Forget about the big oil, pharmaceutical and Delay donations to Sue Kelly's campaign this year. That's chump change.
Go to the FEC website [http://www.fec.gov] and take a real good look at her contributor lists for the 2005-2006 cycle. There's something in the neighborhood of $1,000,000 in direct and indirect contributions from the very entities and individuals whom Ms. Kelly is supposed to oversee and investigate as Chair of the House Financial Services Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. We're talking something in the neighborhood of 50 cents of EVERY dollar that Sue Kelly's received in the past two years!
But, when you scratch below the surface on this story, you see what all of these special interests get for their money, and it's profoundly ugly.
see the jump page...
Then again, after seeing events play out with the Foley scandal over the past month, we know all about Sue's
supposedly lacking aptitude for "oversight and investigations," based upon her documented performance (or, lack thereof) as Page Board Chair from 1999 to early 2001. Obviously, Sue Kelly doesn't understand the meaning of the word: "oversight" (except perhaps when it comes to her own fundraising interests).
"FIRST, A FEW WORDS FROM OUR SPONSOR."
Faced with the real possibility that she's going to be out of a job in a few days, her campaign is now feebly attempting to focus upon John Hall's knowledge of his own, modest mutual fund holdings in the Fidelity Magellan Fund. And, like most Americans, Mr.--soon-to-be-Congressman--Hall doesn't spend his free time reading the Fidelity prospectus' fine print from cover to cover to discern the detail of that fund's holdings. In fact, that's why most people invest in mutual funds in the first place, in good part because they appreciate the value of trusting others to pick stocks for them.
So, while Sue Kelly plays three-card-monty with the meager vapors of reality contained in her feeble blabbering about, essentially, nothing here (when it comes to her most recent and lame attempt to make a story out of John Hall's miniscule mutual fund assets), lets look at some really, really ugly facts about the quite ethically challenged behavior of the Congresswoman from New York's 19th District, specifically with regard to her campaign's own financial affairs and her daily "responsibilities" in the House of Representatives.
"CONGRESSWOMEN IN GLASS HOUSES SHOULDN'T THROW STONES."
While this diary entry focuses upon Sue Kelly's total, gross sellout to the very special interests within the financial services sector whom she's supposed to objectively "oversee and investigate," it also touches upon her quite lame attempt to make an issue in the final days of the campaign of about, literally, $11 in profits which opponent John Hall earned via his ownership of a few shares of the popular Fidelity Magellan Fund.
The reality is that one doesn't have to look far--just by browsing through the FEC reports, themselves--to see that Congresswoman Kelly cannot even properly account for $111,544 in loans that she's personally had on the books of her campaign committee since she was first elected to office in 1994! The following link is but one of numerous reprimands Ms. Kelly has received over the years from the FEC during the six terms she's been misrepresenting us--and they're ALL for the same transactions in 1994! And, yes, if you look at the numbers here, they're for quite a bit more than John Hall's $11!
http://images.nictusa.com/..._
WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT A MEASLEY $50k OR $100k. THIS IS ABOUT $1,000,000, OR, ABOUT HALF OF ALL OF SUE KELLY'S MONEY.
For starters, if it wasn't for the extremely blatant and ethically questionable support she receives from the financial services sector due to severely compromising her elected position (I can think of an adverb or a noun I'd like to use here relating to one of the world's oldest professions, but I wouldn't want "Shameless Sue" calling me shameless now, too) as the lead person responsible for policing the financial services sector in the House of Representatives, Sue Kelly would have little or no financial support to further her own highly questionable and self-serving political agenda.
AND YOU THOUGHT THE PAGE BOARD SCANDAL WAS BAD?
Ms. Kelly has such a brutally GROSS track record with regard to the financial services sector's free-for-all (supposedly) under her watch, just over the past couple of years--never mind looking much farther back than that, where, much like the way that certain members of the House treated Pages from 1999 to early 2001 under Sue's oversight--so much debauchery has occurred (remember, we're talking financial services now, not Pages) this writer doesn't know where to begin!
KELLY'S COMPLETE LACK OF OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATORY CAPABILITIES.
