OT: What's wrong with Barney Frank? Either he's not reporting all the cash given to him by Morgan Stanley, or he didn't squeeze hard enough? This man is despicable and should be removed from office immediately. (Ask me if I have an opinion about him and others like him.) Two
=========================
Morgan Stanley Resumes PAC Giving After TARP Funding Repayment
By Jonathan D. Salant
Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley’s political action committee resumed donations in the third quarter of this year after the New York-based investment bank paid back its U.S. taxpayer rescue funds, Federal Election Commission records show.
The PAC had ceased making campaign contributions until Morgan Stanley repaid $10 billion in June under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. After making no donations during the first six months of this year, Morgan Stanley gave $157,500 between July 1 and Sept. 30, including $120,000 in September.
The investment bank made $374,000 in political contributions during the first nine months of 2007; its donation total for the comparable period this year represents a 58 percent reduction.
“Since repaying TARP, Morgan Stanley’s PAC has resumed normal PAC-related activity,” Carissa Ramirez, a spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley, said in an e-mail yesterday.
Most of the other large U.S. financial institutions have reduced their political giving at a time when Congress is drafting new financial regulations. Just two of 10 institutions reported increases in their PAC contributions through the first nine months of this year, compared with the same period in 2007.
Morgan Stanley has long been a major political giver. Its employees contributed $3.7 million for the 2008 elections, fifth among financial companies, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group.
Donation to Frank
The company’s PAC donations this year include $2,500 to Representative Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the House Financial Services Committee. Frank’s panel is writing the revamp of financial regulations. The PAC also gave $5,000 to Representative Melissa Bean, an Illinois Democrat, and Representative Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat. The two lawmakers co-chair the financial services task force of the pro- business New Democrat Coalition.
The PAC of Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender, gave $195,000 in donations during the first nine months of 2009, as compared with $349,122 during the same period in 2007, a decline of 44 percent.
