Goldman Sachs has instituted a policy change that will prohibit its partners from donating money to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, but will continue to allow employees to give money to Hillary Clinton.
In a memo to employees distributed last week, the Wall Street firm announced that all Goldman Sachs partners would no longer be allowed to make campaign contributions to “candidates running for state and local offices, as well as sitting state and local officials running for federal office.”
The memo explicitly mentions that donations to the Donald Trump presidential campaign would fall under the new restrictions, because Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, is a sitting governor. Goldman Sachs partners are advised not to contribute money to a “federal candidate who is a sitting state or local official (e.g., governor running for president or vice president, such as the Trump/Pence ticket, or mayor running for Congress), including their Political Action Committees (PACs).”
The changes, according to the memo, are intended to head off “potential reputational damage caused by any false perception that the firm is attempting to circumvent pay-to-play rules, particularly given partners’ seniority and visibility.” Violations of the new policy could result in “disciplinary action.”
Donations to the Hillary Clinton-Tim Kaine campaign, meanwhile, appear to be permissible under the new policy, and Goldman Sachs has yet to clarify this apparent discrepancy. Tim Kaine is currently a sitting Senator from Virginia, but would not count as a “state or local official” under Goldman’s rules.
Goldman Sachs and its employees have been avid supporters of Hillary Clinton for years. Over the course of her political career, Goldman Sachs employees have contributed almost a million dollars to her campaigns. The firm’s CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, is a Clinton donor and fundraiser, and even helped Clinton son-in-law Marc Mezvinsky launch his underperforming boutique hedge fund, Eaglevale Partners, in 2012.
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