Kapanke for Congress Press Releases
Fri, 05/14/2010 - 11:41
Kapanke Statement: Congress Needs to Cut Spending, Not Police Kids’ BMI
For immediate release: May 14, 2010
Contact: (608) 792-9669
“Do we really need Washington to have a centralized database of every child’s Body Mass Index, as Congressman Ron Kind is championing??? Of course, such a plan requires more federal government spending, not to mention expanding the scope of the federal government into something our Founding Fathers probably could never have imagined!
We need to fix Congress. We need new leadership with a different outlook on what the federal government should and should not do. Our nation has ongoing record deficits which are stifling our economy now and will crush the next generation with taxes and debt. We have nearly 10% unemployment, and job providers like Harley Davidson are considering leaving town instead of facing new taxes they can’t afford. Yet, in Congress, we have career politicians like Ron Kind scheming up new spending and bigger government at every turn.
The federal government should not be the food police business. The fix begins on election day November 2nd.”
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| Kapanke Statement Congress Needs to Cut Spending, Not Police Kids BMI_May14.2010.pdf | 224.38 KB |
Thu, 05/13/2010 - 14:22
Ron Kind: Top Wall Street Friend
AIG Even Helped Fund Kind’s Trip to Italy & Switzerland in 2006
"As our home prices plunged, families’ savings were wiped out, and retirement funds sunk, Wall Street was getting bailed out by taxpayers. Wall Street was protecting its bonuses while we were losing our jobs. Congressman Ron Kind and Wall Street are longtime partners, and each benefitted greatly from their cozy relationship. It is no wonder people have lost confidence in Congress.
If Ron Kind really wants to divest his 13 year career from Wall Street, such as his symbolic giveback of his Goldman Sachs money suggests; then he should give back the $181,600 in Wall Street money he has received." - Dan Kapanke
Kapanke New Web Ad: "Tough in Wisconsin: Good for Kind & Wall Street"
Ron Kind has received $181,600 in career contributions from Securities and Investment industries, as documented by the Center for Responsive Politics. (http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=Career&cid=N...)
Ron Kind voted for the 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act, which is widely seen as the biggest deregulation of Wall Street financial firms and is implicated as playing a lead role in the subprime mortgage crisis.
Ron Kind is the only Wisconsin politician to get a donation from Goldman Sachs, which he returned after the investment bank was subjected to Congressional hearings related to fraud.
Ron Kind has received tens-of-thousands from PAC’s funded by Wall Street financial firms that also received taxpayer bailout money, such as the JP Morgan PAC and Investment Co Institute PAC. Financial firms like US Bancorp are predominant donors to Kind’s political career.
Ron Kind voted for the $700 billion TARP bill that bailed out these same financial firms.
Ron Kind even traveled on a 2006 Thanksgiving Holiday, all expenses paid with a companion, to Italy and Switzerland. The trip was funded in part by AIG and cost $12,145.42 (2007 Jan 11 Member Travel Disclosure Form).
Wall Street bonuses up 17% to $20.3 billion for 2009 as reported by New York State’s comptroller (Reuters, Feb 23, 2010: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2324181420100223)
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| Ron Kind Top Wall Street Friend_May13.2010.pdf | 234.02 KB |
Tue, 05/11/2010 - 18:12
Financial Reform Bill Should NOT be Beholden to Wall Street
A column by Dan Kapanke, Candidate for the Third Congressional District
For Immediate Release: May 11, 2010
For information, contact: (608) 782-4326
The nation’s long economic downturn was largely brought about by Congressional rules that allowed Wall Street financial institutions to run roughshod over markets and small investors with little accountability or transparency. To bring accountability and transparency into the market, we need a financial reform bill that is not beholden to financial institutions.
The 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act (FSMA) enabled financial institutions to expand into new financial arenas, where risky investments in overleveraged markets rule the day. The FSMA legislation is implicated by many economists and experts in causing the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis. It has been criticized as “corporate welfare” for financial institutions. The FSMA legislation was deemed the most significant deregulation legislation of the past century and was supported by our Congressman, 13 year incumbent Ron Kind.
Today, Congress is looking to correct its past mistakes; but it has come at an extraordinary cost. 18 months ago, Congress voted to put up $700 billion in taxpayer money to bailout large financial institutions. Since that time, $11 trillion in household wealth evaporated, 7 million homes foreclosed, 8 million jobs have been lost, and retirement savings dwindled.
The American people should rightfully be concerned that Wall Street’s influence on Congress. This election cycle alone, the financial services sector has given its share of over $117 million to members of Congress.
Let me be clear: I support the innovation and prosperity that comes about through a vibrant, transparent, and accountable free market. However, the system we have in place now socializes risk while enabling private profit for a few. Taxpayers are on the hook, while leading Wall Street firms effectively gamble other peoples’ money with little personal risk. This year alone, bonuses were up 17% with Wall Street firms.
Financial reform legislation should address the five following components:
Enact the “Volcker Rule.” Large banks should not be in the business of using leveraged capital to engage in speculative investments, unless it is for the bank’s client. Such risky investments were prohibited prior to the 1999 FSMA and helped threaten insolvency of the nation’s banking system by reducing the separation of more traditional commercial banks from investment banks.
Prohibit future taxpayer bailouts. The Associate Press report this month affirms that taxpayers would have to front money to help “a big failing company like insurance giant AIG” under the Senate’s current proposal. Taxpayer bailouts need to be explicitly prohibited to restore appropriate moral hazard to investments.
