Peter Schweizer's Blog, page 8

STOCK Act Faces Uphill Battle, And Doesn’t Go Nearly Far Enough

MSNBC offers an important analysis of what is going on in Washington over the problem of congressional insider trading.  As they point out,  the big problem is going to be enforcing the law.  The bottom line however is that the STOCK Act in my opinion does not go nearly far enough.  It will not stop lucrative IPOs which are simply a form of legal bribery,  and the act will do nothing about land deals.   And do we honestly think that the Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC) or any agency is going to take on a powerful member of congress?

Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch: Ban Congressional Insider Trading

Ed says:

“Many voters also see members of Congress as knaves. Witness the recent piece on60 Minutes on CBS-TV about two weeks ago reporting on members of Congress who, while enacting laws bearing upon the stock market, used inside information — not available to the public — to purchase or sell stocks, making profits in the millions in some cases. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was alleged to be one such member. Apparently, members of Congress are not subject to insider information restrictions that apply to everyone else. It seems to me there is an easy way to prevent that abuse. Congress should require its members to place their stock portfolios in blind trusts, so members cannot use their insider information for themselves or others. Also passing whatever laws are needed to apply existing insider information rules to Congress, as well as the public.”

The full story is here.

Be Sure To Watch The O’Reilly Factor Tonight

I will be appearing with Steve Kroft from “60 Minutes.”

My Response To Senator John Kerry: No Retraction

The Boston Herald has it here.

Some Recent Interviews And Media Coverage: CBS News, Hannity, MSNBC, Beck, And Others

If you are interested,  here are links to some interviews from my very busy week.

 

On Morning Joe responding to Cong. Bachus.

Fox and Friends TV.

Radio interview with Hannity is here.

Great time on Laura Ingraham’s radio show.

Gov. Sarah Palin’s interview with Hannity:  read Peter Schweizer’s book.

Glenn Beck radio is here.

WLS radio Chicago is here.

A shout out on CNN about my “bombshell book.”  Thanks!

With Eric Bolling on Fox Business Channel.

Fox:  sending shockwaves through Washington.

Movement On Capitol Hill

 

Cong. Ron Paul calls for prosecution and Senator Joe Lieberman wants hearings.

After first attacking me, Cong. Spencer Bachus now says he wants to hold hearings.

Senators call for insider trading laws on congress.

 

Congressman:  Your kidding me,  this is legal? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bill Introduced In Senate To Outlaw Congressional Insider Trading On Same Day Book Is Released

What amazing timing…Kerry Picket of the Washington Times shows the affect we are having in Washington:

In the same week that the New York City Police Department moved in on Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters along with the city’s sanitation department, Hoover Institution fellow Peter Schweizer rocked Capitol Hill with his new book “Throw Them All Out.”

OWS supporters believed their movement against the bank bailouts and their support of many fiscal liberal causes would have a deep impact in the minds’ of lawmakers who would respond to the numerous occupy demonstrations across the United States. However, as the crimes and drug use associated within the occupy encampments continued to grow, their already vague message became marginalized. In the end, their encampments were dismantled, the protesters were evicted by the order of local liberal mayors, and nothing politically changed after two months of living in squalor among each other. The New York City Sanitation Department was finally able to disinfect Zucotti Park.

On the other hand, Mr. Schweizer, with the help of his research team, after two years of exhaustive data mining, managed to disinfect Capitol Hill and place sunlight on the fact that members of Congress do not have to play by the same insider trading laws that every other American must abide by. He showed how lawmakers on both sides of the aisle make millions by knowing how legislation they are involved in crafting or blocking will affect stocks they either buy or dump, for example.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, is on the defensive over a huge profit she and her husband made through Visa stock they bought. House Speaker John Boehner, Ohio Republican, was trading healthcare stocks during the 2009 health care debate. Bothe denied that their legisaltive actions on the hill had anything to do with any of their financial decision making.

As a result of Shweizer’s book, two bills in both chambers are already circulating around hill which would prohibit lawmakers from financially profiting from insiders’ information from legislative activity they’re involved in. Not bad for an author whose book has only been out for two days.

International Coverage: Australia’s National Paper Weighs In

The Australian files this report today,  penned by Nico Hines, the Washington correspondent.  It starts:

WHILE the financial crisis rages around them, leading US politicians are accused of making millions of dollars through loopholes in insider-trading laws and lucrative land deals assisted by government funding.

Members of congress, who are worth more than $US2 billion ($1.94bn) between them, increased their personal fortunes by almost 25 per cent between 2008 and last year, a period marked by falling stockmarkets and investor confidence.

In Throw Them All Out, a book published in the US overnight, Peter Schweizer argues the political class enjoys a legal framework that allows members to make multi-million-dollar Wall Street deals free from the scrutiny of insider-trading laws or conflict-of- interest legislation.

“There’s a huge problem of self-enrichment,” Schweizer said. “Politicians tend to be extraordinarily good in terms of their stock picks so you have to conclude that these are brilliant people or something’s afoot.”

Newsweek Profile: “The Wonk Who Slays Washington’

A profile of the book, me, and the findings,  by Peter Boyer.  It starts:

In the Spring of 2010, a bespectacled, middle-aged policy wonk named Peter Schweizer fired up his laptop and began a months-long odyssey into a forbidding maze of public databases, hunting for the financial secrets ofWashington’s most powerful politicians. Schweizer had been struck by the fact that members of Congress are free to buy and sell stocks in companies whose fate can be profoundly influenced, or even determined, by Washington policy, and he wondered, do these ultimate insiders act on what they know? Yes, Schweizer found, they certainly seem to. Schweizer’s research revealed that some of Congress’s most prominent members are in a position to routinely engage in what amounts to a legal form of insider trading, profiting from investment activity that, he says, “would send the rest of us to prison.”

 

Newsweek: How The Pelosi IPO Deal Went Down

Be sure to read the great follow-up reporting from Newsweek on how Congresswoman Pelosi and her husband got those IPO shares.  It was all part of an effort by Newsweek to court Pelosi.  Clearly this was all about who she was as a politician.  They got special treatment.  This is wrong.

The story is here.   A teaser:

“The effort began in earnest in late 2007. Ogilvy, one of Visa’s outside lobbying firms, picked off one of Pelosi’s government-affairs advisers, Dean Aguillen, who had close ties in the speaker’s office. Aguillen quit the speaker’s team and went to Ogilvy in December 2007. By law he was unable to lobby his former boss for a year, but he immediately registered to lobby Congress on the credit-card issue, offering guidance to other lobbyists on Visa’s team during strategy sessions, according to a lobbyist present in strategy deliberations.

Separately, Pelosi’s husband, Paul, a major investor in California, got a lucrative phone call—a pre-screen invite in March 2008 to take part in Visa’s $17.9 billion public stock offering, at the time one of the hottest stock offerings in an otherwise soft market. The initial-public-offering price was $44 per share and was limited to institutional investors and a group of specially selected individuals. Almost $18 billion was made available in public stock to preselected investors. Paul Pelosi made the cut.

Paul Pelosi initially bought 5,000 shares at the $44 initial price. Within a couple of days, the shares’ value soared to $64. Paul Pelosi purchased 15,000 more shares over the next three months, at much higher prices. The total quantity was valued as high as $5 million, according to the then-speaker’s financial-disclosure form. In late 2008, when the stock market soured, Pelosi sold 1,000 of the first IPO shares for a meager profit of $2,500 to $5,000, records show. He has kept the other 19,000 shares, which now are valued at $95 each.”