By Beth Reinhard, Rebecca Ballhaus
Wall Street opened its wallet for Republican presidential
contender Jeb Bush and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in
their first weeks as candidates, despite the sometimes tough talk
on the campaign trail about closing the nation's wealth gap.
Mr. Bush collected nearly $145,000 from employees at Goldman
Sachs and almost $167,000 coming from seven other big banks.
Another $63,100 in contributions came from employees of the
financial firm Neuberger Berman, run by his cousin, George Herbert
Walker IV, who previously worked at Goldman Sachs, according to
campaign financial-disclosure reports released Wednesday.
During his six years as an adviser for the defunct Wall Street
bank Lehman Bros. and later at Barclays PLC, Mr. Bush said he
earned, on average, between $1.3 million and $2 million a year.
Employees of Barclays have donated $29,700, so far.
Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, collected about
$300,000 from employees at the nation's six largest banks, with
about $88,000 coming from Morgan Stanley executives alone, and
about $62,000 from workers at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
The Clintons have long enjoyed ties to Wall Street, a
vulnerability for her with some Democratic primary voters who blame
big banks for many of the nation's financial problems. In an
economic speech this week, she vowed to tighten oversight of the
industry, but steered clear of the regulatory proposals most
loathed on Wall Street that have been offered by her Democratic
challengers.
The former secretary of state also may be vulnerable to attacks
from her primary rivals after abandoning President Barack Obama's
ban on donations from lobbyists. Forty federally registered
lobbyists raised more than $2 million since April for Mrs.
Clinton's campaign, according to her disclosure. They include
longtime Clinton fundraiser Heather Podesta and Jackson Dunn, a
lobbyist with FTI Consulting and former aide to President Bill
Clinton who raised the most for her campaign: $230,000.
Mr. Bush, who announced his candidacy 15 days before the filing
deadline, reported eight lobbyists who are using their own networks
of friends and family to bundle checks for the campaign. The two
top performers were William Killmer of the Mortgage Bankers
Association, who collected $36,200, followed by Dirk Van Dongen of
the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, who collected
$33,900.
Mr. Bush has said he raised $11.4 million for his campaign,
which can accept individual contributions of up to $2,700 for the
primary.
Mrs. Clinton, who announced her candidacy in April, raised $46.7
million. Both also have friendly super PACs, which can raise and
spend unlimited sums. When funds from the super PACs and other
outside groups are combined with the campaign cash, Mr. Bush has
nearly $120 million backing him, and Mrs. Clinton has $70
million.
Disclosure reports covering fundraising and spending by the
candidates were due by midnight Wednesday, offering the first
glimpse of who is supporting the candidates and how the money is
being spent. Some White House contenders hadn't filed their reports
in time for publication. Their aligned super PACs will file
disclosure reports later this month.
Republican Donald Trump lent $1.8 million to his presidential
campaign in the second quarter, and raised another $100,000,
fulfilling a promise he made in his campaign launch speech to
self-finance his bid.
In the second quarter, he burned through 74% of his cash,
including more than $500,000 on airfare, his highest expense in a
single category, his disclosure reports show. He also spent $1,640
on a limousine service while in Iowa May, and used Uber twice while
in California.
In contrast, Democrat Bernie Sanders held on to much of his
cash. The Vermont senator raised $15.2 million and had $12.1
million in cash at the end of the quarter.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz spent more than half of the $10 million he
raised between the beginning of April and the end of June. His
single biggest expenditure was $893,252 spent with Campaign
Solutions, a digital fundraising firm. The Cruz campaign spent
another $686,081 with CampaignHQ, an Iowa-based fundraising firm
led by a GOP operative that specializes in outreach to
conservatives and evangelicals.
Mr. Bush's campaign spent more than $3 million in its first two
weeks, leaving him with $8.35 million. His biggest expense was
$372,647 for computer equipment, followed by $308,687 for media
production and political consulting, $280,835 for air charter and
$259,201 for event production and travel.
Former New York Gov. George Pataki, an afterthought at this
point in the Republican nominating contest, raised just $255,794
during his first quarter as a candidate, according to a filing
Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission.
The Pataki campaign spent just $48,174, leaving him with
$207,620 in the bank. The former New York governor raised 62% of
his total from residents of the Empire State.
Laura Meckler contributed to this article.
Write to Beth Reinhard at beth.reinhard@wsj.com and Rebecca
Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com
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