But, history will judge Kelly's tenure of "oversight and investigation" of the financial services sector as being one where--much like her stint at the Page Board--there simply was NONE (or, giving her the benefit of the doubt, pathetically little effort at oversight and accountability, at best). Earlier in October (last month), it became common knowledge that we couldn't trust her when it came to her oversight of our adolescents. Now, it's also quite apparent that she's lacking basic ethical and accounting skills when it comes to looking after our money, too! (Sue, again, we ain't talkin' no $11 here.)
THE REAL ISSUES AT HAND WHILE SUE'S BEEN ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL.
The reality of the Financial Services Committee, and its various Subcommittees, is that it affects almost everything related to money and finance within our society. Housing, healthcare, student loans, credit, consumer finance, and a variety of other, related matters are all governed by Subcommittee Chair Sue Kelly and two or three other senior members of the of the Financial Services Committee . Unfortunately, unlike sex with adolescents, it's much more difficult (and time-consuming) for a voter to wrap their brain around complex financial services-related issues such as:
I. Gross misdirection of emphasis on consumer healthcare funding
Fostering the very false and damaging impression that Healthcare Savings Accounts (HSA's) are "the future" for affordable health insurance: _
-- the dangerous focus upon healthcare savings accounts (HSA's) that is now sweeping the business community and being touted as a panacea for the U.S. worker's fight against rising medical costs, when the HSA is really an inappropriate and severely inadequate replacement for a national healthcare plan;
[http://www.familiesusa.org/...]
II. Unbridled industry increases in the cost of consumer credit
_Skyrocketing consumer interest rates have as much to do with government policies as they do with the economy:
-- there's been a 150% increase in consumer credit card interest rates over the past two years, alone; [http://news.yahoo.com/...]
III. Ruthless support of the payday lending industry
Lax payday lending industry regulations that enable vulture lenders to capitalize on the poorest segments of our society:
-- egregious, anti-consumer payday lending policies harm our servicemen and women and many others among the poorest in our society;
[http://www.dailykos.com/...]
IV. Unregulated, explosive growth of the critical hedge fund sector
A hedge fund industry that's been allowed to run wild, and to potentially create a threat that could undermine our entire economy:
--also reference, elsewhere, soon-to-be-Governor Spitzer's efforts in this regard, over the past few years;
[http://www.sec.gov/...]
V. Ongoing, heartless support of insurers at almost everyone else's gut-wrenching expense
So-called oversight of an insurance industry that rapes and pillages its policyholders in their time of greatest need:
-- last year was marked by an unprecedented series of natural disasters in the U.S., most notably by Hurricane Katrina; did you know that under Sue Kelly's "watch," it was also a year for record insurance industry profits, too? [http://dailygotham.com/...]
VI. Focusing upon failed, terrorism-related financial initiatives while ignoring just about everything else
And, maybe worst of all, allowing almost all of the primary activities of the House Finance Committee (and its subcommittees) to be bogged down in terror-related issues, while almost totally looking the other way on a variety of key subjects that are pertinent to the basic well-being of our society:
-- instead, focusing upon, among other terror-related issues, multi-billion-dollar, government-funded, terrorism insurance subsidies that actually encourage businesses to not do a damn thing to protect the American public against terrorism (to name just a few matters on Kelly's REAL agenda).
[http://www.boston.com/...]
WE'VE ALL BEEN GETTING SCREWED BY SUE'S "OVERSIGHT." WE JUST DIDN'T KNOW IT.
Yes. These matters all take a back seat in the minds of the typical voter (if the voter even attempts to understand them, at all), at best. After all, what's easier for the public to understand in their customary, microscopic-dose of current events: a little of the ole' predatory "in-out" with an adolescent House Page, or the real, bottom-line, business reason as to why a small, properly-placed package of Semtex at an unguarded chemical plant in Linden, New Jersey could wipe out a million New Yorkers today (more than five years after 9/11); and, all because Sue Kelly's House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations has been looking the other way while simultaneously footing a multi-billion-dollar boondoggle for the insurance industry? [NOTE: There is argument on both sides of the aisle with regard to the value of these terrorism insurance policies, but no matter what the result, it's self-evident that nothing will happen unless it's in the best interests of the status quo.]
