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GOP Turns Table, Demands All Corresponednce Between SEC And White House, Democrats Or Congressmen
Even as the GOP has gotten some harsh words for having its two SEC commissioners side with Goldman in the recent vote to press charges against the squid, Darrell Issa has decided to turn the tables, and is demanding all correspondence between the Syndicate Encouraging Corruption and "White House aides, Democratic Party committee officials, or members of Congress or their aides" Politico reports. The reason - Issa is asserting that Friday’s fraud filing against Goldman Sachs raises “serious questions about the Commission’s independence and impartiality.” On the other hand, letting rampant corruption run amok and unobstructed on Wall Street with or without any form of regulatory framework (as worthless and totally corrupt as Dodd's bill is) does not seem like such fair exchange to us.
From Politico:
“[W]e are concerned that politics have unduly influenced the decision and timing of the Commission’s controversial enforcement action against Goldman,” Issa writes, saying President Barack Obama’s push on Wall Street reform “neatly coincided with the Commission’s announcement of the suit.
The letter is also signed by Republican Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Jason Chaffetz of Utah, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, Dan Burton of Indiana, John Mica of Florida, Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri, Aaron Schock of Illinois and Anh “Joseph” Cao of Louisiana.
And White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel told Charlie Rose on Monday: “[E]verybody at the White House found out like everybody else, when it hit the news. … Nobody at the White House knew anything ahead of anybody else. … I think what's more important is not this particular case or what SEC did. The need for this reform has existed for over a year.”
Full letter via Politico:
April 20, 2010
The Honorable Mary Schapiro
Chairman
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
00 F Street Northeast
Washington, D.C. 20549
Dear Chairman Schapiro:
The timing of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (the “Commission”) filing of a civil securities fraud action against Goldman Sachs & Co. (“Goldman”) has created serious questions about the Commission’s independence and impartiality. The Goldman litigation – filed by the Commission on Friday, April 16, 2010 – has been widely cited by Democrats in support of the financial regulatory legislation currently before the United States Senate. We are writing to request that you provide documents and information to this Committee regarding any sort of prearrangement, coordination, direction from, or advance notice provided by the Commission to the Administration or Congressional Democrats regarding last Friday’s filing against Goldman. The American people have a right to know whether the Commission, or any of its officers or employees, may have violated federal law by using the resources of an independent regulatory agency to promote a partisan political agenda.
The Commission’s canons of ethics require its members to “reject any effort by representatives of the executive or legislative branches of the government to affect their independent determination of any matter being considered by the Commission.” Moreover, the Commission is prohibited from using its resources to influence the passage of legislation.
Nevertheless, the events of the past five days have fueled legitimate suspicion on the part of the American people that the Commission has attempted to assist the White House, the Democratic Party, and Congressional Democrats by timing the suit to coincide with the Senate’s consideration of financial regulatory legislation, or by providing Democrats with advance notice. In fact, the aggressive campaign by Democrats in support of the legislation neatly coincided with the Commission’s announcement of the suit. For example:
--The Commission approved the Goldman suit in a vote that spit along party lines – a rare occurrence for approvals of enforcement litigation.
--Before the Commission had released its announcement, the New York Times published on its website a story describing the suit.
--Less than half an hour after the Times story’s publication, Organizing for America, the successor organization to Obama for America and now a project of the Democratic National Committee (“DNC”), sent millions of supporters an e-mail message from President Obama urging support for “Wall Street Reform.”
--Within hours, the Democratic National Committee had purchased AdWords advertising from Google, Inc. The DNC’s Google campaign fundraising advertisement, headed “Fight Wall Street Greed,” appeared whenever a user ran a Google search for the phrase “Goldman Sachs SEC.” It read, “Help Pres. Obama Reform Wall Street and Create Jobs. Families First!” and included a link to www.BarackObama.com, the website of Organizing for America.
--Democrats in Congress and the Administration have heralded the Commission’s suit against Goldman as a welcome boost to their case for the legislation.
--Members of the media have already begun to question the timing of the Commission’s suit and the actions of the Democratic National Committee.
