The latest Business Week features an article assessing the likely impact of Sen. Chris Dodd?s pending retirement on efforts to enact financial regulatory reform.
Writer Robert Schmidt tells us:
The quick consensus is that, as a lame duck, Dodd now has far more running room to cut a financial reform deal?even if that deal ends up being tamer than he originally intended. Freed from the pressures of mounting a campaign, Dodd is less beholden to a White House demanding quick passage of the bill. He’s also freed from liberal activists demanding a consumer protection agency and from Republicans on his committee arguing that he has been merely acting tough toward Wall Street to win reelection.
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Now, with one eye on his legacy, Dodd may cut a deal to cap his three-decade tenure in the Senate. “It’s against his interest to carry anyone’s water because at the end of the day it’s his legacy,” said Sam Geduldig, a financial-services lobbyist with Clark Lytle & Geduldig in Washington.
Whatever Dodd?s thoughts about the future, the flip side of Geduldig?s comment is that many members of Congress who plan to remain on Capitol Hill next year still have an incentive to ?carry water? for various players in this debate.
If we end up with any financial regulatory reform, I wouldn?t be surprised to see a bill based on the work of ?Baptists and bootleggers.?
