Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., requested
earmarks for at least ten companies that have been donors to the
lawmaker in this election cycle. Five of those companies have been
long-term contributors to Shelby.
Shelby, who is on the Senate
appropriations committee, requested more than $54.3 million for these
ten companies and has received more than $69,000 in campaign funds from
their employees and PACs since 2008, a quick analysis of his online
earmark requests using Sunlight's newest tool Poligraft.com shows.
Employees
of Radiance Technologies, for which Shelby requested $5 million in
earmarks, have given the lawmaker more ...
Shelby smells a rat in S. 3217
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala, doesn't believe the financial reform bill the Senate began debating today will actually regulate the large
financial organizations whose risky actions threatened the entire economy in 2008. Instead, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee sees the bill as something that will further institutionalize bank bailouts in the future.
Shelby noted that many large financial firms -- like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup -- have expressed support for the legislation.
“(Large financial firms) know that the bill will bring them and Wall Street firms like them under the Federal safety net where they will get preferential treatment ...