Activist Group Protests During Fundraiser For Governor Cuomo

The Hedge Clippers activist group led a protest during a fundraiser for Governor Andrew Cuomo at the home of hedge fund billionaire Daniel Loeb in East Hampton on Saturday.

The New York City based group works to “expose the mechanisms hedge funds and billionaires use to influence government and politics in order to expand their wealth, influence and power.”

According to the group, 300 hundred activists crashed the event in order to “condemn the two leaders for advancing a conservative agenda that harms working people.”

“A top financial backer of Republicans in New York and nationally, Loeb has funded efforts to prevent higher taxes on the rich, to privatize public schools, and to block minimum wage increases, harming millions of working people in the process,” the Hedge Clippers group wrote in a press release. “With help from Loeb and other hedge fund leaders, Cuomo has worked closely with Republicans across the state to do the bidding of his billionaire donors and to undermine the priorities of progressive Democrats.”

During the protest, participants handed out golden hedge clippers as “inequality awards” and two large aerial Hedge Clippers banners flew above Loeb’s home, including one that read: “Hedge Funds = inequality.”

According to Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi: “The governor’s progressive accomplishments are nationally recognized and stand on their own. This was just some more performance art from the same paid political advocates under a different name.”

Photos: flickr.com/Erica Berger