Lobbying Firm Proposes ‘Hit Job’ on OWS

MSNBC journalist Chris Hayes brings us a memo written by a Washington lobbying firm staffed with former aides of Republican Speaker John Boehner offering American bankers a near $1 million publicity blitz against Occupy Wall Street and its congressional supporters.

The firm warns executives with the American Bankers Association that the Democratic Party’s adoption of the movement “would mean more than just short-term political discomfort for Wall Street. … It has the potential to have very long-lasting political, policy and financial impacts on the companies in the center of the bull’s-eye,” including the possibility that “Republicans will no longer defend Wall Street companies.”

The memo alone does not prove that the banking barons are running scared, yet. It was written by seasoned businessmen attempting to stir up and capitalize on the fear that OWS could become a viable political force and a genuine threat to the banking community. But as Hayes says, there are likely many more of these documents being passed around, and that fact should both encourage and terrify the Occupiers. —ARK

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