Tapes Show Sununu Opposing Regulation
Thursday September 25, 2008
By: Kevin Landrigan
From: Nashua Telegraph
Thursday September 25, 2008
By: Kevin Landrigan
From: Nashua Telegraph
CONCORD – Democratic Party leaders released videotapes Wednesday showing Republican U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu during 2006-07 in full-throated opposition to federal regulation of financial markets that he's now strongly promoting during his re-election bid.
"I don't see the problem as being one of a lack of regulation or the need for additional regulation in the area of particular business practices as much as it is a question of a lack of competition," Sununu said during a Senate Banking Committee hearing in March 2006.
"I think that competition is lacking in part because there are a number of barriers to entry and one of the most significant barriers to entry are regulatory. They are the barriers created, unintended, but barriers created by some of the existing regulations, and we need to look carefully at those.''
The March 7, 2006, hearing during which Sununu made these comments was on the proper level of oversight for credit rating agencies.
Sununu worked on the committee on a 2006 federal law that stiffened reporting requirements of credit rating agencies and gave better protection to investors.
Then, at the University of New Hampshire in Durham 13 months later, Sununu spoke at a lecture against more government oversight of hedge funds.
These are the unregulated, non-transparent investments that give those managing them the ability to maximize profit if they rightly bank on a stock heading for a loss or a gain.
"Hedge funds provide a very valuable role in the capital market. They provide distribution of risk in the capital market,'' Sununu said.
"If you start regulating them aggressively, you are going start to lose that flexibility, the liquidity and that innovation in the capital market that has helped provide some stability in our relatively healthy economy."
Former Democratic Party Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan said the tapes expose the one-term senator as a lax legislator who failed to bring about the tougher oversight of mortgage and insurance investments to prevent the need for an estimated $700 billion bailout.
"You've got Sununu who is trying to paint himself as someone who supports regulation when these videos show that he never did when it really counted," Sullivan said during a telephone interview. "He was standing right by while the cow left out the barn door because he had left it open."
The Sununu campaign released its own video of Sununu testifying April 6, 2005, for his legislation to tighten restrictions around Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored entities that earlier this month collapsed and required their own government bailout.
"But, at the end of the day the reason that we are here is to end up with a stronger more credible, more effective regulator so that we have a greater level of safety in these very large, very complex institutions," Sununu warned in his testimony.
Stefani Zimmerman, Sununu's campaign spokeswoman, questioned the Democratic videos as a stunt.
"For years, as pointed out by a wide variety of media outlets, John Sununu has helped lead the charge promoting regulatory reforms that could have prevented today's crisis," Zimmerman said in a statement.
"Unfortunately, Jeanne Shaheen's allies in Washington – who are scripting her economic talking points and spending millions of dollars in negative ads attacking Senator Sununu – have fought every attempt to implement these strong and fair regulations."
"I don't see the problem as being one of a lack of regulation or the need for additional regulation in the area of particular business practices as much as it is a question of a lack of competition," Sununu said during a Senate Banking Committee hearing in March 2006.
"I think that competition is lacking in part because there are a number of barriers to entry and one of the most significant barriers to entry are regulatory. They are the barriers created, unintended, but barriers created by some of the existing regulations, and we need to look carefully at those.''
The March 7, 2006, hearing during which Sununu made these comments was on the proper level of oversight for credit rating agencies.
Sununu worked on the committee on a 2006 federal law that stiffened reporting requirements of credit rating agencies and gave better protection to investors.
Then, at the University of New Hampshire in Durham 13 months later, Sununu spoke at a lecture against more government oversight of hedge funds.
These are the unregulated, non-transparent investments that give those managing them the ability to maximize profit if they rightly bank on a stock heading for a loss or a gain.
"Hedge funds provide a very valuable role in the capital market. They provide distribution of risk in the capital market,'' Sununu said.
"If you start regulating them aggressively, you are going start to lose that flexibility, the liquidity and that innovation in the capital market that has helped provide some stability in our relatively healthy economy."
Former Democratic Party Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan said the tapes expose the one-term senator as a lax legislator who failed to bring about the tougher oversight of mortgage and insurance investments to prevent the need for an estimated $700 billion bailout.
"You've got Sununu who is trying to paint himself as someone who supports regulation when these videos show that he never did when it really counted," Sullivan said during a telephone interview. "He was standing right by while the cow left out the barn door because he had left it open."
The Sununu campaign released its own video of Sununu testifying April 6, 2005, for his legislation to tighten restrictions around Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored entities that earlier this month collapsed and required their own government bailout.
"But, at the end of the day the reason that we are here is to end up with a stronger more credible, more effective regulator so that we have a greater level of safety in these very large, very complex institutions," Sununu warned in his testimony.
Stefani Zimmerman, Sununu's campaign spokeswoman, questioned the Democratic videos as a stunt.
"For years, as pointed out by a wide variety of media outlets, John Sununu has helped lead the charge promoting regulatory reforms that could have prevented today's crisis," Zimmerman said in a statement.
"Unfortunately, Jeanne Shaheen's allies in Washington – who are scripting her economic talking points and spending millions of dollars in negative ads attacking Senator Sununu – have fought every attempt to implement these strong and fair regulations."
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