Raimondo’s Growing Wall St. Problem — Why Have New Yorkers Given $1.1M
Monday, July 16, 2018
Residents of the State of New York have donated more than $1.1 million to the campaign coffers of Gina Raimondo. This week GoLocal unveiled that Raimondo has been tied to a pay-to-play scheme with Oaktree Capital — a $100 billion private equity group that Raimondo invested $20 million in state retirees’ funds as General Treasurer.
Raimondo has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from executives of the largest Wall Street firms.
The enforcement action by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission included a $100,000 fine by the federal financial regulatory agency against Oaktree.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTRaimondo returned the illegal campaign donation from the Oaktree executive after five weeks, but GoLocal also unveiled that Raimondo did not report the illegal donation to the SEC or the board of the Employees Retirement System of Rhode Island.
The illegal donation came from Caleb Kramer, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Oaktree's New York City office listed on Rhode Island campaign finance reports as being located on Avenues of the Americas.
New Yorkers Love Raimondo
New York donations are nearly twice as much as contributions from Rhode Island's second and third largest cities — Cranston and Warwick — combined.
Since Raimondo first declared for statewide office, Cranston residents have donated about $465,000 and Warwick residents about $282,000.
Her donor list in New York is run-down of Wall Street's who’s who — Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and literally hundreds of other financial institutions.
Raimondo’s ties to New York hedge funds, private equity, and Wall Street executives are massive. And Raimondo has received donations from residents along Connecticut’s “Gold Coast” — the Darien and Greenwich area which is home to numerous hedge fund and private equity executives. Raimondo has raised over $417,000 from residents in Connecticut.
Raimondo’s campaign defends her out-of-state donor base. “Why did Democrats from all across the country donate $23M to Jon Ossoff's congressional bid in Georgia? Because Democrats everywhere want to elect Democrats who get things done,” said Emily Samsel of the Raimondo campaign.
Ossoff, despite the massive donations from Democrats around the country, lost to Trump-backed Karen Handel for the Georgia Congressional seat.
“People everywhere see Rhode Island's progress under a great Democratic Governor and want it to continue. Especially this year -- supporting good Democrats at every level in every state is the best way to stand up to Republicans and Trump, and as one of one of only two female Democratic Governors in the country, protecting Governor Raimondo's seat is critical,” said Samsel.
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