The Longview Daily News picks up a
story about the connection between K Street and Wall Street that makes one wonder just how much money Republicans are making by controlling Congress.
U.S. Rep. Brian Baird on Friday stepped up his "crusade" to ban congressmen, their staff and a small circle of investors from profiting by lawmaker decisions not yet made public.
Baird said an article last spring in The Hill, a D.C. newspaper devoted to covering Congress, drew his attention to firms that pass "political intelligence" gathered on Capitol Hill to Wall Street investors.
The Hill story appeared in February this year. Who heard anything about
this?
Lobbyist Elliott Portnoy knew his inside information would have an effect on Wall Street before he hung up the phone. The New York-based client on the other end listened a few seconds and then excitedly translated Portnoy's news. "Go short!" the client yelled to his trading staff, according to Portnoy, who heads up the public policy practice at Chicago-based Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal.
With Congress passing laws the financial sector opposes, Wall Street "seems to be coming back [to Washington] with a vengeance," said Collender, who used to work as an analyst at Price Waterhouse and advised Wall Street clients such as Smith Barney on what Washington was up to. Social Security reform, which promises huge returns for Wall Street, and tax-cut efforts have contributed to the rise in interest in Washington, Collender added. "The information helps them figure out what the right trade is tomorrow," Collender said. "Even a 10-minute heads-up can be critical."
Given Sen. Frist's insider trading troubles it would be nice if we saw some MSM attention to this issue. There is a good reason for elected officals to have true blind trusts.
Rep. Brian Baird is my Representative here in WA-03 and I am lukewarm about him. However, he did vote against the authorization to use force in Iraq and now he is pursing the ethics issue like all good Democratic officeholders should.