A day after being elected president and acknowledging “the worst financial crisis in a century,” Barack Obama asked one of the biggest recipients of Wall Street campaign contributions to be his chief of staff. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois congressman who was an aide in the Clinton White House, was the top House recipient in the 2008 election cycle of contributions from hedge funds, private equity firms and the larger securities/investment industry–not the most popular of industries in the current economy. Since being elected to Congress in 2002, after working as an investment banker, Emanuel has received more money from individuals and PACs in the securities and investment business than any other industry.

Emanuel knows how to raise money for political campaigns, and there aren’t many better places to find it than Wall Street. Fundraising was Emanuel’s job for Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, and in 2006 he helped Democrats collect enough cash to retake the House of Representatives when he was head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. For his 2008 re-election, Emanuel raised more than $2.7 million yet faced no serious opposition in his Chicago district. Since being elected to the House six years ago, he has collected $1.5 million from the investment industry , with lawyers and law firms and the entertainment industry coming in at a distant second and third place ($682,900 and $376,100).

As a member of the powerful House Ways & Means Committee–which has jurisdiction over tax legislation, Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement programs–Emanuel is a popular industry target. Private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners has given Emanuel more than any other contributor over his career at $93,600. Emanuel and Obama have more than just Chicago in common; investment bank UBS, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are among both men’s lists of top donors .

Emanuel, who is currently the No. 4 Democrat in the House, has also collected $136,640 from the lobbying industry during his career, making K Street his 13th most generous industry. Obama, on the other hand, eschewed contributions from registered lobbyists for the presidential race. Obama also refused contributions from PACs, an easy task when only about 1 percent of presidential contributions come from these committees. PACs have given Emanuel about 29 percent of his total since he was first elected to Congress in 2002.

During his time in Congress, Obama has collected $2,000 from Emanuel’s leadership PAC, Our Common Values PAC, but hasn’t received any money from his possible future chief of staff since 2004. Through his PAC, Emanuel has given other lawmakers and candidates 78 percent of the total $2.3 million he’s raised since the 2004 election cycle.

Emanuel was an investment banker between the Clinton administration and his election to Congress and reported a net worth in 2007 of between $5 million and $13.2 million (lawmakers report their assets and liabilities in ranges). That would make him the 34th wealthiest member of the House.



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