Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), who has positioned herself as a crusader against corporate interests, received thousands of dollars from corporations, according to her latest FEC filing.
Warren has been floated as a potential 2020 presidential candidate and has frequently slammed Republicans for the financial support their campaigns receive from corporations and the wealthy. While she has opposed the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations to pay for political messages, she has also said she supports capitalism, and her campaign coffers have benefitted.
Warren's Senate reelection campaign received $5,400 from Jonathan Lavine, the chief investment officer of Bain Capital Credit and co-managing partner of Bain Capital, and $5,400 from his wife, Jeannie, according to the FEC July 15 quarterly report.
Earlier this month, Warren sharply criticized investors' actions in the Toys "R" Us bankruptcy case, which included Bain.
"When an outside group with a lot of money can come into a place like Toys ‘R’ Us and vacuum up all the value and leave the employees, leave the pensioners, leave the small-trade, the folks who help supply the business ... and take all the value and leave nothing for anyone else, then capitalism doesn’t work. Markets don’t work," Warren said.
She also received $1,000 from Daniel O’Connell, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, which the Boston Globe describes as "the state's most powerful business group." O'Connell is a liaison between the group's members and state-government power brokers in Boston. The partnership includes CEOs of Putnam Investments, Raytheon, Mass Mutual, John Hancock, Bank Of America, Fidelity Investments, and Liberty Mutual.
In addition to corporate interests, Warren also received campaign contributions from "longtime lobbyist" Lawrence B. Rasky, the chairman of Rasky Baerlein, Inc, one of the "busiest" lobbying firms in Massachusetts. Rasky and his wife, Carolyn, both donated $5,400 each to Warren's campaign. Rasky is not a federal registered lobbyist.
Still, Warren has continued to use anti-corporate rhetoric as she campaigns for re-election.
"Right now this government works great for anyone who can hire an army of lobbyists and lawyers, but it doesn’t work so well for everyone else. But we’re going to change that. It’s only when all of us speak up that we’re going to make our government work for the people," Warren said last month.