How Mike Pence is blocking Wall Street pros from making Trump donations
Wall Street has no problem taking Donald Trump’s money — but the opposite is, well, a little more complicated.
Obscure government rules created in the wake of pay-to-play scandals are keeping some finance sector one percenters from donating to the Republican presidential nominee — and it’s all because of his running mate, Mike Pence.
Top-level Wall Street pros who donate to a campaign of a state or
local official sideline their firm from seeking business from that state
for two years, under a six-year old regulation aimed at curbing
pay-to-play actions.
And Wall Street firms certainly don’t want to be shut out of the lucrative business of managing pension money or helping finance municipal projects like roads or sports stadiums.
So firms like Goldman Sachs and KKR are barring partners from making such donations.
“There are issues because Mike Pence is a sitting governor,” Cary Meer, a partner at law firm K&L Gates, told The Post. “If you want to manage money for an Indiana [pension] plan and you make a contribution to the Trump-Pence campaign, it could get picked up by the rule. That’s the issue.”
“If [Pence] resigned to run for VP, the restriction wouldn’t apply,” Jake Siewert, a Goldman Sachs spokesman, and former Clinton press secretary, told The Post.
The SEC’s pay-to-play rules don’t apply to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton because Democratic running mate Tim Kaine is a senator from Virginia, not a state or local official.
Under pay-to-play scenarios, state pension officials ask for donations and then funnel millions of dollars to the firms that anted up.
The Trump-Pence Wall Street issues came to light this week when reports surfaced about an August memo from Goldman to its partners reminding them of the rule
Obscure government rules created in the wake of pay-to-play scandals are keeping some finance sector one percenters from donating to the Republican presidential nominee — and it’s all because of his running mate, Mike Pence.
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| Mike Pence and Donald Trump |
And Wall Street firms certainly don’t want to be shut out of the lucrative business of managing pension money or helping finance municipal projects like roads or sports stadiums.
So firms like Goldman Sachs and KKR are barring partners from making such donations.
“There are issues because Mike Pence is a sitting governor,” Cary Meer, a partner at law firm K&L Gates, told The Post. “If you want to manage money for an Indiana [pension] plan and you make a contribution to the Trump-Pence campaign, it could get picked up by the rule. That’s the issue.”
“If [Pence] resigned to run for VP, the restriction wouldn’t apply,” Jake Siewert, a Goldman Sachs spokesman, and former Clinton press secretary, told The Post.
The SEC’s pay-to-play rules don’t apply to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton because Democratic running mate Tim Kaine is a senator from Virginia, not a state or local official.
Under pay-to-play scenarios, state pension officials ask for donations and then funnel millions of dollars to the firms that anted up.
The Trump-Pence Wall Street issues came to light this week when reports surfaced about an August memo from Goldman to its partners reminding them of the rule
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