Follow along as I keep my friends and neighbors in upstate New York informed about the efforts of Congress to reform Wall Street.
Greetings to all my friends in upstate New York.
As many of you know, I've been in Washington working on a project to help bring transparency to the efforts of Congress as they attempt to reform Wall Street. The project is called Riski, and you can see it here.
I've had a chance to see first hand how the political process works and how Wall Street influences our elected leaders. And it's not a pretty picture.
I have especially sad news to relay about our congressman, Scott Murphy, who represents Dutchess county.
Contrary to his attractive rural-themed web site, Congressman Murphy has gone to Washington as a representative of Wall Street, and although he does not serve on the committee that created the new law for Wall Street, he went on the floor of the Congress and sponsored a giant loophole for big Wall Street banks.
Here is what the Huffington Post wrote about him:
Murphy (D-N.Y.) is a former venture capitalist who won a special election to replace Kirsten Gillibrand when she went to the Senate. A Blue Dog, Murphy isn't on the committee, but on the House floor he punched a gaping hole in the derivatives portion of the bill -- which was already riddled with gaps -- exempting all sorts of swaps-trading from regulation and effectively undermining the legislation.
Trillions of dollars of derivatives, which Warren Buffet has called "financial weapons of mass destruction," are traded in "dark pools" that nearly brought down the global financial system in 2008. Thanks to the frontliners, many of these pools remain unregulated in the House reform bill.
Here is the amendment that Congressman Murphy sponsored:
The Murphy amendment directly undid the work of the one of the few "good" guys in Congress Collin Peterson of Minnesota. Representative Peterson is Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, so, in addition to serving Wall Street, our congressman has crossed the chairman of the committee that rural upstaters need most: the Agriculture Committee!
I encourage you to contact Congressman Murphy and ask him to explain what this amendment does for upstate New York. And further to explain why so much of his campaign contributions come from outside of our district.
Whose interests is he representing?
Congressman Murphy's campaign contributions by zip code from OpenSecrets.org (Bolded areas are in Congressman Murphy's district -- note the amount from New York City).
The fight goes on in Washington to write new laws which creates a stable and transparent financial system. Wall Street and its influence is everywhere, even in guiding the actions of our congressman.
Please pass this on to your friends and neighbors. It's important that they hear what is happening in Washington.
Miss you all, and I'll be in touch. Best wishes for 2010.
Cate