Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, was interviewed by Erica Hill on The Early Show this morning. One of the more interesting things that comes out is that he calls out Rep. Elijah Cummings, Ranking Minority Member of the Committee, for trying to obstruct these hearings.
Who did House Oversight Committee Chairman – and richest man in Congress Darrell Issa - hire to spearhead his efforts to block government regulations on big banks like Goldman Sachs? None other than the Vice President of Goldman Sachs! In one of the most egregious cases of the revolving door on Capitol Hill – the former Vice President of Goldman Sachs – Peter Simonyi – left his job as a bankster – then changed his name to Peter Haller – and took a job working for Republican Congressman Darrell Issa to stop new Wall Street regulations.
ReplyDeleteIn July – Haller wrote a letter to government regulators urging them to drop new regulations against his old employer Goldman Sachs. As investigative reporter at ThinkProgress Lee Fang notes – it appears Issa has turned the House Oversight Committee into a bank-lobbying firm with the power to subpoena government regulators. Not only that – Back in 2005 – Haller used to work for the SEC – then he left to go work for Goldman Sachs so that he could lobby his former co-workers at the SEC to water down regulations. And now – he’s back working for the government trying to get rid of regulations altogether.
It’s time to slam shut the revolving door on Capitol Hill – and bolt it closed. And call out corrupt Congressmen like Issa