Attend Ohio Banking League Fundraiser for Steve Stivers Tomorrow and See How Banking Lobbyists Live

Have you ever attended a meeting of banking lobbyists? Me neither. But I have a picture in my mind. I have picture of old men in hand-tailored Italian silk suits matched with Hart, Schaffner, and Marx monogrammed button down shirts and red ties with $2500 Oris wristwatches adorning their arms, driving up to a gated house with a turn-around driveway in Cadillacs, BMWs, and Mercedes-Benzes and handing the keys over to the valet before stepping inside to open a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label and getting down to business.

How accurate is my picture? Well, to find out, all you need to do is attend the fundraiser the Ohio Banking Leauge is throwing Steve Stivers tomorrow in New Albany at the home of former OBL chairwoman Sherran Blair. Minimum contribution is $250.

Stivers will likely feel right at home amongst the banking lobbyists because he's a bankling lobbyist himself. And now, he wants to represent Ohio's 15th congressional district in Congress. Like we need the banks to have any more clout in Congress, after they passed a "bankruptcy reform" bill that was literally written by the banks and forced through Congress on the back of $50 million in lobbying to make it harder for working families to get a second chance. Then they convinced the government to stand back and watch while they created exotic financial instruments like collateralized debt obligations, special investment vehciles, and mortgage backed securities, which ended up preciptating the subprime loan collapse and the current recession we find ourselves in.

If you go tomorrow night, make sure to ask banking lobbyist Steve Stivers why he flip-flopped on factory farms and anti-discrimination protection for gay workers.