GOP works to weigh down Obama with Corzine controversy

By Josh Lederman - 11/03/11 08:52 AM ET

Republicans sought Thursday to tie President Obama to embattled former Gov. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) — and the futures brokerage firm that collapsed under his leadership.

Corzine, who had been widely discussed as a possible Obama pick to replace Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, has taken the brunt of the blame as the firm he ran, MF Global, enters bankruptcy. While the firm's biggest troubles stemmed from overinvesting in European government bonds, regulators are also looking into what happened to hundreds of millions of dollars that have gone missing.

Dubbing him "the ex-future Obama Treasury secretary," the Republican National Committee issued a research document Thursday to call attention to the federal investigation into the work of one of Obama's top allies in the Wall Street community.

The attack on Corzine was the latest attempt by Republicans to paint Obama as inept on handling fiscal issues and incapable of pursuing the proper steps to right the economy. Republican groups have also been unrelenting in hitting Obama on Solyndra, the failed solar company that received one-half billion dollars in taxpayer loan guarantees.

The RNC document lays out the ties between Obama and Corzine both on fiscal policy issues and fundraising from Wall Street donors, arguing that Corzine's woes contribute to what they call Obama's failed record on rectifying the economy.

“In light of the FBI Investigation into Jon Corzine’s company, President Obama should immediately return the $500,000 that Corzine raised on his behalf," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement, adding that Obama talks about his campaign being funded by ordinary Americans and not those suspected of "losing hundreds of millions of dollars of their customers’ money."

Corzine has been an avid supporter of the president, and showed up on a list of donors who bundled more than $500,000 for Obama during the third quarter of 2011.

"If any individuals at MF Global are charged with wrongdoing, those individual contributions will be returned," a Democratic official told The Hill.

Corzine, who represented New Jersey in the Senate before becoming governor, is also a former CEO of Goldman Sachs and has extensive ties to the financial community.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) also jumped on Corzine, calling the downfall MF Global suffered as a result of investing in sovereign debt a symptom of Corzine believing that governments can spend unlimited amounts of money.

"How many other money managers are there with Corzine’s beliefs on the omniscience of government who are also overly exposed to Europe?" she told students at Iowa State University in Ames. "President Obama thinks we need more government control of free markets."

- This post was updated at 3:55 p.m.