Out government has become just a giant grift, hasn’t it?

Baldwin co-owns a $1.3 million DC penthouse condo with her partner, Wall Street private wealth management adviser Maria Brisbane but hasn’t included any of their jointly owned assets on her financial-disclosure reports — despite reporting the assets of her previous partner. In fact, Brisbane has never appeared on the senator’s reports.

The 2015 Tammy Baldwin might have objected to this arrangement.

[…]

Brisbane is the founder of Brisbane Group, whose archived website from when it was at Merrill Lynch (archived at the end of 2023) claimed to “enhance performance” by investing in “small biotechnology” companies.

Brisbane previously managed a “biotechnology mutual fund” at Merrill Lynch, where she was said to have an appreciation for cutting-edge research that informs her current investments in biotech companies. Brisbane is also on the Cancer Research and Treatment Fund board of directors, who “rapidly deploy funding to the frontlines of research.”

[…]

Baldwin said she “met privately” with US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to “make a final pitch” for Wisconsin to win the Phase 2 Implementation Grant as a Biohealth Tech Hub.

The Wisconsin senator’s role in securing funding for biotech companies is no secret.

Baldwin also chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, which manages appropriations for the National Institutes for Health.

In 2018, a biotech CEO thanked Baldwin for her “support” after her firm received an award from one of the relevant NIH programs. That CEO, Ayla Annac, contributed nearly $4,000 to Baldwin, including more than $1,000 in the months before and after she thanked Baldwin. Baldwin also included Annac in the Business Leaders for Tammy coalition one month before the CEO thanked the senator for her help.

This is a really simple story. Baldwin’s partner – with whom she lives and shares a life – makes a very good living advising small biotech firms and their investors. Baldwin uses her position in government to help decide which firms will receive taxpayer-funded grants, protections, favoritism, etc. When the firms Baldwin supports get a pile of money, so do the investors and the person who advised them… Brisbane.

This is an old school Chicago-style grift.