There's A Serious Culture Of Corruption At The Intersection of Wall Street And The House Financial Services Committee

Republicans and "Democrats" from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party are drawn to the House Financiall Services Committee like flies to shit. It's the congressional honeypot through which millions and millions of dollars in bribes moves from Wall Street into the political system every year. The banksters and their lobbyists pay big money to the members of the committee for their... cooperation. Most of it goes to the corrupt Republicans but some of it goes to the corrupt Democrats who beg to be on the committee as well. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) is the chair and the only member of the House who has taken more in direct bribes from Wall Street than ole Jeb-- $7,851,498-- is Speaker and former Banking Committee Chair Paul Ryan ($12,130,498). The other biggest criminals on Financial Services are Ed Royce (R-CA-$7,335,907), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY- $5,802,677), Jim Himes (New Dem-CT- $5,798,121), Steve Stivers (R-OH- $4,596,677), Patrick McHenry (R-NC- $4,476,742), Ed Perlmutter (New Dem- CO- $3,591,708), Brad Sherman (D-CA- $3,544,653) and Gregory Meeks (New Dem-NY- $3,233,288). That's since 1990. Last cycle the biggest bribes to committee members went to this dozen gaggle of arch-criminals:

• Ed Royce (R-CA)- $1,407,949
• Patrick McHenry (R-NC)- $1,381,400
• Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)- $1,285,895
• Steve Stivers (R-OH)- $1,166,020
• Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)- $1,059,132
• Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ)- $1,003,940
• Jim Himes (New Dem-CT)- $980,035
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)- $935,569
• Bruce Poliquin (R-ME)- $929,124
• Lee Zeldin (R-NY)- $919,241
• Sean Duffy (R-WI)- $878,176
• French Hill (R-AR)- $862,962

And which committee members have put their asses up for rent the most so far this cycle? The half dozen worst on the committee, at least so far (they're just getting started):

• Ann Wagner (R-MO)- $694,400
• Patrick McHenry (R-NC)- $555,056
• Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)- $475,358
• Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ)- $471,096
• Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)- $457,850
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)- $442,558

Should every single one of them be thrown in prison? Yes. Key thrown away? I'll hold the keys. Are there any honest members of the Financial Services Committee, people drawn to it to actually do good? Yes, like 3. The most recent Dems to grease there way on are as crooked as the Republicans, starting with "ex"-Republican (now Blue Dog) Charlie Crist as well as Blue Dog Vicente Gonzalez (TX).

When the Democrats win back Congress in 2018, Maxine Waters, the banksters worst nightmare, will take over as chair. How will she be as chair of the committee? Well... she just introduced a new bill to break up big banks that abuse their customers. Think of Wells Fargo as a perfect example. There's no way Señor Drain the Swamp would ever sign it if it-- the Megabank Accountability and Consequences Act-- ever got out of committee and onto the floor and through the House and Senate, but, in never-never-land, her bill would give federal banking regulators the power to break up big banks that have records of customer abuse. Waters has her eyes on Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank and Bank of America as the potential targets. "Rampant violations of consumer protections by megabanks," she said, "are just as consequential to a megabank’s safety and soundness as capital levels or other indicators of bank health. My bill ... will require federal prudential banking regulators to fully exercise their authorities and shut down megabanks that repeatedly show indifference toward consumer protection. It’s time to hold these financial institutions accountable and put people over profits."

The only Dems on the committee to co-sponsor were Keith Ellison (MN), Al Green (TX) and Mike Capuano (MA). No Kyrsten Sinema? No Jim Himes? No Charlie Crist? No Josh Gottheimer? Well, you can knock me over with a feather! Other co-sponsors (not on the greed and selfishness committee) include Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). I reached out to Pramila to get her always -valuable perspective:

We need to protect American consumers from predatory megabanks. By selling working families bad deals, these banks have been preying on innocent families for far too long. Operating a bank and serving the public is a privilege, not a right. When banks like Wells Fargo consistently flout the law, inflicting serious pain on the American people, there must be consequences. The Megabank Accountability and Consequences Act will allow us to bring accountability to megabanks that repeatedly ignore consumer protection. Supporting this bill is about standing with the people whose credit scores have been ruined, whose cars have been repossessed and whose homes have been foreclosed on because of predatory behavior from megabanks.

Since one of the megacrooks for the megabanks is Ed Royce of Orange County, I asked the progressive Democrat running against him, Sam Jammal, how he would differ from Royce when it comes to bank regulation. "I would start by actually doing the job on behalf of families in the 39th district,"he told us today, "not Wall Street. Ed has a long career of being a yes man for whatever the big banks want. He was an advocate for bailing out Wall Street and opposes any new regulations aimed to stop another financial crises. In many ways, he has made a career in the aftermath of Dodd-Frank to undercut enforcement and rules meant to prevent another crisis. That doesn't work for families who lost their homes in the Great Recession, seniors who lost their 401(k)s or small businesses who don't otherwise have a voice in DC when pitted against the big banks. Ed has a long career of sounding reasonable, but consistently voting to consolidate the power of the largest interests. This doesn't work for our families. We need to vote him out and have someone focus on helping families, not the big banks."

South of Royce's district, but still in Orange County, Mimi Walters represents, but doesn't live in, CA-45. Kia Hamadanchy, who worked on banking issues in the Senate at one time, is running for the seat Walters is occupying. He's aware she functions as a rubber-stamp for Trump and Ryan. "Mimi Walters has shown time and time again," he told us, "that she doesn't care about the interests of consumers and if she had it her way they would be deprived their day in court when they are ripped off by institutions like Wells Fargo. She's also for removing every rule we have in place to protect from the unchecked greed and worst impulses of Wall Street. That would take us right back to the Wild West environment with out banking system that was the cause of the financial. I believe that it is critical that not only do we need to keep these rules in place, but that we need to take additional steps to protect the safety and soundness of financial system and further protect consumers."

Future Financial Services Committee bribe takers?