Under Raimondo’s Watch, the Commerce Department Became an Exclusive Club for Big Tech, Big Business and Special Interests
Washington, DC — Today, Demand Progress Education Fund and Revolving Door Project launched Raimondo Watch (https://www.raimondowatch.com), a website that exposes how Commerce Department Secretary Gina Raimondo prioritizes Big Tech, Wall Street and special interest needs over the needs of everyday Americans. The website exhaustively catalogs Raimondo’s long-standing ties to these special interests and the ways that her staff and senior advisors flow back and forth through the revolving door, making money while doling out multibillion-dollar government grants and contracts to giant corporations.
Raimondo Watch details how Secretary Raimondo, a private equity veteran, has ignored the American people in favor of her powerful, corporate friends in:
- Big Tech: highlighting how Raimondo and her staff have prioritized meeting with Big Tech CEOs and how Commerce rigged trade deals in their favor
- Wall Street: spotlighting Raimondo’s background in private equity and how she handed over $100 billion of the American peoples’ money to Wall Street
- Special Interests: explaining how Raimondo has been captured by Big Pharma, defense, health care, manufacturers, automakers and other giant, corporate special interests
“President Biden came into office with a promise to rein in Big Tech and hold corporations accountable but Gina Raimondo stands out in the way she has spurned that promise by aggressively prioritizing the interests of corporate America instead of the American people,” said Emily Peterson-Cassin, Director of Corporate Power at Demand Progress Education Fund. “Raimondo Watch comprehensively lays out how she warped the priorities of the Commerce Department through her own corporate ties and by staffing the agency with special interest shills.”
“There’s an interesting role reversal in how Raimondo, a former venture capitalist, represents such a good investment for fellow VCs, hedge funders and Big Tech titans,” said Revolving Door Project Executive Director Jeff Hauser. “Their millions in campaign funds have led to a tilting of Commerce Department priorities likely worth far more than their early round investment cost.”