How Wall St. execs bankrolled GOP victory

[EV_Ares]

Hedge fund moguls donated $10 million, gained key House allies to head off financial reforms.

A small network of hedge fund executives pumped at least $10 million into Republican campaign committees and allied groups before November’s elections, helping bankroll GOP victories that this week will change the balance of power in Washington, according to a review of campaign records and interviews with industry insiders by the Center for Public Integrity and NBC News.

Bitterly opposed to President Barack Obama’s economic and regulatory policies — including proposals to increase taxes on some of their profits — top Wall Street hedge fund moguls were unusually energized during last year’s election. They held multiple fundraisers and coordinated strategy to direct what appear to be unprecedented sums into the coffers of GOP and allied political committees, according to industry and GOP fundraising sources.

Many substantial donations from the hedge fund executives escaped public notice either because they were made late in the campaign (and therefore weren’t reported until after the election) or were funneled through third-party groups, obscure “joint fundraising committees” and newly created political nonprofits that are not required to disclose donors.

By Peter Stone, Center for Public Integrity, and Michael Isikoff, NBC News
Special to msnbc.com Special to msnbc.com

entire article @ link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40913123/ns/politics/40916611

[gratuitous]

1. Darnie, just a couple months too late

Oh well, I'm sure MSNBC was covering important and vital things like Sarah Palin's tweets, and didn't have the time or the resources to get this information on its newscasts before the election. But, now that they've run one story about it when nobody will remember it in three days, they can go back to breaking coverage of Lady Gaga's nekkid butt.