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On financial reform, Kanjorski gets an indirect Obama boost (Updated)

Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-11) received something of an indirect boost from the White House Thursday when President Obama proposed measures to restrict the size of financial institutions, an effort that echoes legislation Kanjorski has been pushing for some time. Coming as he faces attacks from a primary opponent who accuses him of being too close to Wall Street, the president’s seemingly new-found interest in the “too-big-to-fail” issue could help Kanjorski undercut any perception that he’s coddling the financial sector.

And five weeks after a bill with Kanjorski’s amendment passed the House, the longtime incumbent wasted no time in noting that Obama had picked up on his idea.

“I applaud President Obama for joining me in working to end the era of reckless financial institutions that have become so large and interconnected that they could be deemed ‘too big to fail,’” Kanjorski said in a statement. “In November, I took the first action in Congress to prevent companies from becoming too interconnected and risky by introducing an amendment, which was included in the House-passed Wall Street reform bill, to prevent companies from becoming ‘too big to fail.’ Now that the President has put forward a similar proposal, I hope that we can work to enact Wall Street reform that will better protect every American and ensure that no single company can pose a risk to the entire economy. We owe it to the American people to make these ideas a reality.”

From his powerful perch atop the House Financial Services subcommittee, Kanjorski has often been an easy target for opponents seeking to paint him as tied to moneyed special interests. But while Obama did not cite Kanjorski in unveiling his own proposals Thursday morning, he did hand Kanjorski a political shout-out in calling for measures to “limit the size and scope of financial institutions and better protect taxpayers by preventing companies that are deemed ‘too-big-to-fail’ to exist.”

A Kanjorski-sponsored amendment in legislation that passed the House last month would give federal regulators the power to dismantle large financial firms that could possibly disrupt America’s economy, even if those firms are currently stable.

“We’ve come through a terrible crisis,” Obama said. “The American people have paid a very high price. We simply cannot return to business as usual. That’s why we’re going to ensure that Wall Street pays back the American people for the bailout. That’s why we’re going to rein in the excess and abuse that nearly brought down our financial system. That’s why we’re going to pass these reforms into law.

“Never again will the American taxpayer be held hostage by a bank that is ‘too big to fail,’” he added.

Earlier this month, Lackawanna County Commissioner Corey O’Brien, who’s challenging Kanjorski in the May primary, made clear that he plans to frame the incumbent as a friend of Wall Street, not Main Street.

“He hasn’t supported working families in our region because he is too busy protecting Wall Street,” O’Brien told pa2010.com. “I think you’re going to find that I’ve raised most of my money from Main Street. The people who believe we need a new vision, a new leadership in our district … those are the people who are funding my campaign.”

At the time, a Kanjorski campaign spokesman scoffed at the criticism and pointed to the financial reform proposals that would be echoed by Obama Thursday.

“That is empty negative rhetoric and O’Brien knows it,” spokesman Ed Mitchell said. “If Congressman Kanjorski has not supported working families then why has O’Brien so strongly supported him for reelection up till now? Why has the labor movement overwhelming backed Kanjorski if he’s such a foe of working people? If the Congressman is such a supporter of Wall St, why is he leading the way in the subcommittee he chairs for tighter regulation and reform of banks and the investment industry?”

Kanjorski also took to the airwaves Thursday to talk up the issue, appearing on CNBC even before Obama’s news conference.

“There are no guarantees in life,” he said, “but if this is properly and fairly implemented, I think it’s a tool that will only be helpful to our system and to the entire world economic system.”

UPDATE: A Kanjorski spokeswoman points out that, while the president didn’t mention the congressman on Thursday, both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank did.

January 21, 2010 at 8:17 pm

--Peter Panepinto

Tags: Corey O'Brien, PA-11, Paul Kanjorski

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