IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
“Congressman Scott Garrett is getting a fat lump of coal this Christmas from his corporate donors for his pro-discrimination views and record against LGBT Americans,” said Bryan Lesswing at the DCCC. “Whether it’s his opposition to filling potholes and repairing bridges or pushing his extreme pro-discrimination views, Scott Garrett’s naughty list is an embarrassment to his corporate donors and his constituents. North Jersey voters deserve better.
Bergen County Record
By Herb Jackson
December 23, 2015
Capital One has become the latest financial institution to cut financial support for Rep. Scott Garrett because of his stance against the House Republicans’ campaign committee support for gay candidates.
“We have no plans to contribute to Congressman Garrett in the future,” said Capital One spokeswoman Tatiana Stead. The bank’s political action committee, which has already given Garrett $3,000 this year, previously gave $2,500 toward his 2014 re-election and $3,000 for 2012. Stead the decision was made several months ago.
Garrett, a Republican from Wantage, is chairman of a subcommittee that regulates banks, the mortgage industry and Wall Street, and raised more than $1 million from those industries in the past two elections.
Garrett reportedly told colleagues on the Financial Services Committee in July that one of his reasons for not contributing to the national political fund working to keep the House under Republican control was its past support for gay candidates. He later told Bob Yudin, the Bergen County Republican chairman, he took the position because of his opposition as a Christian to same-sex marriage.
A handful of New Jersey students attending the University of Pennsylvania who said they were embarrassed that Garrett was from their state had contacted Capital One and other contributors and asked them to stop supporting the congressman.
“It didn’t seem right he could say things like that, such homophobic and embarrassing things, and no one would even notice,” said Zahra Mion, a 22-year-old senior from Midland Park, who helped found the student group, called Not New Jersey.
In October, state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg issued a public challenge to financial firms that had given money to Garrett since July to end their support and ask for their money back. Alabama-based BBVA Compass, which has banks in eight states in the South and the West and had given Garrett $1,000, said it would no longer contribute after being contacted about Weinberg’s challenge by The Record.
Bloomberg News has also reported that Goldman Sachs has ended its support, and that a fund-raiser that was to be hosted by major accounting firms was canceled after news of Garrett’s remarks broke.