Sherrod Brown Called ‘Ultimate Hypocrite’ After Wall Street Ties Revealed

The media has praised him as a “working-class hero” who may just have the “recipe” to beat President Donald Trump in 2020, but Republicans are now calling Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) a “hypocrite” after a Thursday report from The Washington Free Beacon.

Brown wants to bring a “working-class ethos” back to the Democratic Party, as The New Yorker recently put it, and he built his most recent campaign around the “dignity of work.”

But The Free Beacon reported Thursday that Brown, a frequent critic of the “corporate greed” of Wall Street, has raised more than $7.3 million from the finance, insurance, and real estate industries since 1998. $1.8 million of that came from donations from Wall Street’s security and investment industry, The Free Beacon found.

Additionally, Brown saw an uptick in donations from Wall Street after he took over as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, The Free Beacon’s report revealed.

But Brown has condemned Wall Street as “rotten,” greedy, and overreaching, saying in a recent interview that “whenever they want something, they almost always get it.”

“Well, what’s rotten on Wall Street is the influence the financial services industry continues to exert on Congress,” he said in a recent interview. In another, he suggested that “Wall Street’s business model systematically undermines American workers.”

“We need policies that restructure our economy so that workers share in the profits they create, and Wall Street doesn’t determine when workers keep their jobs or how much is in their paychecks,” he added.

In a recent press release addressing presidential rumors, Brown claimed that “too many leaders in Washington don’t understand the dignity of work.”

“Our economic policies reward huge companies that ship jobs overseas and leave workers behind. CEOs rake in massive bonuses after taking away workers’ rights to bargain for better working conditions and benefits,” he said.

The Ohio GOP called Brown out in a press release Friday, saying the 2020 hopeful “continues to talk out of both sides of his mouth.”

“Sherrod Brown is the ultimate hypocrite, touting his ‘populist’ image while simultaneously pocketing millions from the very industries he claims to fight against,” said Mandi Merritt, the Ohio communications director for the Republican National Committee.

“While Brown gears up for a potential 2020 run, voters should be wary of his empty talking points and false promises,” she added. “To find where Sherrod Brown’s true loyalties lie, all you have to do is follow the money.”

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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Sherrod Brown” by Sherrod Brown. Background Photo “Wall Street” by Dave Center. CC BY 2.0.