Its “government relations” operations are still going strong despite a very sweet deal from the government. In November, Citi won a guarantee on a pool of troubled assets valued at about $300 billion, plus another $20 billion from the TARP on top of an original investment of $25 billion.
Washington-based watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense recently posted expenditure reports from lobbyists contracted by Citigroup from July to late September, before the bank received its big payout. Lobbyists spent nearly $2 million on behalf of Citigroup in that quarter. This is on top of the $6 million that Citigroup spent in the first half of the year, according to the non-profit Center for Responsive Politics.
And Citigroup spokesperson Shannon Bell told us today the company hasn’t stopped.
“We have a government relations office,“ said Bell, who wouldn’t comment further.
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“We are significant investors in Citigroup and are also holding a significant amount of risk if some of these assets fail,“ Stephen Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense said. “The same guys who’ve got their hand out are also badgering and lobbying members of Congress to get other perks and sweetheart deals for themselves…Are we paying them to lobby ourselves?“
And we're supposed to be all freaked out about the automakers and the unions.
