Eric Cantor Moves To Wall Street, Justifying Tea Party Claims

Eric Cantor will be joining the investment bank Moelis & Company as a vice-chairman and managing director, with a compensation package of more than $1 million a year. The new job fits in nicely with the tea party’s claim that Cantor cared more about Wall Street than his own district. In June, Cantor lost his primary bid to a relatively unknown economics professor backed by the tea party.

Kevin Broughton, a Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund spokesman, said,

After Dave Brat’s upset victory in June, many analysts accused Eric Cantor of paying more attention to Wall Street than to the people of Virginia’s 7th district. He certainly didn’t waste any time validating that theory.

Critics of Eric Cantor had reason to accuse the representative of being in the pocket of Wall Street. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Mr. Cantor raised $3 million from the investment sector. In the last campaign, investment firms were his biggest contributors, giving about $785,000 to the candidate.

The new job has many wondering, what will Eric Cantor bring to his new firm? How can he justify millions of dollars in guaranteed salary?

Moelis and Company said,

Eric has proven himself to be a pro-business advocate and one who will enhance our boardroom discussions with CEOs and senior management as we help them navigate their most important strategic decisions.

An interview with Dennis Kelleher, corporate lawyer and Senate staffer, has a different take on his qualifications as a managing director,

Let’s look at Cantor’s resume. Let’s look at all his investment-banking experience. Let’s look at his capital-markets experience. He has none. He has no experience or skills that would qualify him to be even an intern at a fifth-tier firm in the financial industry. I mean, come on!

Mr. Kelleher goes on to explain what a firm like Moelis and Company does receive: access.

The Eric Cantor’s new career move is hardly unprecedented. Last year, Timothy Geithner, former secretary of the treasury went to work at private equity firm Warburg Pincus.

Despite the new job, there are still some rumors that Eric Cantor will return to politics, possibly even running to be governor of Virginia at some point in the future. But Cantor stresses that he is just interested in learning his new job for now.

“I’ve got a lot to learn, I’m very focused on my next step,” Eric Cantor said.

[Image Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr]