Tough times in the extortion racket

Jackson's Wall Street Project Loses NYSE Sponsorship

For the first time in eight years, Jesse Jackson's Wall Street Project will not receive a donation from the New York Stock Exchange. And for the second year in a row, the Wall Street Project will not be holding its fundraising gala on the floor of the stock exchange. Jackson did use the NYSE floor for six consecutive years before being frozen out last year.

"We are not giving to Wall Street Project this year," Diana DeSocio, the spokeswoman for the NYSE told Cybercast News Service on Friday. The 8th Annual Rainbow/PUSH Wall Street Project Conference: "Beyond Diversity, Equity and Parity: A New Covenant" will be held between Tuesday and Thursday at the Hilton New York Hotel.

"We have given in some capacity in every previous year since 1998," DeSocio said, acknowledging that 2005 will be the first year the NYSE has withheld sponsorship of Jackson's group.
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A Wall Street insider who did not want to be identified told Cybercast News Service that the resignation of former NYSE chairman and Jackson friend Richard Grasso hurt, as did the departure of several NYSE board members loyal to Jackson. That list included former Citigroup Chairman Sandy Weil, former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, former AT&T Chief Executive Officer Michael Armstrong, former New York Democratic gubernatorial candidate Carl McCall.
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"One of the last vestiges of Richard Grasso's rotten legacy has now been swept away," Flaherty said, referencing the 2003 departure of the former chairman of the NYSE. NLPC has filed shareholder proposals with Verizon, PepsiCo and Fannie Mae to protest the companies' support of Jackson and his organizations. Verizon and PepsiCo have formally appealed to the Securities and Exchange Commission to exclude the NLPC shareholder proposals.

Flaherty sees the withdrawal of the NYSE sponsorship of Jackson's Wall Street Project as a "significant" development. "This reported cut-off of funding is significant because once an institution has been successfully shaken down by Jackson, it has proved difficult to escape him in future years," he added.

It was a good hustle while it lasted.