A Newsbite Specifically For Nan Hayworth

From today's Wall Street Journal:

A major task for the next Congress will be rewriting the laws governing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and House Republicans have now won a seat at that table - which makes it all the more important that their seat not be occupied by Members who were once powerful defenders of the toxic mortgage twins.

AMEN!

The destructive duo [of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] were long protected by a bipartisan phalanx of Members, and a core group of Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee were among the guardians. They include Gary Miller of California, Randy Neugebauer of Texas and Spencer Bachus of Alabama.

GARY MILLER... RANDY NEUGEBAUER... SPENCER BACHUS...

REMEMBER THOSE NAMES, FOLKS...!

Mr. Bachus is worth special mention because he has the seniority to succeed Mr. Frank as Chairman of Financial Services. Yet when other Republicans, including the Bush Administration and Senator Richard Shelby, were trying to reform Fan and Fred during the last decade, Mr. Bachus was on the wrong side of the debate.

IN THAT CASE BACHUS SHOULDN'T EVEN BE REAPPOINTED TO THE COMMITTEE - LET ALONE ALLOWED TO BECOME THE COMMITTEE'S CHAIRMAN!

In 2005, other Republicans offered amendments on the House floor to rein in the companies' mortgage-backed securities portfolios; eliminate their ability to borrow from the Treasury; kill an increase in the size of mortgage loans that the companies could guarantee; and strengthen their capital requirements. Mr. Bachus voted against every one.

In 2007, after Democrats had taken the House, Randy Neugebauer, a leading ally of Spencer Bachus, joined with Democrat Melissa Bean of Illinois to...gut the power of Fannie's regulator to limit its risky mortgage portfolios. [This amendment to a so-called "reform" bill] passed 383 to 36, with Mr. Bachus voting with the majority, while even Mr. Frank voted "no" to honor [a previous] deal [made] with [then Secretary of the Treasury Hank] Paulson.

In 2008, the OpenSecrets blog that follows campaign contributions reported that Mr. Bachus was the single largest House recipient of campaign cash from Fannie and Freddie from 1989-2008. Only Senators Chris Dodd, Barack Obama, John Kerry and Utah Republican Robert Bennett received more than Mr. Bachus's $103,300.

SOUNDS TO ME LIKE BACHUS SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO HAVE ANY INSTITUTIONAL POWER IN THE NEW CONGRESS!

Mr. Bachus now says he's a born again reformer, and most of his subcommittee chairmen are supporting his attempt to become Financial Services Chairman.

SCREW BACHUS AND SCREW THESE UNNAMED SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRMEN!

We [here at the WSJ] think the best choice to run Financial Services is California Republican Ed Royce, who was right all along about Fannie and Freddie.

Republicans need a spokesman who is going to do more than take dictation from Wall Street in return for campaign cash. Mr. Royce is more likely than other Republicans to speak up for taxpayers and free markets, not merely for financial businesses that claim to represent markets but are really speaking for their own self-interest.

[I]f [the GOP] wants to do better in the 112th Congress than they did the last time they squandered their majority, they need leaders who are genuine reformers, not spokesmen for crony capitalism.

HEAR, HEAR!

NAN... I SURE HOPE YOU'RE PAYING ATTENTION...

NAN... YOU RAN FOR THE JOB AND WON... NOW IT'S TIME TO BE YOUR COLLEAGUES' KEEPER. IT'S UP TO YOU AND THE OTHER "GOOD REPUBLICANS" TO KEEP RINOs LIKE BACHUS, NEUGEBAUER, AND MILLER AWAY FROM THE LEVERS OF POWER.

I'M COUNTING ON YOU, DOC!