Bernie Sanders pledged Sunday night that no alumni of Goldman Sachs would serve as his Treasury secretary.
“Here’s a promise: If elected president, Goldman Sachs is not going to… bring forth a Secretary of Treasury for a Sanders administration,” the Vermont senator said Sunday night during the Democratic presidential debate.
Recent presidents from both parties have installed Goldman Sachs alumni as secretaries of the Treasury, Sanders noted. George W. Bush appointed former Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson, and Bill Clinton appointed the bank’s former chairman Robert Rubin.
Throughout the debate, and throughout the campaign, Sanders has tried to draw a distinction between himself and Hillary Clinton on the issue of Wall Street regulation.
“If you have an administration stacked with Wall Street appointees, you ain’t gonna accomplish very much,” Sanders said, explaining his stance.
Earlier in the debate, he called attention to the speaking fees and campaign contributions Clinton has received from banks, and from Goldman Sachs in particular.
The liberal challenger, who has gained on the polls against former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, also complained about what he called the “corrupt” regulation of Goldman Sachs, one of the largest bank holding companies in the country. He noted the $5 billion settlement Goldman Sachs reached with the government last week to end an investigation into mortgage-backed securities it sold in the lead-up to the financial crisis.
