds, and while fees to Wall Street have increased to $70 million, state pension fund returns still lag behind its peers and the city of Providence.
"When it came time to reform the pension, Raimondo’s plan ensured that retirees wouldn’t receive cost of living increases until the pension fund performed well enough, but that Wall Street would get paid no matter what," said the Taveras campaign in release. "Additionally, former Enron executive and hedge fund billionaire, John Arnold and his wife have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars propping up Raimondo’s political career – including at least $100,000 to Raimondo’s LeadHERship PAC and as much as $500,000 to Engage Rhode Island which spent approximately $740,000 lobbying for pension changes. "
“We have a hedge fund billionaire and Wall Street titans who are spending big money to prop up the Treasurer's political fortunes, clearly they think Treasurer Raimondo is a good investment,” said Bergantino. “While Raimondo may not see the problem, the voters of Rhode Island do.”
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