Demonizing hedge-fund managers
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 : PermalinkSt. George Daily Spectrum – According to the Center for Responsive Politics, hedge funds and private equity firms donated $2,992,456 to the Obama campaign in the 2008 cycle. Obama, vocal critic of the campaign finance practice known as "bundling," accepted more than $200,000 in bundled contributions from billionaire hedge-fund manager James Torrey, more than $100,000 in bundled contributions from billionaire hedge-fund manager Paul Tudor Jones and more than $50,000 in bundled contributions from billionaire hedge-fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin, chief executive officer of Citadel Investment Group in Chicago.
In an extraordinarily candid open letter to Obama, hedge-fund manager Cliff Asness defended his industry from the president’s "backwards and libelous" charges. "Managers have a fiduciary obligation to look after their clients’ money as best they can, not to support the president, nor to oppose him, nor otherwise advance their political views," Asness wrote. He has oversight of some $20 billion at AQR Capital Management, LLC, which is not involved in the Chrysler case.
Tags: aqr capital management llc, billionaire, campaign finance, capital-management-llc, center for responsive politics, chief executive officer, chrysler, citadel-investment-group, cliff-asness, fiduciary obligation, finance practice, griffin, hedge-fund-manager, oversight, paul tudor jones, political-views, private equity firms, st george, vocal critic
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