Lobbying Firm to Banks: We'll Cripple Occupy

(Newser) – So John Boehner's old employees are at least trying to profit from Occupy. Sam Geduldig and Jay Cranford, partners at a well-known Washington lobbying firm, are two authors of a proposed $850,000 scheme to drum up negative stories about Occupy Wall Street and any politicians who support it—in other words, Democrats. The firm, Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford, sent the offer to the American Bankers Association, MSNBC reports.

The memo warned that Democratic victories in 2012 "would mean more than just short-term political discomfort for Wall Street. ... (T)he bigger concern should be that Republicans will no longer defend Wall Street companies.” An ABA spokesman admits to getting the memo, but says they won't act on it. A Boehner spokesman shrugged off his link to the story, calling Obama "the single largest recipient of donations from Wall Street.” But an Obama adviser says most of the president's campaign is funded by small donors. If Obama is too close to Wall Street, she says, "why were tough financial reforms passed over party line Republican opposition?” (Click to read about Obama fundraisers who double as lobbyists.)