As supported by the Commission’s canons of ethics, and as frequently reiterated by you and other Commissioners, the unqualified independence of financial regulators is crucial to the health of the financial system and the U.S. economy. For this reason, doubts about whether the Commission has scrupulously guarded its independence from the Administration’s partisan political agenda and concerted efforts to manipulate Congressional action are very serious, and should be addressed with full transparency.
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal oversight committee in the House of Representatives and has broad oversight jurisdiction as set forth in House Rule X. In light of the circumstances described above, and the need for the Commission to avoid even the appearance of bias, please provide the following records and information as soon as possible, but in no case later than 5 pm EST on Tuesday, April 27, 2010:
State whether any Commissioner or Commission employee communicated regarding the Commission’s suit against Goldman, prior to the public announcement of the suit on April 16, 2010, with any of the following:
--Any employee of the Executive Office of the President;
--Any employee of the Democratic National Committee or Organizing for America;
--Any employee of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee;
--Any employee of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; or
--Any Member of the Senate or the House of Representatives, or any employee of the Senate or the House of Representatives.
Identify every person who sent or received any communication described in request no. 1.
Identify all known communications by any Commission employee or employees with The New York Times or other news outlets prior to the Commission’s public announcement of the suit. If you are unaware of any such communications, please certify as such and explain what steps the Commission has taken to identify any individual(s) who may have engaged in unauthorized disclosure of information.
State whether Commission Chief of Staff Didem Nisanci or Senior Adviser Kayla Gillan engaged in any communication with any individual in the subcategories listed in request no. 1 between March 1, 2010, and the present, and identify any other member of the Chairman’s staff who engaged in any such communication.
Provide all records and communications referring or relating to the communications described in requests nos. 1, 3, and 4.
For purposes of responding to this request, the terms “records,” “communications,” and “referring or relating” should be interpreted consistently with the attached Definitions of Terms.
In requesting records and information relating to the Commission’s suit against Goldman, We make no judgment regarding the suit’s legal merit. However, we are concerned that politics have unduly influenced the decision and timing of the Commission’s controversial enforcement action against Goldman.
The American people have a right to know whether the Commission, or any of its officers or employees, have attempted to use their positions to help President Obama and Congressional Democrats pursue their legislative agenda and seek victory in the 2010 Congressional elections. If, however, the appearance of coordination between the Commission’s Goldman suit and Democrats’ partisan activities is merely the result of coincidence and extraordinarily fast political reflexes, disclosure should offer the commission the best opportunity to address outstanding concerns. In either case, we look forward to your timely production of records and information in response to this letter. If you have any questions regarding this request, please contact Christopher Hixon with the Committee staff at [redacted by POLITICO].
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Bingo. At least these guys have some comedic value.
The best "regulation" is punishment, which all branches of government including the judicial refuse to do. If they would punish the evildoers (not the country-club punishment), there would be no need for a new new new law. Same with immigration. Nothing inherently wrong with the laws on the books, save for refusal to enforce. When they do wrong, the suits should go to jail.
The gubmint flat our refuses to enforce the laws they enact, and then point to the fact that people are breaking the laws as reason to create yet a new law. They somehow think that the punishment for breaking the law is a new law that won't be enforced. It's all extend and pretend.
When I say punish, I mean punish. I get tired of the prosecutions they do where the perp only has to pay back some 10% of the money and no or little jail time. That's not justice, it's tyranny. Why not take it all, including the mantlepiece urn with their mothers' ashes, which is what they did to the people they swindled? Madoff's wife can live in a blue-collar neighborhood the rest of her life. It didn't do the rest of us any harm to live simply.
Somehow our butt-kissing leaders seem to think that the buck stops at death. If you murder someone and get away with it, it's worse than if you plunder someone's life savings and get away with it. Is murdering someone not technically the same as making them live through the loss of everything they gained in life, and in many cases forcing those who are unable to go back to work to live in abject conditions the rest of their lives? Give the Madoffs of the world mandatory maximum sentences and loss of 125% of all they own, or electric chair therapy, and watch our financial system reform itself overnight.
