Vince Randazzo
Vince Randazzo is "the former head of Wachovia’s $2 million government affairs operations."[1]
With Wachovia's merger with Wells Fargo, in 2009, Randazzo went to work on Capitol Hill as "Republican deputy staff director on the House Financial Services Committee"[2] as part of the "revolving door."[3] That Committee is charged with conducting oversight of the banking industry and, in his new job, Randazzo "oversees internal and external communications and strategy."[4]
While Randazzo was leading Wachovia's lobby shop, the company came under fire for "extending an $8 million bailout loan to the cash-strapped National Republican Congressional Committee to finance last-minute election activities to help GOP House candidates [while] it was denying credit and freezing assets to thousands of small businesses." [5] That controversial loan was made while Wachovia was in the middle of a buyout deal with the Bush Administration which was promising to guarantee up to $42 billion from U.S. taxpayers, for a buyout by Citigroup[6] to cover losses after the FDIC declared Wachovia "systematically important," i.e., "too big to fail."[7] Ultimately, that deal to subsidize Citibank's purchase of Wachovia's assets fell through and Wells Fargo merged with Wachovia.[8]
Randazzo reported in 2008 that he made campaign donations to John McCain for President[9] and to the Freedom Project, which "1) provides direct financial assistance to Republican candidates for federal office; 2) supports the travel of Congressman Boehner on behalf of Republican candidates across the country; and 3) maintains FreedomProject.org -- a web-based clearinghouse for Republican activism featuring online fundraising and grassroots tools, and regular updates on key races and critical issues."[10]
- ↑ Jeanne Cummings, "Downturn has hit banking lobbyists," Politico, October 19, 2009, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28439.html.
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Lisa Graves, "Fewer Bank Lobbyists But More Money, Influence," PR Watch Spin, .
- ↑ http://www.dsrtf.org/about-leadership.htm
- ↑ Facing South, "Investigation: Wachovia's $8 million bailout deal with the GOP," http://southernstudies.org/2008/10/investigation-how-did-republicans-get-8.html; Facing South, "Follow-up: Our Investigation into Wachovia's $8 million bailout deal with the GOP," http://southernstudies.org/2008/10/follow-up-our-investigation-into.html.
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ See, e.g., "Citigroup Inc. to Acquire Banking Operations of Wachovia: FDIC, Federal Reserve and Treasury Agree to Provide Open Bank Assistance to Protect Depositors". Press Releases (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) September 29, 2008, http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2008/pr08088.html.
- ↑ E.g., Eric Dash,"Wells Fargo in a Deal to Buy All of Wachovia," New York Times, October 3, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/business/04bank.html.
- ↑ http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/vincent-randazzo.asp?cycle=08
- ↑ http://www.freedomproject.org/About/Default.aspx
