Who were Bernie Madoff’s favorite politicians? Judging from his financial contributions, a couple of Jewish Democrats. The Weekly Standard checked out the contributions New Entry | ExpressionEngineof Madoff and his wife since the 1992 election cycle, and the top two recipients were Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who got $13,000, and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who received $12,000. And in fourth, after Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), was Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) at $8,600. Open Secrets, the Web site which compiles records of campaign contributions, also notes that Madoff and his wife gave $238,200 in contributions to politicians since 1991, 88 percent of which went to Democrats. The top overall recipient of Madoff largess was the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Commitee, which was chaired by Schumer in the 2006 and 2009 campaigns and received $102,000 from the fraudulent financier and his wife.
The Weekly Standard also notes that Schumer and Wyden have already given a lot of that money to charity:
According to Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office, the New York senator is in the process of giving all $29,300 received from Madoff, his wife, and extended family to a trust being established for Madoff’s victims.
In December, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) donated $14,000 in Madoff contributions to a food bank in Oregon, though he kept $19,000 in contributions from other Madoff family members.
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