Eric Cantor takes Wall Street job. Will he ever run for office again?
| Washington
Former House majority leader Eric Cantor has a new job 鈥� he鈥檚 going to work on Wall Street. Late Monday news leaked that ex-Representative Cantor (R) of Virginia has , a boutique investment bank formed in 2007 that has some 500 employees around the world.
Cantor鈥檚 base salary is $400,000 a year, per details gleaned from Securities and Exchange Commission documents by Business Insider. He gets $1.4 million in signing bonuses of cash and stock this year, plus $1.6 million in incentive pay for next year.
Add it up, and over the next two years 鈥淐antor is looking at a cool $3.4 million,鈥� .
That鈥檚 a lot more than the $193,400 Cantor made as majority leader, until he was deposed in a primary this year by tea party-backed insurgent candidate David Brat. It鈥檚 also 26 times the average annual income in his old Richmond-area district, .
Given that, is it safe to assume his career in electoral politics is over? Probably. There鈥檚 been some talk that he might run for Virginia governor or some other high office but 鈥渂anking鈥� isn鈥檛 the greatest thing to have on your resume if you鈥檙e running for higher office, given the finance-driven economic collapse of a few years ago.
Plus, the wealth aspect of Wall Street work would get a lot of mention from opponents if Cantor ever ran for anything. Ask Mitt Romney how that plays out. Nowadays big bucks are a target for both Democrats and populist-oriented GOP tea party factions.
鈥淭he 鈥榣ibertarian populists鈥� 鈥� who claimed vindication when Cantor was defeated by a tea partyer who attacked Cantor鈥檚 crony capitalism and coziness with Wall Street 鈥� will have a lot of fun with this one,鈥� on his 鈥淧lum Line鈥� blog.
What鈥檚 thus beginning is Cantor鈥檚 new career as an inside-game political figure. He鈥檚 been hired for his connections and expertise about the workings of the House as much as for any inborn financial acumen. That鈥檚 a story as old as government, and Cantor鈥檚 embrace of his new status should come as no surprise. Cantor has long championed Wall Street鈥檚 interests on the Hill and banks and financial firms in turn poured money into his campaign coffers.
Plus, his wife used to work at Goldman Sachs, and he spends lots of time in the Hamptons. He鈥檒l fit right in.
