ELIZABETH WARREN TO WALL STREET CEOS: Come Clean About The Think Tanks You're Paying

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Elizabeth Warren

Getty Images/Alex Wong

Elizabeth Warren before a Congressional hearing.

Yesterday Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent a letter to every major Wall Street CEO, urging them to disclose their financial contributions to Washington think tanks in an "effort to indirectly influence policymaking."

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She wants the American people to know how Wall Street wants its legislators to think - the kind of research Wall Street's supporting, and the numbers and ideas about financial markets that that research is representing as objective.

"When you use corporate resources to support think tanks there are only two possible outcomes from public disclosure - those contributions do not influence the work of the think tanks or those contributions do influence the work of the think tanks' research and conclusions," Warren wrote. "Either way, shareholders have a right to know how corporate resources are spent, and even more importantly, policymakers and the public should be aware of your contributions and evaluate the work of the think tanks accordingly."

Jamie Dimon might call this going "full kimono."

Warren goes on to write that she knows Wall Street firms have the right to contribute to think tanks, but that the same transparency that's applied to donating money to politicians should be applied to donating money to think tanks that influence politicians by influencing the ideas floating around Washington.

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That, Warren argues, would be better for lawmakers, their constituents, and bank shareholders. In fact, she spends a lot of time saying that shareholders should know what kind of ideas Wall Street banks support.

That kind of language is an appeal to more than just her populist base, it's an appeal to investors on both sides of aisle looking for more transparency (calling all Tea Partiers?).

Of course, Republicans don't love this. In his morning note, Politico's Ben White quoted a senior DC Republican who said Warren's letter was a "misstep" that smacked of McCarthy's "give names" edict - a clumsy response to a single WSJ op-ed that disagreed with her political positions. It was written by the president and senior vice president of think tank, Third Way.

The Third Way op-ed urged Democrats to reject populist economic policy ideas, like those espoused by Senator Warren and soon-to-be NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, because they would drive the party "off a cliff."

But surely Warren's heard that before.

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You can read Warren's full letter here,