WASHINGTON -- Activists waging a campaign to make those who gained as a result of the savings and loan crisis pay for the multi- billion dollar bailout, said Friday just 13 of the 50 House Banking Committee members had voting records defending taxpayers on S&L-related issues.
But, 17 committee members have earned enrollment in 'The Sleazy 17' for what the activists call their strong anti-taxpayer and pro-S&L biases.
The scorecard, issued by the Financial Democracy Campaign, a coalition of labor, religious, civil rights, community and rural reform groups, is 'a timely reminder to all members of Congress of citizen outrage at the cost of the S&l bailout,' said Maud Hurd, a co-chair of the campaign and national president of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).
'As members of both Houses continue to wrangle about the president's latest request for more bailout money, the scorecard offers citizens a yardstick to assess whether banking committee members have voted for the interest of taxpayers or with the financial industries.'
The scorecard examines 10 votes by banking committee members from the first session of the 101st Congress, when legislators took up President Bush's S&L bailout legislation, the Financial Institutions, Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act.
The legislation was an effort by Congress to come to terms with the growing knowledge of the extent of the crisis -- by some estimates a scandal that will cost taxpayers some $1 trillion to pay for -- by re- regulating the industry.
'Each of the votes represented a clear choice for Banking Committee members,' said Tom Schlesinger, director of the Southern Finance Project. 'They either aligned themselves with taxpayers or with the S&L industry and the financial industry in general.'
The votes cover a broad range of amendments offerred in committee to rollback deregulation, increase the capital standards for savings and loans, improve banking laws aimed at ending the practice of redlining, initiate new affordable housing activities in the industry and expand consumer participation in the industry.
Just four members received 100 percent votes -- Chairman Henry Gonzalez, D-Texas, and Reps. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; Bruce Morrison, D- Conn.; and Richard Neal, D-Mass.
Nine others had good enough votes, 80 percent or above, to be considered the 'Thrifty 13' -- Reps. Joseph Kennedy, D-Mass.; Gerald Kleczka, D-Wis.; Mary Rose Oakar, D-Ohio; Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.; Bruce Vento, D-Minn.; Peter Hoagland, D-Neb.; Richard Lehman, D-Calif.; Kweisi Mfume, D-N.Y.; and Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
The 'sleazy 17' included three members who received zeros -- Reps. Richard Baker, R-La.; Al McCandless, R-Calif.; and Norm Shumway, R- Calif. -- and 14 who received scores under 25 percent, including Reps. Doug Barnard, D-Ga.; Steve Bartlett, R-Texas; Jim Bunning, R-Ky.; David Dreier, R-Calif.; John Hiler, R-Ind.; Bill McCollum, R-Fla.; Thomas Ridge, R-Pa.; Patricia Saiki, R-Hawaii; Bill Paxon, R-N.Y.; Frank Annunzio, D-Ill.; Elizabeth Patterson, D-S.C.; Stan Parris, R-Va.; Cliff Stearns, R-Fla.; and Stephen Neal, D-N.C.
