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Posted on 01/11/2005 3:37:04 AM PST by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - For the first time in eight years, Jesse Jackson's Wall Street Project will not receive a donation from the New York Stock Exchange. And for the second year in a row, the Wall Street Project will not be holding its fundraising gala on the floor of the stock exchange. Jackson did use the NYSE floor for six consecutive years before being frozen out last year.
"We are not giving to Wall Street Project this year," Diana DeSocio, the spokeswoman for the NYSE told Cybercast News Service on Friday. The 8th Annual Rainbow/PUSH Wall Street Project Conference: "Beyond Diversity, Equity and Parity: A New Covenant" will be held between Tuesday and Thursday at the Hilton New York Hotel.
"We have given in some capacity in every previous year since 1998," DeSocio said, acknowledging that 2005 will be the first year the NYSE has withheld sponsorship of Jackson's group.
When asked about the NYSE's reasoning this year, DeSocio declined further comment. In 2003, NYSE spokesman Rich Adamonis told Cybercast News Service that the NYSE was one of Jackson's "long-term supporters" with contributions in the $100,000 per year range.
Critics of Jackson have alleged that the decision by the NYSE to end its financial sponsorship of the Wall Street Project and the change of venue for the fundraising gala are evidence of Jackson's further decline in influence on Wall Street. Jackson will take his fundraiser to a New York City restaurant.
A Wall Street insider who did not want to be identified told Cybercast News Servicethat the resignation of former NYSE chairman and Jackson friend Richard Grasso hurt, as did the departure of several NYSE board members loyal to Jackson. That list included former Citigroup Chairman Sandy Weil, former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, former AT&T Chief Executive Officer Michael Armstrong, former New York Democratic gubernatorial candidate Carl McCall.
The Cybercast News Service source also explained that Wall Street is addressing minority outreach on its own "quite successfully" and feels it doesn't have "to pay a shakedown fee" to Jackson.
The Wall Street Project is designed to promote minority participation in corporate America. The annual conference has featured Jackson ringing the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange and featured then-President Bill Clinton, past and present federal officials, including chairmen of the Federal Communications Commission, Federal Election Commission, Federal Reserve Board; secretaries of treasury, commerce, and labor; as well as a who's who of corporate chiefs.
But the 2005 Wall Street Project is lacking in many of the CEO star power names and government officials of years past. This year's conference is scheduled to include Carly Fiorina, chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett Packard, Democratic U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), and New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. But instead of a wide array of top corporate CEOs, the conference has attracted many corporate representatives at the vice president and "diversity manager" levels.
The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a conservative legal watchdog group, reacted favorably to the news that the NYSE was not sponsoring the Wall Street Project in 2005.
"I am delighted that the NYSE has apparently met our request to cut off support for Jesse Jackson's Wall Street Conference, and has again denied him use of the Exchange floor for his gala," said Peter Flaherty, president of the NLPC, in an interview with Cybercast News Service.
"One of the last vestiges of Richard Grasso's rotten legacy has now been swept away," Flaherty said, referencing the 2003 departure of the former chairman of the NYSE. NLPC has filedshareholder proposals with Verizon, PepsiCo and Fannie Mae to protest the companies' support of Jackson and his organizations. Verizon and PepsiCo have formally appealed to the Securities and Exchange Commission to exclude the NLPC shareholder proposals.
Flaherty sees the withdrawal of the NYSE sponsorship of Jackson's Wall Street Project as a "significant" development. "This reported cut-off of funding is significant because once an institution has been successfully shaken down by Jackson, it has proved difficult to escape him in future years," he added.
The change of venue for Jackson's fundraising gala also represents a "dramatic step," Flaherty said, and puts corporations previously pressured to support Jackson's organization "on the spot."
"It is a lot harder for the Verizons and PepsiCo to argue that there's nothing wrong with supporting Jackson's groups. We plan to intensify our campaign against these companies and several others," Flaherty said.
Jackson's Wall Street Project did not respond to several attempts seeking comment for this article.
Past Wall Street Projects conferences have been sponsored by such corporate giants as Citigroup, Coca Cola, AOL Time Warner, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, AT&T, Ford Motor Company, Enron, WorldCom, General Motors, IBM, Kodak, Boeing, Merrill Lynch and the DaimlerChrysler Corporate Fund.
See Related Article:
Jesse Jackson's Wall Street Project Loses Prestigious Venue
If I had a cigar, I would light it now, brandy or no.
Jesse's growing irrelevant. He no longer has the muscle to tell Wall Street firms, "pay up or else." This is welcome news in 2005.
Ouch, Jesse, was that a pin cushion you just sat on?
We can only hope that this is the start of a cultural trend toward a truly "colorblind" society.
Looks like corps. are finally seeing through shakedowns way of doing business.
I do not feel your view should, or could, be labeled as cynicism because it is so true.
Bumer dude.
Black conservative ping
If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.
If HP were to offer me a job (which they did), Carly Fiorina is the one reason I wouldn't accept it (which I didn't).
Well, well. They're not caving in to Jesse. Isn't that courageous of them? /sarcasm
The Democratic "representative" for Black America is now Al Sharpton. He best represents the product of Democratic liberalism. Jesse is irrelevant and only represents his self-interest.
Here is a picture of Jesse Jackson marching with N.O.W. (National Organization of Women, a liberal feminist group) members against Welfare Reform, along with the results of the reforms they opposed. State Reform took effect around 1992-1994 and the National Bill was passed in 1996. The Republicans swept the house in 1994 promising a ‘Contract with America’. People are the same the world over. It is the political structure and governmental interference that make all the difference. Get Government out of people’s lives and they will succeed. To believe people cannot succeed without government ‘help’ is to subscribe to what President Bush calls, ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations’. The reason they aren’t succeeding is BECAUSE of the government help, which only serves to subsidize poverty and single motherhood! For some reason, saying these things and passing bills that help millions of people out of poverty is said by the left to be ‘cruel’, ‘hardnosed’ and ‘racist’.
Figures. Man, how I hate that B*tch.
Jackson's Wall Street Project did not respond to several attempts seeking comment for this article.Of course not! It's kinda hard to talk when the fork's been stuck in ya.
Je$$e Jack$on, you're just a miserable money pimp. You and those like you have been irrelevant for some time. Wake up and smell the roses. You are so over!
At long last the NYSE comes to it's senses! Good news.
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