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SUBJECT:
Re: Ted in TIME
PRI: NORMAL
FROM:
S
smacklera@gmail.com
DATE:
2010-04-08 13:39:30
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<z2x645f33081004080639y5bb5f146v66bf1567a8275249@mail.gmail.com>
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TO:
E
Eric Schwerin
<eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com>
CC:
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Beau Biden
<beaub@comcast.net>
H
Hunter Biden
<hbiden@rosemontseneca.com>
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"wild-haired" !! On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 9:32 AM, Eric Schwerin <eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com>wrote: > Again, it is amazing what Ted's press office is doing in your > absence! Clearly your presence there was holding them back. > > > On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 9:24 AM, Alexander Snyder-Mackler < > smacklera@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Everyone grab next week's issue! >> >> >> >> -- >> Alexander Snyder-Mackler >> (302) 598-8678 >> ------------------------------ >> *From: * "Dudley, Amy (Kaufman)" <Amy_Dudley@kaufman.senate.gov> >> *Date: *Thu, 8 Apr 2010 08:50:23 -0400 >> *To: *'smacklera@gmail.com'<smacklera@gmail.com> >> *Subject: *Fw: TIME >> >> >> -------------------------- >> Sent using BlackBerry >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From*: Seemans, Misty (Kaufman) >> *To*: TK2010 (Kaufman); 'tedkaufman@comcast.net' <tedkaufman@comcast.net> >> >> *Cc*: Connaughton, Jeff (Kaufman); Dudley, Amy (Kaufman); Goldman, Ted >> (Kaufman); Nolan, John (Kaufman) >> *Sent*: Thu Apr 08 08:37:55 2010 >> *Subject*: TIME >> >> *TIME* >> >> *The Replacement Senator Causing Democrats Fits on Financial Reform* >> >> *By Michael Scherer* >> >> >> >> As the lamest of the Senate's lame ducks, Delaware Senator Ted Kaufman >> should be coasting at this point. No matter what happens in November, he >> will be out of a job a few days later, when his two-year turn as Vice >> President Joe Biden's appointed replacement comes to an end. "I'm junior," >> the wild-haired, 71-year-old former Biden staffer admits. "I can't get more >> junior." >> >> >> >> But instead of sailing quietly into oblivion, Kaufman has decided to make >> waves. Most notably, he is challenging his Senate colleagues — and the Obama >> Administration — to get behind far tougher financial regulations than they >> have yet proposed, a move that has been unsettling to both bank lobbyists >> and White House aides. "I think most people know that I am really cranked up >> about this," Kaufman says with a smile. >> >> >> >> In late March, after most of his colleagues had split for the Easter >> holiday, Kaufman lingered on the Senate floor, waiting for his chance to >> address rows of empty chairs, a few pimple-faced pages and the C-SPAN >> cameras in his latest well-sourced broadside against the conventional wisdom >> on Wall Street and in the White House. "Unless Congress breaks up the >> megabanks that are 'too big to fail,' " he declared to an empty chamber, >> "the American taxpayer will remain the ultimate guarantor in an >> almost-certain-to-repeat-itself cycle of boom, bust and bailout." >> >> >> >> As a policy matter, Kaufman's prediction is heavily debated among >> economists. But as politics, his critique threatens to undermine the White >> House's finely tuned election-year story line. To hear President Obama or >> his aides tell it, the coming Senate debate on financial regulatory reform >> will offer a clear choice to voters this fall between most Democrats who are >> defending the interests of Main Street and most Republicans who are in the >> pocket of Wall Street. Kaufman, by contrast, argues that neither party has >> yet shown much seriousness about undoing decades of deregulation, and >> nonregulation, that created the conditions for the financial collapse in the >> first place. >> >> >> >> "Little in these reforms is really new," Kaufman says of the current White >> House–backed Democratic Banking Committee plan. He calls the provisions for >> new "resolution authority" to dissolve failing banks "an illusion," since >> the sheer size of the institutions makes painless, prepackaged liquidation >> unlikely. He worries about loopholes that exempt certain highly profitable >> derivatives from federal oversight. But most of all, he believes the current >> Senate plan, which relies on the wisdom of bank regulators, won't prevent >> another crisis. "The sad reality is that regulators had substantial powers," >> he announced during another Senate-floor speech in March, "but chose to >> abdicate their responsibilities." >> >> >> >> The White House has mostly avoided direct public engagement with its >> unlikely critic. On ABC's This Week recently, White House economic aide >> Larry Summers dodged a question about Kaufman's complaints. "Senator Kaufman >> is exactly right," he said instead, sympathizing with the concern about >> large bank failures. In fact, on whether to dismantle the largest banks, it >> would be hard for the two men to disagree more. >> >> >> >> Kaufman, who has taught politics at Duke and holds an MBA from Wharton, >> traces the roots of the collapse to what he calls the "great regulatory >> meltdown" of the past two decades, a move that was largely endorsed by >> Summers when he served as Treasury Secretary under President Clinton. But >> the Senator has been careful to avoid criticizing Democrats directly. He >> says he has not talked with the White House — or former boss Biden — about >> these issues and has only words of praise for Connecticut Senator Chris >> Dodd, a onetime champion of deregulation who wrote the Banking Committee >> bill. "We just have a very different view," he says. >> >> >> >> In his Senate office, Kaufman has stacked the latest books on the >> financial crisis on his desk, background reading for his regular trips to >> New York to meet with bankers and analysts. Financial regulation is a >> crusade he never expected to take on when he accepted his two-year posting. >> But his 32 years as a Senate aide taught him not to be discouraged by long >> odds. >> >> >> >> "One of the reasons I love this place is, I have been hanging out here >> since 1973, and you never know what's going to happen," he says. In other >> words, Kaufman is confident that the last big fight of his short Senate >> career has only just begun. >> >> >> > > > > -- > Eric D. Schwerin > Rosemont Seneca Partners > (202) 333-1880 > eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com > > -- Alexander Snyder-Mackler (302) 598-867
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