Wall Street showers money on candidates

October 18, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON

Even as protests over its political influence grow louder, Wall Street is one of the leading sources of money so far in the 2012 race for the White House.

Not surprisingly, the biggest beneficiary has been Republican hopeful Mitt Romney, according to a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan campaign-finance watchdog group.

A former chief executive of a successful private- investment firm, Romney has attracted $7.5 million from the financial community, the center found. That’s nearly twice as much as President Barack Obama has received from it, and almost a quarter of the $32 million that Romney’s campaign has taken in overall.

The former Massachusetts governor is the top r ecipient of campaign cash from employees of the five biggest Wall Street banks. Goldman Sachs gave the most — $352,200. The firm paid a $550 million settlement last year in a fraud case that grew out of the subprime mortgage scandal that helped bring the U.S. economy to near collapse in the late 2000s.

The other banks were Morgan Stanley ($184,800), Bank of America ($112,500), JP Morgan Chase & Co. ($107,250) and Citigroup Inc. ($56,550).

A spokesman for the Romney campaign could not be reached to comment.

Financial support from the big banks and investment houses associated with the 2008 Wall Street meltdown could cut both ways, however.

Anti-Wall Street demonstrations are growing in number across the country and around the globe, but their political impact remains unclear and likely will depend upon their staying power.

Obama had raised about $3.9 million in Wall Street contributions as of the end of September. That’s more than 4 percent of his overall haul so far of $89 million, which dwarfs the GOP field.