U.S. financial firms have made cuts to their administrative lobbying budgets, according to the Wall Street Journal, having spent $104.7 million in the first three months of the year, down 8 percent from the same three months in 2008.
Wall Street firms have cut back their spending due to damaged public perception of many of the money-losing banks and other financial firms. “We have lost our credibility,” said Mortgage Bankers Association President John Courson.
Courson relayed the following quote from House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank: “Everybody hates you, and now they’re starting to hate me for hanging out with you.”
The financial services industry made only $19.9 million in political contributions in the first three months of 2009, down 65 percent from figures in 2007, and possibly related to the concluded presidential race.