You missed (ignored, avoided?) the point which is that its more profitable to not enforce the law and spend time and money drafting new legislation and generating fees than it is to "do the right thing." Sadly, its all about the Benjamins. These guys, in general, come from a legal background and then go right back into it in some capacity.
"End corruption! Or at least let me participate..." is their rallying cry. The system is sick and cannot survive on its own as a result. The question is, how much longer before it reaches critical mass (a la Icelandic volcanoes)?
Did I?
Say...what's the going rate on the lawyers who write these laws? Law writing is a profitable enterprise from what I understand.
To sum it all up...couldn't it be said that the job of a lawyer is to protect the profession of a lawyer?
Of bread and circuses........
Better than Monty Python, and just as absurd.
Until GS, et al, change their business models, all becomes exclusively entertainment.
Kabuki Theater
Interesting. This request seems like a politically motivated move as well, no?
Shocked! Shocked I say!
Why not query all correspondence between Darrel Issa & Goldman Sachs and between Issa & the Republicans on the SEC commission?
Coming later this week or early next.
Won't be surprised if the panel subpoenas itself before this is all over.
Exactly.
Issa would have gotten a whole lot more mileage out of this by demanding all e-mails between the Obama Administration, the Federal Reserve and Goldman regarding AIG.
This move is political Kabuki Theatre, and Issa should be embarrassed.
holy cow! you are right man! a politician using politics to call another politician political!!@ this issa, dangerous man.
GOP needs their GS teat to suck on.
"Don't kill the golden cow, Demmies!" they whine.
What are you talking about?? Put down the kool-aid pal. Anyone who thinks it's the Repub's that don't want real financial reform doesn't do their homework.
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=d000000085
http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=F07
CPJ, You are responding to a person that can't even spell.
Truant he is fer sure. Hope the school calls his folks.
Next lawsuit: Gov't accuses *SEC* of fraud.
Lawsuit after that: U.S. gov't *itself* is accused of fraud.
There is no end to this...
Banks
Investment firms
Rating agencies
FNM/FRE
Frank/Dodd
Greece
Fed interest rate policy
I'm sure it goes much, much higher...
Govt lawsuit against god for making men in HIS image- greedy?
The coverup is usually worse than the crime.
Isn't that the truth.
Heaven forbid we actually concentrate on the fraud issues. Who cares what the White House motivation was when we are dealing with such an important issue. This is why I am an independent. Obviously these two political parties have never heard the expression "two heads are better than one".
I think this reform bill is toothless and if that were the Republican's motive for this PR move than I could concur however it seems protectionary to me toward the financial industry and that I cannot tolerate.
You dont need reform. Just prosecution of existing laws.
Maybe reinstate leverage limits and glass stiegel...
Yeah because the SEC's action against GS is really all about exposing fraud and punishing GS.
Get real, Shaprio is the same clown who broke the same 2-2 party lines deadlock on the alternative uptick rule.
Perhaps the first step is to stop confusing the SEC action against GS with a legitimite attempt to adress with Wall Street fraud. OMG they may have been less than forthright about CDOs? Are we supposed to take this seriously in light fo the daily nonsebnse that occurs on Wall Street?
This "important issue" is a smokescreen to lull sheeples into thinking Obama, the wall street candiate, is really looking out for the common man. Its analagous to the health care reform, which soaked up attention and deflected vitrol from the real issues the USA faces.
"Chris Whalen has some good insight over at Institutional Risk Analytics. Chris writes that in 2004 the SEC released some advise on the world of structured finance “focused almost entirely on protecting the dealers from reputational risk and not on protecting investors.” He writes:
Yves Smith has started a list of other cases to be looked into, however, the SEC remains a captured regulatory agency. The Goldman case is a hope for the beginning of restitution, but only a beginning."
http://www.newdeal20.org/2010/04/19/fabrice-tourre-as-scooter-libby-9901/
Now it starts looking clearer, what the game plan is...
They'll dance with GS and there will be a bit of hand-slapping. GS will take it on the chin for the entire industry. The storm will pass and no one else will be held to account because the GS test was already performed. Sigh.
