DCCC: Cantor’s Wife’s Employer Got TARP Money

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) today circulated a news story alleging that the employer of House GOP Whip Eric Cantor’s (Va.) wife received a significant sum of bailout money from the Treasury.

The story was published online this afternoon by ProPublica, a non-profit online publication whose stated mission is to “produc[e] investigative journalism in the public interest.”

The Treasury paid $267 million earlier this month for preferred stock in New York Private Bank and Trust (NYPBT), ProPublica writes. NYPBT owns Emigrant Bank, whose Virginia branch Diana Cantor runs, according to the story.

The controversy the DCCC seeks to highlight appears to be that Cantor is a conservative when it comes to bailouts: along with House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Cantor has led the House GOP’s charge against Democratic bailout plans, proposing lower sums than his counterparts across the aisle. Cantor has spoken out against the government’s recent bailout tendencies on cable news.

Cantor has recently taken on a role as economic spokesman for the House GOP, heading its recently formed Economic Recovery Working Group. An emerging leader in the party, Cantor’s name was briefly floated in Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) veepstakes over the summer.

Cantor’s chief of staff, Rob Collins, said the congressman had not known that NYPBT was seeking bailout funds and that he never intended bailout money to be used to buy stock in banks, according to ProPublica.

It’s unlikely that Cantor will become a major target of the DCCC this election, as he represents a conservative district and bested his Democratic opponent by roughly 25 percent of the vote in 2008.