Steve Kagen Wants Hearings, Prosecution On Democrats, Yes, Hell Yes!

I know, I can't believe it either.

"State reaction to bailout: 'No and hell, no'

By Ellyn Ferguson • Press-Gazette Washington bureau • September 25, 2008 " State reaction to bailout: 'No and hell, no' | greenbaypressgazette.com | Green Bay Press-Gazette

WASHINGTON — "Bailout" is a dirty word in the Badger State.
Just ask Wisconsin lawmakers who’ve gotten hundreds of calls, letters, e-mails and faxes — mostly from angry constituents upset by the Bush administration’s $700 billion proposal to rescue the financial services industry.

The feedback is especially striking because it appears to be spontaneous and not the product of an organized campaign, lawmakers and staffers said.

“Resoundingly, they are saying two things: No and hell, no,” said Rep. Steve Kagen, D-Appleton. He’s gotten about 500 letters from people in the 8th Congressional District.

Rep. Tom Petri doesn’t blame the 500 or so people in his district for their reaction to the initial 2½-page proposal by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Petri, R-Fond du Lac, characterized it as “give me some money and trust me. Don’t let the courts or anyone else review it.”

“It was blindingly irresponsible in my view,” Petri said of the early plan.

But Petri, Kagen and Wisconsin Sens. Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold said they believe something must be done to keep credit flowing and the economy working. They say whatever plan is developed must balance protections for taxpayers with efforts to revive the economy.

None of the four is involved in the negotiations taking place on Capitol Hill and at the White House. Today, the lead negotiators said broad agreement has been reached on key points. However, the plan still faces opposition from some Republicans in Congress.

So lawmakers outside the process are feeling their way.

“I think these CEO’s need to come before Congress and explain how we got in this mess — and explain their role,” Kohl, D-Wis., said in a statement. “I know they are not solely to blame. Regulators were asleep at the switch, the administration believed in letting markets run wild, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac overextended themselves and Congress failed to do adequate oversight.”

Kohl’s offices in Wisconsin and Washington received more than 3,300 calls, letters and e-mails from the weekend through Wednesday. Most came from furious Wisconsinites, Kohl said.

As a businessman and one of the Senate’s richest members, Kohl said he is “shocked and appalled that the supposed best and brightest on Wall Street allowed their companies to purchase dangerous assets that they didn’t understand.”

Feingold’s office got 6,000 constituent e-mails between Monday and Wednesday. The tide is running overwhelmingly against open-ended financial help to financial institutions. For example, the office said 18 people backed a financial bailout plan while 1,159 opposed an aid plan.

Feingold, D-Wis., has said the proposal must answer several questions for him.

“I want to know how the taxpayers’ interests will be protected, what the real cost of the plan could be, if the plan will be funded or just piled on top of our already mountainous debt, if it will include protections to prevent something like this in the future, and if the executives of the companies that are rescued by taxpayers will continue to receive multimillion-dollar compensation packages,” he said earlier this week.

Kagen and Petri say they are juggling constituent concerns.

Kagen’s economic advisory council — a cross section of business people and academics — has told him “the (financial) crisis is real and Congress has to come up with a real solution.”

I had to read the following Kagen comment twice.

Kagen thinks a final plan should include prosecution of any criminal acts that may have contributed to companies’ financial woes, as well as new regulations to prevent a recurrence of the current credit problems.

I admit, I am 100% with Steve Kagen on this. Will he investigate Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Barack Obama, Franklin Raines, Jim Johnson, and many others? All these and more are responsible for the mess we are in, Go for it Steve! Who else got us in this mess? Go Steve go!

“I’d like to be able to take a document home and review it with experts back home (before voting),” Kagen said.

Pelosi and Frank are complaining it's the republicans fault for holding up the 700 Billion spending program and Sreve Kagen wants to take it home to study, Study what? Shouldn't he be in Washington to solve this problem? Steve, Al Gore invented the internet you know.

Petri also would like enough time to review a final bailout plan and run it by constituents.

This is such a serious issue that Petri said he’s willing to vote against a plan if he does not think it is a responsible approach.

“I’d rather vote against it and then get a chance to get it right rather than pass something we would regret,” he said.

There you have it, Steve Kagen wants to get to the bottom of this. Here, here I'm with Steve Kagen on this. I call on all Americans to back Steve Kagen on the prosecution of the people who gave us this mess, bully!