The following is a letter to the editor I sent to our local newspaper regarding the Elizabeth Warren/Scott Brown senate race in Massachusetts.
Scott Brown characterizes himself as a nice, bipartisan fellow. But despite this bipartisan image, Scott Brown has done a lot of damage.
Brown often uses the Dodd-Frank bill to re-regulate the banks as an example of his bipartisanship. Brown did work with Democrats on this bill, and it did pass. However, he played a very destructive role. In return for his needed vote, Brown demanded, and got, $19 billion in concessions to the banks. After the bill passed, Brown worked vigorously behind the scenes to weaken the enforcement regulations.
After the massive banking collapse at the end of the Bush administration, it was clear that some kind of banking regulation was necessary. The Dodd-Frank bill was the response to this need. Dodd-Frank is a weak bill, unlike the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act that prevented a major banking collapse for over 70 years. However, it was the best that the Democrats could do in the present political environment. Even so, rather than trying to strengthen this bill, as a strong Democratic senator from Massachusetts should have done, Scott Brown did everything he could to water it down, protecting his banker friends and donors.
Sending Elizabeth Warren to the Senate will ensure that attempts to effectively regulate the banks will have a strong advocate and not someone who, under the guise of bipartisanship, will sabotage these efforts.