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Posted on 11/13/2011 11:36:21 PM PST by STARWISE
Updated: 10:30 p.m.
Members of Congress may be personally profiting from insider information they gather while legislating, according to a “60 Minutes” report that aired tonight.
A segment on the long-running TV news show noted that insider-trading laws do not apply to Members of Congress, highlighting several suspiciously timed deals in which lawmakers profited.
The examples came from Peter Schweizer, a research fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution think tank at Stanford University, but “60 Minutes” said it verified all of the information in them.
* Rep. Spencer Bachus bought stock option funds that would profit if the market crashed just before the financial meltdown of 2008. As then-ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, the Alabama Republican had received closed-door briefings from then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on the impending financial crisis. His office issued a statement saying he never trades on non-public information.
* Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), then House Minority Leader, bought stocks in private health insurance companies in the days before the government-run public option was removed from the Democratic health care overhaul bill. A Boehner spokesman said a financial adviser he consults once a year makes all of his investment decisions.
“I have not made any decisions on day-to-day trading activities in my account and haven’t for years,” Boehner told “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft during a news conference last week. “I do not do it, haven’t done it and wouldn’t do it.”
* House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her husband participated in an initial public offering from Visa when she was Speaker, around the time that legislation affecting credit cards was being considered in the House. Pelosi told Kroft at a recent news conference that the idea that those were related was a “false premise.”
“I will hold my record in terms of fighting the credit card companies as Speaker of the House or as a Member of Congress up against anyone,” she said.
The report also highlighted real-estate deals tied to earmarks secured by former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).
A senior GOP aide defended Boehner, saying that his opposition to the public option was a natural policy position favored by conservatives and that it was removed from the health care bill after infighting among Democrats.
“The idea that the Republican leader in the House opposed the ‘public option’ — policy favored by the left of the left — for personal profit is, frankly, stupid,” the aide said.
A source familiar with the issue said that Boehner’s investments in health care came at the behest of his financial adviser, who also recommended a suite of other “blue-chip stocks” to replace a retirement fund associated with his former business.
In a statement today, Pelosi’s office said that her husband’s participation in the Visa IPO was not “preferential” and came at the recommendation of his broker at a Wells Fargo in San Francisco.
Her staff added that Schweizer has previously written books criticizing liberals.
“It is very troubling that ‘60 Minutes’ would base their reporting off of an already-discredited conservative author who has made a career [out of] attacking Democrats,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said in the statement.
He added that the credit card legislation mentioned in the piece was reported out of the Judiciary Committee while the House was “consumed” with the Troubled Asset Relief Program bailout.
Hammill also said that the House passed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights in September 2008, a proposal that became a law in the next session of Congress, along with the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, which limited credit card fees.
True enough .... beyond outrageous!!!
How does Congress investigate itself when there’s NO law against it, conveniently engineered by them?
We watched it and al but a scant few are crooks, filling their own pockets with inside information.
The converse side of this is that lawmakers share inside information with lobbyists from Wall Street, who pay for it with campaign contributions.
Is anyone surprised? I’m not surprised. It’s not like this is “totally unexpected”. I’m just glad they have exposed this with such details.
I can name one example off the top of my head that’s got to be in this book, and if it’s not it should be — the ties between Homeland Security Personnel and the makers of the Airport “Naked” Scanners that received the job (which union are they?). Those people involved made a LOT of money there - AND did it by violating the public’s rights to privacy and safety.
If Martha Stewart went to jail, you can bet these folks deserve to be there for a lot longer than she was... It’s not like these were one time situations either — I’d bet you could charge these members of Congress as a group with the RICO Act.
EXCELLENT! That’s the type of off-the-cuff accusation and denial that’s fun to read, isn’t it? I hope she’s worried.
Folks should get in touch with Patrick Fitzgerald in the US Attorney’s Office in Chicago — they could presumably nail her with Fraud in regards to Obama and/or ACORN. It has been rumored by Hillary’s supporters back in 2008, that Fitzgerald had information that even named Pelosi and Obama in conjunction with the Blagojevich (sp?) investigation/trial.
Why are they allowed? Because we allow them.
They deny the claims??????
I’m SHOCKED.....SHOCKED I tell you.
How could these vicious people attack the integrity of these “wholesome and good” politicians?
/sarc
Am recalling this from memory, so may not be completely correct.
During the 1980s this came up and Congress was forced to write themselves into not being exempt from the laws they enacted. Not certain when they re-exempted themselves.
Of course it’s insider trading. Duh.
If there is or is going to be a ping list for this subject matter, please add me. Great job pulling all the links/info together. After listening to Steven Bannon’s interview of the author and a few others last night, there should be lots of stuff coming out. Kudos Starwise.
I’m just hearing about all this. I’ll remind myself that this is CBS, then start reading.
Now we know why Mr. $$$$mith goes to Washington and does everything he can to $tay there.
perfect.
Why are they allowed? Because we allow them.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
They are ‘allowed’ because the ONLY constant here is
“THEY are all a bunch of crooks. No good, lying thieves that should be strung up. Congressman, Senators, Pols in general, Lobbyists, Teachers etc etc
EXCEPTING,
of course, MINE, who is a straight shooter.”
That train of thought keeps the same old dead wood in office.
Pelosi may be "above the law" but I doubt that applies to her husband. Martha Stewart was jailed for a lot less. Let Mr. Nancy Pelosi feel the heat.
The Clintons come to mind.
How ‘bout those cattle futures, Hillary ?
Sure, goes along with the long recorded history of people voting themselves out of millions of dollars.
Time to hire gallow builders.
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