Reverse the “too big to fail” doctrine. Portions of “Safe Banking Act” should be included in the financial reform legislation to limit commercials banks assets to 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) and non-bank assets to 3% of GDP while requiring a 16-to-1 leverage cap. These restrictions are similar to limits for traditional banks.
Reorganize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These hybrid-government organizations escalated the housing crisis. Parts of these firms should be sold off to private investors, so that competition is created and taxpayers are not left with the losses.
Credit Rating Reform. Credit ratings were inflated and centralized with too many conflicts of interest. We need to restore trust by imposing market discipline.
The failure of firms like AIG and the ethical issues involved with Goldman Sachs are alarming to taxpayers who were on the hook for $70 billion and $12 billion respectively for these firms alone. For years, we have had a complicit Congress that has shirked accountability with the bailout and limited transparency. While they have bankrolled campaigns of both parties, our Congressman, Ron Kind, was one of the largest beneficiaries. (He was the only Wisconsin Congressman to receive a contribution from Goldman Sachs.)
Accountability will only be restored when we have new leaders not beholden to Wall Street, but willing to tackle the issues that restore the power of the free market without reverting to crony capitalism.
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| Financial Reform Bill Should NOT be Beholden to Wall Street_May11.2010.pdf | 228.79 KB |
Wed, 05/05/2010 - 17:24
Kapanke Statement on Congressman Obey Retirement
For immediate release: May 5, 2010
Contact: (608) 782-4326
(La Crosse, Wisconsin) . . . “Those who have been in Congress for a long time and helped build a fiscal mess in Washington are clearly feeling that this is the year when the people will hold them accountable. After 13 years in Congress and toeing the line for Nancy Pelosi, Ron Kind also knows voters are engaged and ready for meaningful change.
I think Congressman Obey decided that he had done his time. There will be no more easy re-elections for these longtime incumbents and they are feeling the pressure. No matter how much money Congress members like Ron Kind raise from Washington, D.C. special interests, I am confident that people are engaged on the issues where that won’t matter much in November.
This is why I got into the race in the first place because Ron Kind, Dave Obey and Nancy Pelosi have taken America in the wrong direction.”
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| Kapanke Statement on Congressman Obey Retirement_May5.2010.pdf | 215.99 KB |
Tags: Reform
Fri, 04/30/2010 - 12:52
Ron Kind, Wall Street, and His Special Interest Money
For immediate release: April 30, 2010
Contact: (608) 782-4326
“As our home prices plunged, families’ savings were wiped out, and retirement funds sunk, Wall Street was getting bailed out by taxpayers. Wall Street was protecting its bonuses while we were losing our jobs. Congressman Ron Kind and Wall Street are longtime partners, and each benefitted greatly from their cozy relationship. It is no wonder people have lost confidence in Congress.”
- Dan Kapanke, Third District Congressional Candidate
On March 15, 2010 Ron Kind collected a $1,000 check from Goldman Sachs. This election cycle alone, Kind has raised more from the financial services sector ($178,200) than any other industry.
Ron Kind collected more money from Washington, D.C., based-addresses than Western Wisconsin based-addresses in the first period of the 2010 finance report. Ron Kind also collected nearly three times more through special interest PAC money than through individual contributions. Kind has raised over one-half million dollars in special interest PAC money this campaign cycle alone.
The Investment Company Institute is a top PAC donor to Ron Kind, and also is the top donor to Kind’s own separate PAC he established (Badger PAC). That’s right, Kind set up a separate PAC fund to take more money from a PAC which is largely funded by Wall Street! Who funds the Investment Company Institute that funds Kind? (http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00105981)
Example #1: A $2,000 contribution from Peter Harbeck, President & CEO of AIG’s Asset Management Corporation. That’s the infamous AIG.
There are literally hundreds of more examples of Wall Street donors that have bankrolled Kind’s campaigns. These same financial institutions that bankroll Kind’s campaign were the primary beneficiaries of a taxpayer-funded bailout that Kind supported.
Goldman Sachs and others like them are powerful for a reason; because without their Wall Street campaign funds, Congressmen Kind would have few resources to promote himself as a “reformer” of Wall Street. Is Ron Kind the reformer of Wall Street that he says he is?
Over six weeks after collecting the check from Goldman Sachs, Kind announced that he returned it, while touting that he “will continue to fight for strict regulation of big banks and Wall Street.”
Now Kind has been in Congress for over 13-years. With the biggest financial deregulation bill in a century, Kind voted for the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999. This law enabled big Wall Street firms to act as investment bankers, commercial banks, and insurance companies; while also opening the door for derivatives for all credit and equity. Economists and critics have cited this as a primary reason for our nation’s economic fallout.
When the deregulation of these Wall Street firms ran aground, Ron Kind voted for the taxpayer funded bailouts, otherwise known as TARP.
Is Ron Kind going to giveback AIG money? Or how about the hundreds of thousands of dollars he’s gotten from similar Wall Street financial firms bailed out by taxpayers, such as JP Morgan Chase? The Goldman Sachs donation is just the tip of iceberg of the Wall Street firms bankrolling Ron Kind.
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| Ron Kind, Wall Street, and His Special Interest Money_Apr30.2010.pdf | 256.27 KB |
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