BoA to Rick Perry: We're here to help

Following up on my earlier post, Zerohedge catches Director of Public Policy for BoA, James Mahoney, in an intimate aside with Rick Perry. At the meet and greet after Perry's little speech at a New Hampshire political breakfast, Mahoney does a walk-by and tells Perry, "Bank of America, we will help you out."

Ben Smith does some follow up and gets a statement from Mahoney's office. They say Mahoney is not a money man and was merely offering informal policy advice. I'll just bet it would be about how to best rid the bank of those tiresome regulations. Ben also finds:

While Mahoney isn't a registered lobbyist, he is chairman of Bank of American's New Hampshire PAC -- an influence post focused on dispensing political cash, not a policy post. (Di Rita adds that Bank of America's PAC does not, itself, give money to presidential candidates. ...)

Guess that doesn't apply to state level politics though. Think Progress reviews BoA's long history of passing money to Perry in Texas:

Over the years Gov. Perry has benefited greatly from Bank of America’s financial support, and it appears that largesse will continue as he seeks the presidency on a platform of — coincidentally enough — bank deregulation. His gubernatorial campaigns have received $125,900 from Bank of America’s PAC and executives since 2003. During the 2010 cycle alone, Perry’s campaign received $30,160 from the bank’s PAC and executives. According to Texans for Public Justice, Bank of America has also given generously Republican Governors Association, which Perry led until recently and just happens to be his largest donor, contributing $4 million between 2001 and 2010.

Interesting timing in any event, considering BoA's announcement today of 10K pending layoffs of its ordinary workers and I'm sure I don't have to remind you that Perry is running on the notion that all bank regulation is unconstitutional. The system surely is working -- for them.