Democrats outraise Republicans on Wall Street

If you want to know what's what, the saying goes, follow the money.

If you really want to know what's going on, follow the smart money. According to Wall Street, the smart money in the 2006 election cycle is on the Democrats.

Dems snagged more than half the total political contributions made by investment banks, brokerages and fund managers in 2005. That has not happened since 1994.

``When the party with no power can raise more money than the party with all the power, it means people are pretty disturbed about the country's condition,'' [Orin Kramer, general partner of Boston Provident Partners LP] said.

The Democrats got 51 percent of the industry's funds in 1994, the year they lost control of both houses of Congress. Republicans' share rose from then, peaking at 58 percent in 1996.

Since then, ``Republicans have become complacent,'' said Mallory Factor, a Republican activist and chairman of the Free Enterprise Fund in Washington, which advocates small government and free markets. ``They gained their ascendancy by being better on the economic issues, but now they're frozen by their desire to maintain the status quo.''

One disagreement with the experts: Republicans have not become complacent. They have become malignant. The Republican Party has become a party of looters. They have raided the storehouse for the benefit of themselves and their benefactors, the public good be damned. Systemic corruption is bad for business. Wall Street firms know this. They have a lot at stake in the political process, and their donations demonstrate their belief that the Democrats are ones who can clean up the GOP's mess.