Taken together, when looked at as the sector which is directly under Ms. Kelly's oversight, there's a lot more than just a few dozen Pages that have been getting screwed due to our esteemed congressperson conveniently looking the other way at the most opportune moment(s)!
THE WORLD'S OLDEST PROFESSION.
And, the reason she looks the other way is because she's PAID to do that. (See sampling from Sue Kelly's contributor list, below. I don't even bother to list the individuals'/executives' contributions, or the healthcare/benefits sector's underwriting of Ms. Kelly's current career, but those two additions would more than DOUBLE the dollars listed below.)
WHAT WAS ONCE 'A CONSPIRACY OF BRIBERY' IS NOW JUST "BUSINESS AS USUAL."
In another time, or in another place, this would all be called: "a conspiracy of BRIBERY," with Sue Kelly as the prime benefactor. But, it's 2006, and the Republicans have been in power in Congress for 14 years. So, now, we just call it: business as usual. But, in the end, as we're beginning to hear the term more and more these days, it's the middle class that pays the freight. The little people, like you and me and most of the voters in New York's 19th Congressional District. We are the ones getting squeezed.
JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM; SUE KELLY'S BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY THE VERY ENTITIES WHOM SHE'S SUPPOSED TO OBJECTIVELY OVERSEE AND INVESTIGATE!
But, don't take my words for this. Let's just deal in substantiated fact. Just look at the list below. It represents just a small sampling of the financial services contributors to Ms. Kelly's campaign fund over the past 24-month FEC cycle. This partial list amounts to almost $500,000, and it's less than half of the actual industry "contributions" of which I now speak. Forget about big oil. Forget about the pharmaceutical industry. And, forget about the Delay money! THIS is the real, truly disgusting story of Sue Kelly's ethically challenged actions, right here, for all the world to see:
[NOTE: When you add the individual contributors from the FEC list (i.e.: executives and advisors to these listed and related firms, as well as all of the money flowing through to Sue from the corporate benefits/healthcare space, it eclipses $1,000,000, or more than *HALF of all contributions that Sue Kelly's received in the past two years), as well as the entities and individuals that benefit from Kelly's lack of oversight of the financial issues relating to the healthcare insurance industry, this is what you get.]
*JUST A SELECTION OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES SPONSORS THAT BRING YOU SUE KELLY!
[Note: this list does NOT include approx. $250,000 in related, financial services executives' individual contributions--folks that contributed "independently" of their respective companies; nor does this list include hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from healthcare/medical insurance entities; and, it does NOT include most real estate industry-related donations. Together, with those lists, it is estimated by this writer that we're talking about, approximately, $1,000,000 in campaign donations to Sue Kelly just in the past 22-month FEC cycle.]
ACE FINANCIAL SVCES. 4500.00
AEGON INSURANCE 4500.00
AFLAC 6000.00
ALLIED CAPITAL 6000.00
ALLSTATE INSURANCE 3000.00
AMERICA'S COMMUNITY BANKERS 2000.00
AMERICA'S HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS 1000.00
AMERICAN BANKERS ASSOCIATION 10000.00
AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LIFE INSURERS 7000.00
AMERICAN FINANCIAL SERVICES ASSOC. 2500.00
AICPA 4000.00
AIG INSURANCE 1000.00
AMERICAN INSURANCE ASSOCIATION 2500.00
