Bailed-out banks are still big political donors

Companies that have been awarded billions of dollars in taxpayers’ money continue to donate large sums to political campaigns.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., which received $25 billion in bailout money last fall, was the largest bank contributor to lawmakers’ campaign chests in the last two periods, according to The Hill. The firm’s political action committee, which is financed through employees’ donations, spent roughly $87,000 since Nov. 25, according to its filing with the Federal Election Commission.

“We operate our PAC so employees at every level can increase their civic engagement and participation in the electoral process if they want to,” Jennifer Zuccarelli, spokeswoman for JPMorgan Chase, told The Hill. “One hundred-percent of our PAC money comes from more than 5,000 voluntary employee donations, out of their own pockets.”

JPMorgan Chase was hardly alone. The eight largest banks’ political action committees spent roughly $225,000, not including operating expenses, between Nov. 25 and the end of January, according to FEC filings. Those same eight banks have received $170 billion of the government’s $700 billion financial rescue package, passed in October.

Of course, big commercial banks have traditionally been generous campaign contributors. During the entire 2007-2008 campaign cycle, they gave $36.3 million - with $11 million of that coming from their political action committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Among the biggest donors during the entire cycle were Bank of America ($5.8 million), JPMorgan Chase & Co. ($4.8 million), Citigroup Inc. ($4.8 million), Morgan Stanley ($3.7 million) and Wells Fargo ($1.6 million), the watchdog group found. Goldman Sachs Group, which became a bank holding company to receive bailout funds, contributed $5.7 million.

But the most recent contributions come at a time of increasing political sensitivity, with critics arguing that it’s unseemly for companies receiving taxpayer money to engage in influence-peddling.

“Businesses that are receiving huge amounts of public funds to help salvage themselves from themselves ought to operate as semi-publicly owned entities and should not be making expenditures for influence-peddling on Capitol Hill that includes campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures,” Craig Holman of Public Citizen told The Hill.

Concerned about the appearance of impropriety, two key lawmakers say they will no longer accept the money: Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, and Chris Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who chairs the Senate Banking Committee.

And a few banks have pulled back hoping to avoid a backlash. Morgan Stanley’s PAC, for example, did not spend any money between Nov. 25 and the end of January.

A similar divide was seen on lobbying activities. Even before Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s announcement that going forward, companies receiving taxpayer money could no longer lobby on the bailout, Bank of America ceased its efforts out of the concern they would appear unseemly.

Citigroup, however, had taken the opposite tack. It’s lobbying activity related to the bailout stopped only after Geithner nixed it. And though the troubled giant has ceded the federal government a 36-percent stake of the company, it still bankrolls a team of Washington lobbyists working on a host of issues.

“We still have a lot of issues at the state and local level not related to the Troubled Assets Relief Program,” chief lobbyist, Nicholas Calio told Roll Call. “At the end of the day for all parties involved, for all of our shareholders and the taxpayers, Citineeds to become profitable again.”

In the fourth quarter, Citigroup spent $1.77 million on lobbying activities, according to its filings – none of it from public money, officials said.

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