With the implosion of MF Global, the financial derivatives broker that sought bankruptcy court protection this week, Democratic Party candidates have likely lost a rich source of political cash because the company's executives were major donors to their campaigns.
The Center for Responsive Politics has sorted through campaign-finance data and found that MF Global expanded its giving to Democrats in recent years after former Democratic U.S. senator and ex-New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine became CEO of the company whose bankruptcy is shaping up to be one the largest ever.
Also Corzine, who it was announced Friday, had resigned from MF Global, was a bundler for President Obama, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the president's 2012 campaign.
Excerpts from CRP's MF Global report on its Open Secrets blog:
According to research by the Center for Responsive Politics, MF Global employees have contributed $408,000 to federal candidates and political parties since 2007. That sum includes $38,000 in donations to President Barack Obama, who is the largest recipient of MF Global employee contributions.
During the 2008 election cycle (the last full cycle before Corzine joined the company), Democrats received 68 percent of MF Global employees' total contributions. But after Corzine joined in 2010, employee contributions shifted even further to the left: A full 97 percent of MF Global-related campaign contributions benefited Democrats during the 2010 cycle. Democrats had maintained that advantage this year, as well, collecting about 94 percent of MF Global employee donations through June...
... A known supporter of Obama, Corzine also fund-raised for the president during his 2008 presidential run and has tapped his moneyed connections to bundle upwards of $500,000 so far for Obama's 2012 run.
Meanwhile, only one Republican candidate has received a contribution worth more than $200 from an MF Global employee this year: former governor of Massachusetts and current presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who received $2,500.