by Andrew Malcolm
Merrill Lynch is coming off a particularly bad fiscal quarter. In fact, it's writing down $8.4 billion, most of it related to mortgage-related investments that have gone sour. That's being described as the biggest loss on Wall Street in memory.
Now, according to The L.A. Times' campaign finance guru Dan Morain, Merrill's losses are trickling down to the presidential campaign in the form of smaller donations.
Merrill partners and employees have donated $947,500 to federal races this year. Of that, $679,000 has gone to presidential candidates, Federal Election Commission records show.
Sen. Barack Obama is the one candidate who received an individual donation from Merrill CEO Stanley O'Neal, $2,300 back in April. Earlier this morning, O'Neal stepped down as head of Merrill with the usual sweet departure deal, the first head of a major investment firm to fall victim to the subprime mortgage crunch.
Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani has received the most -- $130,250 -- from Merrill-related donors. He's followed by his foes, former Gov. Mitt Romney at $127,800, and Sen. John McCain at $104,500.
On the Democratic side, Sen. Hillary Clinton received $117,000, and Obama has hauled in $79,700. The ex-Merrill CEO executive gave $1,000 to Obama back when he was first running for the U.S. Senate in October 2003. And Federal Election Commission records show O'Neal gave $1,000 to Clinton in August 2005.
But Merrill's political generosity tailed off significantly in the third quarter this year. Presidential candidates received a mere 17% of their take between July 1 and Sept. 30.
McCain may fear that Merrill's view of his candidacy is about as shrewd as some of its recent investments. McCain's take fell the farthest; he received a mere $3,800 in the third quarter.
Obama's take remained the steadiest among the top-tier candidates. He received 27 percent of his Merrill money in the third quarter.
Andrew Malcolm writes for Top of the Ticket, the L.A. Times' political blog.
Inset photo: Stanley O'Neal, Chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch & Co. in Nov. 1, 2006 file photo. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano, file)
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Comments
Their is no way a businessman in his right mind would support a DemocRat. This story is either a drive-by media lie or this man was a victim of extortion and the Bush Department of Justice needs to open and investigation immediately! The state of our union would be thrown into chaos if members of the business community actually supported the Socialist goals of the DemocRat party.
Posted by: Stan Woodbridge | October 30, 2007 2:51 PM
Pretty strong words there, Stan. Got any PROOF to back them up?
Posted by: BC | October 30, 2007 3:10 PM
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are two businessmen who happen to vote for the socialist goals of the democratic party. But hey, what do the two richest, most successful businessmen in the world know?
Posted by: Tom | October 30, 2007 3:21 PM
Posted by: Tom | October 30, 2007 3:21 PM
Tommy,
Do you vote for the Fascist goals of the Repiglican Party like Rupert Murdoch does?
http://www.bushflash.com/14.html
Posted by: John E | October 30, 2007 3:46 PM
Amen, Tom. Gates and Buggett are anti-American traitors! Get with the program people: rich people are BETTER HUMANS than anyone else and deserve every favor possible so that they will keep blessing the Treasury with income so the rest of us can live free and clear off those hard-working billionaires.
I mean seriously, why should Warren Buffett, clearly the second greatest human being in America behind Bill Gates, have to pay anywhere close to what his secretary pays in taxes. How unAmerican!!
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0415-08.htm
Posted by: Jones | October 30, 2007 3:54 PM
Yeah, business sure had it bad under President Clinton's 1993 economic package. Read an economics book and you'll see that business understands that deficit reduction and paying down the debt is good for them and the country. Oh that's right, Republicans don't believe in reading textbooks and getting educated.
Posted by: Paul | October 30, 2007 4:01 PM
Stan, not that I enjoy being on the same boat as the Perpetually Ignorant BC, but corporations and business executives usually give to candidates on both sides of the aisle, and there are some business execs who are liberal, who have their money, their high-priced accountants so they avoid the high taxes you and I end up paying.
I have no reason to doubt this story's legitimacy.
Posted by: John D | October 30, 2007 4:06 PM
Why is it Republicans are so down on Soros and completely ignore Richard Mellon Scaife? Scaife has given far more money to the GOP than Soros has to the Dems, and he is not a tenth of the man that Soros is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Mellon_Scaife
Posted by: nisleib | October 30, 2007 5:00 PM
Nisleib, Soros in a Socialist from Europe trying to destroy this country just as socialism destroyed Europe. But he doesn't care cause he has his billions and most of it on offshore accounts, free from the tax people. That is why Soros is dangerous.
Posted by: John D | October 30, 2007 11:44 PM