A coalition of eight liberal activist groups Wednesday pressed Hillary Rodham Clinton on breaking her ties to Wall Street, demanding in a letter that the Democratic presidential front-runner take a stand on closing the “revolving door” between Wall Street and federal government.
The eight groups — including Democracy for America, Rootstrikers and MoveOn.org — called on Mrs. Clinton to back legislation that would end huge payouts or “golden parachutes” that Wall Street firms lavish on executives who leave to work in the federal government.
The letter, which was made public, underscored the left’s continuing dissatisfaction with Mrs. Clinton as a presidential candidate.
“Americans are sick and tired of the Wall-Street-to-Washington revolving door and are looking for a presidential candidate who will take concrete steps to fight it,” said Kurt Walters, campaign manager of Rootstrikers. “Secretary Clinton hasn’t yet shown that she is that candidate, but we hope her responses to these questions will demonstrate she shares these progressive priorities.”
In the letter, the groups called on her to take a position on legislation by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin Democrat, that would ban the golden parachutes that Wall Street firms, extend cooling off periods and tighten lobbying rules.
Two of Mrs. Clinton’s rivals for the nomination, Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, have endorsed the bill, dubbed the Financial Services Conflict of Interest Act.
Liberal firebrand Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who is closely tied to all the letter’s signatories, has urged all the party’s presidential contenders to support the bill.
In the letter, the groups noted that when Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state, two of her closest aides came from Wall Street banks and received compensation packages, as well as one of her undersecretaries that received a similar payout from investment giant Goldman Sachs.
“These types of ’golden parachute’ compensation packages are highly controversial, and for good reason,” they wrote. “Corporations generally grant executives bonuses in order to attract and retain talented employees. Awarding outsized bonuses and gifts of equity to Wall Street executives who temporarily leave to go into public service is either a breach of a public corporation’s fiduciary duty to its stockholders, or a down payment on future services rendered.”
They continued: “If the latter, it at best creates the appearance of corruption and conflict of interest. At worst, it results in undue and inappropriate corporate influence at the highest levels of government — in essence, a barely legal, backdoor form of bribery.”
The activists asked Mrs. Clinton to say whether she still supports the use of these compensation practices and whether, if elected, she would allow the practice in her administration.
The Clinton campaign did not immediately respond.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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