New York – Two Democratic senators announced Monday that they would shed campaign contributions from Bernard Madoff, the Wall Street veteran arrested Thursday who gave heavily to Democrats over the past decade.
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Mr. Madoff, a New York money manager who was arrested on charges of investment fraud, has donated a total of $150,000 to politicians and party committees over the past decade, nearly all of it to Democrats, according to campaign finance records filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey both said Monday that they wouldn’t keep Mr. Madoff’s campaign contributions.
Sen. Schumer’s personal campaign committee will donate the $6,000 he received from Mr. Madoff to widows and orphans of New York City police and firefighters. A spokesman said that Sen. Schumer has met Mr. Madoff several times during his career but not in the past few years.
Sen. Lautenberg was the top recipient of Mr. Madoff’s political contributions, receiving almost $10,000 in total. A spokesman for Sen. Lautenberg said, “We will be ridding ourselves of the contribution.”
Sen. Lautenberg and his family foundation also were invested in Mr. Madoff’s funds; it is unclear how much they may have lost.
Mr. Madoff also contributed $25,000 each year for the past four years to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the time it was run by Sen. Schumer. The committee hasn’t made a decision on what to do with the $100,000 it received.
“It’s under review,” said Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the committee, which is now headed by Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey.
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Schumer
Associated Press
Democratic New York Senator Chuck Schumer at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, said Monday that his personal campaign committee will take the $6,000 he received from Mr. Madoff and donate it to help widows and orphans of New York City police and firefighters.
Schumer
Schumer
Mr. Madoff and his brother, sons and niece donated a total of $267,000 over the past decade to candidates, parties and political action committees, with almost all of the money going to Democrats. People listing themselves as employees of Mr. Madoff’s company — including some of his relatives — donated $326,000 in total.
Mr. Madoff’s company, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, has spent about $500,000 since 1999 hiring Washington lobbyists to sway the government on issues related to market regulation and the adoption of electronic trading technology. The company also retained lobbyists to influence the $700 billion financial rescue package that was signed into law in early October.
Mr. Madoff’s company also lobbied for federal funding for the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York, which focuses on the lives of immigrants, including a sizable Eastern European Jewish community, living in Manhattan for about a 100-year period before World War II.
Why would schumer give the money to the widows of police and firefighters. It should be returned to the receiver to distribute to all the people and foundations that have been scammed.
Wow, Madoff steals $50 billion and Schumer and Lautenberg, 2 esteemed Democratic Senators have decided not to vail themselves of $6000 and $10,000 out of that. So commendable.
Don’t steal the government does not like competion Schumer & his friends stole $Z00 billion dollars
YES IT IS . They returned the money that was given to them by a bad man. If he had given them more, they would have returned more. There is a limit on that though. The amount is not relevant, it is the fact that they returned it. If shumer and lautenberg were republican would you be as dismissive of the NOBEL gesture?
This is Just like when Rudy GIuliani gave back the check from the bush’s saudi friend.
Yeah, they won’t keep it cause they spent it already.
I’m surprised the bankruptcy judge didn’t order all of the fraudulent political contributions to be returned to the investors.
Then again, the charities could be order to do the same.
Too bad that when Chuckie has his usual weekend press conference to get his obnoxious punim on that night’s news, none of the reporters will have the guts to ask him whether it is merely a coincidence that this goniff gave away millions to left-wing causes and to liberal politicians like Chuckie, Lautenberg, Barney Frank (another Madoff recipient) etc? What does that say about such politicans that such a crook likes them?