Everybody around the world now sees just what kind of people are in charge of the United States. There will not be any credibility or trust in our markets--indeed, in the entire system. Let this ship of state sink.
Assholes.
Dear Fearless Leader,
For above cited reason is why the dollar fall and US markets under-perform global brethren. Capital flow to most accommodative host.
Grateful Peasantry
I was wondering when the GOP would wake up to the latest political football known as financial reform. Touche Obama.
Yeah it took awhile, didn't it?
Let me write that headline:
Issa Bitch Slaps Obama and the Administration Goldmanites
Film at 11... Go Darrell...
Issa is not the GOP. multi millionaire. the guy created Viper alarm systems and doesnt need GS teet. he is one of the very few good guys and a not a RINO party line asshat douche monkey
"RINO party line asshat douche monkey"
Nice. May I borrow that eloquent and accurate line?
No, he just belongs to the same clubs and hobnobs with the Goldmanites so he will try to do them a favor just like every other politician. Look, the only people who are making sense on the issue of reform are the people out of government. Don't listen to ANYONE who is elected or appointed by someone elected or related to someone elected. Its the kiss of death.
Serious questions about the "timing?" How many more years does Issa think the SEC ought to wait before it does anything at all against anybody? What a ridiculous complaint. Who CARES if it's politically motivated, as to "timing?" At least it's something. Also, if any private suits are going to follow, they need to get the program on the hurry-up.There are statutes of limitation on fraud actions, after all, and 10b-5 uses the "storm warning" test to trigger the statute, usually about 3 years after reasonable suspicion. We ain't got forever, Darrell, ya numbnuts. Go sell some cars and get the frick out of the way.
"Timing" relates to the past 9 months the SEC has been sitting on this.
More on timing later...
Let's cut out 10-15 years of unpleasant litigation, prosecutions and politics. I propose we send 90% of Wall Street and 90% of Congress to prison, send 5% of each to permanent exile in some f'd up country, exonerate 2% and simply lose track of the other 3%. We then apologize to the world for defrauding them (with the expectation of reciprocity for their own frauds and thefts), devalue the dollar by 99%, repeal every law enacted since 1928 and start getting on with our lives.
Any takers?
I like your plan, but it is incomplete. After we finish what you suggest, we hold new elections, and take all the winners and do the same thing with them, because clearly they all would have been hoping to be as useless and co-opted as the batch you already dumped. Rinse and repeat that a few times, and we might finally be able to elect some public servants in the truest sense of the word.
Excellent. Rinse, repeat, and a whirl in the dryer for good measure.
"Let us start our Republic, with a chain of drug stores, a chain of grocery stores, a chain of gas chambers, and a national game. After that we can write our Constitution." The Seventh Book of Bokonon.
Forget elections.
Grab random dudes off the street for a 2 year "sentence".
Extraordinary rendition, straight to DC. Ship their families along with them. Pay them $80K a year + benefits and they just do the job. After 2 years kick them out and send them home with travel money.
Exact same for the POTUS, except the pool of candidates have to all be children.
Or we could make con-gress part time. There's no reason we need new laws every month/year. Just make-work crap to pretend show the voters that they are useful, when it's all for special interests and mostly destructive.
One month per year, hammer out a budget and go home. Propose new laws only once every 4 years. Just a thought.
And we should be able to dissolve and recall Congress at any time like parliament can be dissolved in most other democracies. I used to think that procedure created instability, but I now see that our system creates entrenched corruption and absolute unresponsiveness to voters.
Grabbing random dudes off the street is exactly what the GOOOH party is trying to accomplish. Putting normal people in office, not career politicians.
Check it out GOOOH.com
Stands for Get Out of Our House.
Shorter GOP/Issa: The answer is still No.
Since Wall street stopped donating to the Dmeocrats I thought the GOP was going to lay down and allow the "Republicans are in bed with Wall Street" meme to be written. I did not expect this.
I'm sure this will slow down financial "reform." Just reenact Glass-Steagall already.
It is all political BS to blow smoke before Fall elections.
