I reached the campaign of MI-09 candidate Gary Peters today on where he stands on the bailout proposal that went down to defeat today. Peters is running against GOP dinosaur Joe Knollenberg in this race, one of the first tier of challenger races targetted by the DCCC in its Red-to-Blue program.
He is no stranger to the subject of economics, for in addition to holding a BA in Political Science, he also holds an MBA. He's taught in the business schools at Oakland University and Wayne State University, and currently teaches American Government at Central Michigan University.
Peters released the following statement:
This is a tragic example of how badly broken Washington has become under President Bush and Congressman Knollenberg. Instead of working together to pass a commonsense bill that protected homeowners and stabilized the financial system, political infighting created a special-interest laden bill has left middle class families holding the bag.
Given the current structure of the deal, which included bailouts to foreign banks, insufficient reforms or accountability provisions to guarantee that this doesn't happen again, and weak protections against using taxpayer money to fund golden parachutes, I would have voted no.
Additionally, Peters office provided some backround on Knollenberg's record of "achievement" in helping us get to the precipice of a disaster:
• In 1999, Knollenberg voted for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (S900) that overturned many of the provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act. (11/4/99)
• In 2000, Knollenberg voted to pass the Commodities Future Modernization Act (HR4577), which set up the unregulated trading of dangerous derivatives, including those backed by subprime mortgages. (12/15/2000)
• Even in the wake of the Enron scandal in 2002, Mr. Knollenberg voted twice to weaken the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (HR 3763) and then skipped the final vote on the bill. (7/25/2002)
While Knollenberg did vote against the bill today, here's a quote from Gary Peter's campaign manager, Julie Petrick, regarding Knollenberg's statement about his bailout vote:
"It is absurd for Joe Knollenberg to claim that he's voting to protect homeowners and taxpayers," said Julie Petrick, Gary Peters' Campaign Manager. "For the past sixteen years, Joe Knollenberg has been part of a broken system in Washington that removed the financial protections put in place after the Great Depression and that ignored this crisis even as millions of Americans lost their homes."
One has to wonder just where Knollenberg's concern was when he was voting against the financial interests of Main Street and in favor of the fat cats who broke their own system. So, all of a sudden, five weeks from an election, Knollenberg's a populist hero? Not by a long shot. We need to get rid of dangerous politicians such as Joe Knollenberg, and we need to do it now.
There is one thing you can do to help. Please stop by Gary Peters' Act Blue page, and while you're laying a few coins on our deserving Orange-to-Blues, leave Gary a few coins, too. If you need more information, please see this earlier diary.