AMERICAN STOCK EXCHANGE 5000.00
APPRAISAL INSTITUTE 1000.00
ASSURANT INSURANCE 6000.00
AXA EQUITABLE LIFE 3000.00
BANK OF AMERICA 13500.00
BEAR STERNS 4000.00
CAPITAL ONE 3500.00
CASH AMERICA 4000.00
CBOE 3000.00
CHUBB CORP. 3500.00
CHICAGO MERCANTILE EXCHANGE 2000.00
CITIGROUP 2000.00
COMPASS BANCSHARES 2000.00
CONSUMER DATA INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION 2500.00
COUNCIL OF INSURANCE AGENTS & BROKERS 8500.00
COUNTRYWIDE 1000.00
CREDIT SUISSE FIRST BOSTON 2000.00
CUNA 5000.00
DELOITTE & TOUCHE 10000.00
E-TRADE 1000.00
EQUIFAX 4000.00
ERNST & YOUNG 10000.00
EXPERIAN 5000.00
FINANCIAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION 2000.00
FINANCIAL SERVICE CENTERS OF AMERICA 5000.00
FINANCIAL SERVICES ROUNDTABLE 4000.00
GENWORTH FINANCIAL (GE) 4000.00
GOLDMAN SACHS 5000.00
GUARDIAN LIFE 2000.00
H&R BLOCK 2000.00
INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY BANKERS (ICBA) 5000.00
INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENTS AMERICA 10000.00
INSTINET 1000.00
INVESTMENT COMPANY INST. 4500.00
J.P. MORGAN CHASE 4650.00
KEYCORP 2000.00
KNIGHT TRADING 1000.00
LEHMAN BROS. 1000.00
MANAGED FUTURES ASSOC. 2000.00
MASS MUTUAL 5000.00
MERRILL LYNCH 2000.00
MET LIFE 4000.00
MORGAN STANLEY 6500.00
MORTGAGE BANKERS ASSOCIATION 7000.00
MUTUAL OF OMAHA 2500.00
NADA 10000.00
NASDAQ 4000.00
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FCU's 2500.00
NATIONAL ASSOC. OF INS. & FIN. ADVISORS 5000.00
NATIONAL ASSOC. OF R. E. INV. TRUSTS 9000.00
NATIONAL ASSOC. OF REALTORS 5000.00
NATIONAL CITY BANK 2000.00
NATIONAL MULTI-HOUSING COUNCIL 7500.00
NEW YORK LIFE 9000.00
NORTHWESTER MUTUAL INS. 2000.00
NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE GROUP 2000.00
OPPENHEIMER FUNDS 4000.00
PHYSICIAN INSURERS ASSOC. OF AMERICA 1500.00
PRICE WATERHOUSE COOPERS 8000.00
PRINCIPAL LIFE INSURANCE CO. 2500.00
PROFESSIONAL INSURANCE AGENTS PAC 3000.00
PROPERTY CASUALTY INSURERS ASSOC. 3000.00
REAL ESTATE ROUNDTABLE 10000.00
REINSURANCE ASSOC. OF AMERICA 3000.00
SECURITIES INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION 7000.00
SECURITY TRADERS ASSOCIATION 1000.00
ST. PAUL TRAVELERS INS. COS. 3500.00
THE BOND MARKET ASSOCIATION 2000.00
TITLE INDUSTRY PAC 2000.00
TRANS UNION 4000.00
UBS AMERICAS 10000.00
WACHOVIA BANK CORP. 5500.00
WALMART STORES 5000.00+
WASHINGTON MUTUAL 2000.00
WELLS FARGO REAL ESTATE FUNDS 2000.00
ZURICH (INS.) HOLDING CO. OF AMERICA 3500.00
TOTAL OF THIS PARTIAL LIST $378,150++
APPROX. TOTAL OF FINANCIAL SERVICES
SR. EMPLOYEES' INDIVIDUAL DONATIONS $125,000
APPROX. TOTAL OF HEALTHCARE/INSURANCE,
AND REAL ESTATE ENTITIES AND
EXECUTIVES DONATIONS TO SUE KELLY
FOR CONGRESS CAMPAIGN DURING
2005-2006 FEC CYCLE $500,000
APPROX. GRAND TOTAL OF
"ETHICALLY CHALLENGED"
DONATIONS RECEIVED BY
SUE KELLY IN 2005-2006,
WHILE SHE WAS RESPONSIBLE
FOR OVERSEEING AND INVESTIGATING
THESE FOLKS $1,003,150
+=Wal-Mart wants to be in the financial services sector, too.
++=Together with the individual contributions from identified financial services industry employees in Sue Kelly's FEC Report for 2005-2006, the total is approx. $500,000 in donations from that sector. The amount of campaign funds that Sue Kelly received from real estate industry and healthcare industry companies and employees totals approximately the same amounts attributed to "financial services" entities and employees listed here. Together these industries comprise the primary business sectors which Sue Kelly is supposed to regulate, oversee and investigate in her roles as Chair of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, and as Vice Chair of the House Financial Services Committee.