Perdue on Wall Street
Cross-posted from Capital Beat.
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I've stayed away from writing about the back-and-forth between Treasurer Richard Moore and Lt. Gov Bev Perdue in their race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Part of that has to do with the fact I'm little more fascinated (and my paper has local interest) in the Senate primary, and part of it is the constant back-and-forth is less than illuminating at times.
But, let's jump into the fray today. (More after the jump.)
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Bev Perdue has hammered away at Richard Moore with a varient of the Main Street versus Wall Street line for a good while now. Consider this example documented by the Tavern's bard keep during a debate earlier this year:
- Do you want a candidate who’s from Wall St., or a candidate who’s from Main St.? Richard has raised about a million and a half dollars from Wall Street and from folks he does business with, with the pension fund...
Well, word got around to the Moore campaign today that Perdue was herself visiting some Wall Street types. His campaign hasn't generated a statement on it yet, but suffice it to say they don't think Perdue should get a free pass.
It's not hard to see their point. If taking money from Wall Street types is a bad thing, then why should any candidate do it? Might this not show that Wall Street has other interests in giving to political candidates other than those who deal with pension funds.
In an e-mail, Perdue campaign spokesman David Kochman writes:
- She went to New York to visit the White House Project, a national non-profit that helps elect women candidates. While she was there, she met with several Democratic donors, some of whom are in the financial industry.
The bottom line is, 92% of Bev Perdue's money has been raised in North Carolina. Unlike Richard Moore, who's taken $1.5 million from vendors associated with the pension fund and is sole fiduciary, Bev has no control over how the pension is invested.
(As an aside: Click here for more info on the White House project.)
Also worth noting is that Perdue's campaign won't have to report how much money she raises on this trip to the State Board of Elections until April 28, eight days before the election. That means that if she does raise a significant sum, we scruffy media types will only have a week to note it, probably less since those forms can be lengthy and it takes a while for the full version to make their way into the public ether.
So is there a right and wrong here? That's probably not for me to say.
But it is worth noting that a candidate who has used "Wall Street" as a slur against her opponent is herself raising money from the financial industry.
Update: A few more updates from both campaigns. First this from Moore's campaign:
- "The hypocrisy of Beverly Perdue fund-raising on Wall Street, after months of bashing Richard Moore for the same - is exactly why North Carolinians will begin asking, 'Does Beverly Perdue really have the character and consistency to be governor?'"
And here's more from Kochman, who I pressed a little bit more on why it was okay for Perdue to raise money in New York and not Moore:
- For a candidate who has nothing to do with the pension to meet with Democratic donors in New York, a couple of whom happen to be in the financial industry, is VASTLY different than the sole fiduciary of the pension fund raising more than $1.5 million from people he does business with.
In a separate e-mail, he added:
- And just to clarify, this was not a big fundraising swing. She only had a few small meetings, most of her time was spent with women’s groups, there were no fundraising events, and she left at noon. She's already been back in NC for a few hours.
Comments (1)
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Richard Moore, as sole trustee of the state retirement fund, has a fiduciary responsibility to state employees. By any definition or law, a fiduciary is bound to keep faith with those whom he works for, putting their interests ahead of his own.
Moore has put his own political interests ahead of the interests of the state employees, seeking and accepting over a million dollars in campaign contributions from persons and firms to whom he directs the state's business. Not illegal, but not showing much moral sensitivity.
Posted on March 20, 2008 5:37 PM