Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole was criticized Tuesday for attempting to loosen banking regulations earlier this year at time a time when the financial crisis was growing.
Democrat Kay Hagan noted that Dole had introduced legislation that would have made voluntary, rather than mandatory certfication by CEOs and outside auditors of the internal accounting controls of banks, Rob Christensen reports.
Hagan said quoted an industry publication as saying such legislation was “supremely naive” after all all the corporate scandals.
She also said that Dole received a campaign contribution of $2,500 from Bear Stearns' PAC six days after she introduced the legislation. The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc., a New York-based investment bank, collapsed last month as part of the subprime mortgage crisis.
"Once again she is a rubber stamp for President Bush," Hagan said in a teleconference with reporters.
The Dole campaign dismissed the allegations. The loosening of standards of the Sarbanes-Oxley law had been requested by First Citizens Bank of Raleigh and supported by the state Bankers Association as a way to relieve the regulatory burdens on smaller banks, said Brian Nick, Dole’s chief of staff.
"To say that Bear Stearns some how benefited from this is absolutely preposterous," Nick said. "It shows a total lack of understanding that Kay Hagan has."
More after the jump.
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Nick said that neither of the state’s two banking giants, Bank of America or Wachovia, showed any interest in the legislation.
The Dole bill never received a committee hearing.
Hagan portrayed Dole as ineffective senator. She said that during her six years on the Senate Banking Committee she had nothing to say in 60 meetings.
Nick said it was difficult to respond to that allegation, without knowing whether Dole was attending other meetings at the time.
Hagan also criticized Dole for not spending more time in North Carolina. She referred to a story published in The Winston-Salem Journal that said that Dole visited North Carolina only 13 days in 2006 according to Senate records.
Nick said those were only tax-paid trips and did not include personal or political visits.
Comments
Re: Hagan criticizes Dole over banking bill
October 1, 2008 - 12:15am — ProctorSen. Dole has a strong and commendable record on banking oversight, and it is disappointing and surprising to see the Hagan campaign try to claim otherwise.
Sen. Dole was a leader in the Senate several years ago in recognizing and pointing out the need for regulatory reform and oversight of the sort which is now finally being discussed in both houses of Congress. Had she had more support in both parties in the U.S. Senate for her earlier analysis of structural banking problems and for her proposals to correct these systemic problems, the banking and finance sector of the American economy might not have had to face the crisis with which it now must contend.
David P. McKnight
Reform this...
September 30, 2008 - 9:00pm — scharrison"Dole was right to propose reform when she did"
I'm not really sure tearing down two regulating bodies to replace them with one of your own that can be more easily manipulated is how voters these days would describe true reform. From S.190 (2005):
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s109-190
"SEC. 301. ABOLISHMENT OF OFHEO.
(a) IN GENERAL- Effective at the end of the 180-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the positions of the Director and Deputy Director of such Office are abolished.
SEC. 311. ABOLISHMENT OF THE FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE BOARD.
(a) IN GENERAL- Effective at the end of the 1-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Housing Finance Board (in this title referred to as the `Board') is abolished."
and in place of these bodies, we would get this:
"SEC. 1311. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FEDERAL HOUSING ENTERPRISE REGULATORY AGENCY.
`(a) ESTABLISHMENT- There is established the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Agency, which shall be an independent agency of the Federal Government."
the leadership of this *replacement* agency would (of course) be chosen by the President, and he/she in turn would choose everybody else:
"SEC. 1312. DIRECTOR.
`(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF POSITION- There is established the position of the Director of the Agency, who shall be the head of the Agency.
`(b) APPOINTMENT; TERM-
`(1) APPOINTMENT- The Director shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, from among individuals who are citizens of the United States, have a demonstrated understanding of financial management or oversight, and have a demonstrated understanding of capital markets, including the mortgage securities markets and housing finance."
Re: Hagan criticizes Dole over banking bill
September 30, 2008 - 8:23pm — CitizenOpinionatedRyan:
Can you be anymore partial...seriously?
Everytime Kay Hagan opens her mouth or sends out a press release...it is run, yet in looking the Dole website, countless press releases are ignored. Unless the Dole campaign just mistakenly not sending them to you guys; I am left wondering, when you will give equal time. Dole warned against the financial meltdown three times and the need for regulation and oversight on Fannie and Freddie. These warnings were quickly negated by the Democrats and even squashed by one, Senator Charles Schumer. The same Charles Schumer that is financing Kay Hagan's campaign and the same one that received thousands in contributions from the executives and PACs of Fannie and Freddie. Essentially we are paying for the mistaes of the Democrats that are funding and strongly influencing this race, yet Hagan says it is Dole that is influenced by special interest. I guarentee you very few in North Carolina would ever vote for Schumer (Reps and Dems alike).
Honestly, if the Dems claim were true and this were the fault of the Republicans, then how come the witch hunt trials are not starting. Given the majority of the Democrats, it is a certainity that they would demand investigations.
Kay Hagan never said that Bear Stearns benefitted
September 30, 2008 - 6:38pm — betsybarnetDole's mouthpiece is just making stuff up. Gee Ryan, I'm so used to you artificially balancing your work I figured fo' sho' you'd correct Dole's mouthpiece in your post.
Oh...and Bear Stearns collapsed/was purchased by JP Morgan back in March....not last month.
Elizabeth Dole Was Right!
September 30, 2008 - 4:22pm — CarltonHSo I suppose capitalism and the free market are flawed then. Let's just take a page out of Hugo Chavez's book and propose government management of any industry it chooses. BTW Venezuela is suffering from hyper inflation thanks to the policies of Chavez, which isn't enough to deter Democrats who wish to mimic such policies here in the US.
Hagan has no room to criticize Dole since her New York sugardaddy, Chuck Schumer, was intimately involved in the efforts to block proposed reform in Fannie and Freddie back in 2005. Dole was right to propose reform when she did, and was opposed by Democrats who love to criticize Wall Street while having no problem raking in the same company's cash. I almost hope you Democrats put people like Schumer and the pride of Massachussetts, Barney Frank, in charge of our financial system so we can see how ethically bankrupt and inept they are at fixing America's problems.
"Total lack of understanding"
September 30, 2008 - 3:42pm — scharrisonIs exactly how I would describe Senator Dole's behavior by authoring and pushing this legislation. Sarbanes-Oxley was enacted specifically because companies like Enron etal demonstrated they could not and would not properly perform internal audits, and even if they did, they couldn't be trusted to properly report said audits.
If Dole had presented this legislation 3-4 years ago, it would merely have represented her flawed free-market beliefs. But by her pursuing this as recently as March of this year, in the midst of a crumbling economy due mainly to extremely bad judgment on the part of the banking industry, this shows either a total misunderstanding of what caused the current crisis or a total disregard for this country's economic health. Or maybe even both...