Let us not forget that for every dollar a big boy made from the crash another big boy lost that dollar from the crash. The lost dollar boys are not going to stop until they are repaid. The lost dollar boys are very powerful also, they too are of the oligarchy. The LDBs' blame GS, JPM, BA, CITI, etc. for tricking them out of their money. Read all the emails you want Issa, you'll never see the order being given to use the SEC to attack Goldman. How much money do you think Paulson has paid so far to still be breathing?
What would you do if someone stole 5 billion from you and you knew they were?
Never ask questions you don't know the answer to. The first law of trial tactics.
Goldman and its GOP morons are playing with fire.
When was the last time the GOP did anything of policy substance? It's meaningless political stunts 24/7 with these guys.
Not to say Democrats don't play constant politics too, but I can't even think of a current GOP idea right now. I guess "no financial reform" is the big idea this week. Next week, who knows? These guys have been completely at sea since the '06 election.
Paul. Ryan.
Paul. Ron.
"unqualified independence of financial regulators is crucial to the health of the financial system and the U.S. economy. For this reason, doubts about whether the Commission has scrupulously guarded its independence from the Administration’s partisan political agenda and concerted efforts to manipulate Congressional action are very serious,"
POLITICAL PARTY TIME EXCELLENT:
http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2009/03/commissioner-cox-partytime-ex...
So the Democrats are the party of Goldman sachs, Issa was one of the few who stood up against the bailouts. Now the Obama people want to go after Goldman, -on a pre financial crisis complaint- and Issa says, wait a minute? But Issa is something of a headhunter, and he hates party politics, but not enough to run as an independent. He is Lebanese, and still has family back there, which also suggests his love of AIPAC is not shared with his fellow Congressmen.
Most of this is probably grandstanding. The man has ambition.
We've gone from Bread and Circuses to just Circuses.
rahm is a lying piece of shit ballerina fruitcake with tourette syndrome.
I think that's really being too kind.
Google "goldman sachs sec", the number one and only paid link is to the barackobama.com fundraiser site for the Dems, SEC action is just another misdirection, unless anyone thinks they are now competent enough to take on GS in court. Good luck on that.
So yes timing of the Dems buying the keywords to the announcement is curious, and why should the 2 GOP go along with their fundraising scheme. This is more likely an attempt to stickup Goldman for even more money than they gave BHO before the election, look for Mary "Someone throw me a frickin bone here" Shapiro to settle for the staggering sum of $1M. The rest of the banks will be stuck up one at a time or possibly en mass.
Carry on.
I love the way these guys are all trying to take the high road and point the finger at each other. Truthfully, I don't trust any of them, but I trust the Republicans less after watching Mitch McConnell do the Kentucky two-step the other day in response to questions about his connections (as in $$) to big banks and hedge funds.
Still looking for bushies WMD`s too !!!!!!!!!!
idiot, back to your rock.
Weren't the Goldman Gang big contributors to the Dems? Go figure. Point is that the SEC's suit just happened to hit the press at the same time that O and his scurrvy crew are dropping the big push for Wall Street regulation. Some might view this as collusion between the SEC and the Whitehouse, but it ignores one other party ... You could make an argument that this is Goldman taking one for the team so that they can get the legislation through subito. The Squid plays along because, as in any other transaction they do, they know the end game ... they pay a fine, say a few soothing words that show some remorse, and then sit back as O's Crew proceed to dismantle the remaining competition that has kept the Squid from attaining world domination.
OT,
I've had it with Denninger. The moron is going off on thinking Issa is talking about insider trading. This continuing melt-up has rotted Karl's brain.
IMHO, he has lost it.
denninger ... lost it a couple years ago. now trying best he can to bury himself deeper in self importance crapola.
So... this is what Lloyd told Mitchy boy to do eh?
Dems have 7 more months of stupidity ... then all hell breaks loose
EURO continues to get a lot of support ...
But USD index weekly chart continues to give bullish warnings.
Euro chart:
http://www.zerohedge.com/forum/latest-market-outlook-0
democrats has seven more months of stupidity along with the double mix of political bobbie twins
2X stupid = 500 clowns to the right clowns to the left .
for as long as the last many years ,
stupid on stupid = putrid