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| Walz gathers input on Wall Street reform bill |
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Posted: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 9:14 am
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County News/Ruth Ann HagerFormer Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives Rod Searle, Ruth Searle and Rep. Tim Walz’s chief of staff Josh Syrjamaki discuss possible funding of the Wall Street reform bill.
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By RUTH ANN HAGER
rhager@wasecacountynews.com
WASECA — On the possible eve of a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wall Street reform, 1st District Rep. Tim Walz sought the opinion of people on Main Street. If he follows the consensus of the group gathered at Waseca City Hall Tuesday, he would likely vote for the compromise version of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Walz’s chief of staff, Josh Syrjamaki, came to Waseca Tuesday with staff intern Jen Boelter to meet with Mayor Roy Srp and invited residents about the bill that came out of the House and U.S. Senate conference committee.
“Now we’re in the 11th hour of the reform bill and the House is set to vote as soon as tomorrow,” said Syrjamaki.
Rep. Walz, according to his chief of staff, “wants to see the reforms but is waiting to make up his mind.” By the end of the day, Walz would use reaction from the Waseca meeting and conversations with other 1st District residents to make an up or down decision, said Syrjamaki.
Joining Srp were former Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives Rod Searle, his wife, Ruth Searle, retired teachers Don Zwach and Gladys Carlson, CEO and president of Winegar, Inc. Tim Wenzel, Roundbank president Larry Thompson and teacher and wife of the mayor, Delores Srp.
In a video message to the group, Walz said the aim is to stop taxpayer bailouts of the large financial institutions that were deemed “too big to fail.”
“Southern Minnesota banks did not cause this meltdown,” he said. “We have to fix what’s broken but not penalize what works,” he said.
Syrjamaki said the focus now is to decide what is in the best interest of Main Street and middle class families. And, because it is a compromise, “we can’t let perfect be the enemy of the good,” he said.
The process to reform Wall Street has its roots in the financial meltdown that began two years ago after large banks made “reckless decisions” and were thought to be “too big to fail,” he said. Southern Minnesota weathered the financial crisis that followed “better than others but people are still hurting,” he said.
Walz twice voted against the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) because he was not convinced the program’s “priorities were right,” said Syrjamaki. TARP narrowly passed on the second vote.
Now, after two years of fact finding and hearings, the compromise version of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will be voted on, he said.
“The president has asked for the bill to be on his desk by the Fourth of July,” said Syrjamaki.
He asked the group to tell Walz what they believe is the most important reform needed; what about the bill they like or don’t like; and what their one message to Walz would be.
Thompson said he agrees with the bill’s main points. And while community banks were not participants in what caused the meltdown, they and their customers were affected by it.
“It’s difficult, if not impossible, to legislate responsible business practices,” said Thompson. Most important is that oversight be conducted in the right areas, he said.
“Don’t harm those who didn’t cause the problem?” asked Syrjamaki. “Right,” said Thompson.
Zwach said he is frustrated that the Teacher’s Retirement Account is now “60 percent funded because of the greed.” Somebody’s got to be watching, he said.
“What they did was criminal” said Srp about the Wall Street banks. “Community banks were not involved. Their people weren’t involved but they’re being punished and that’s criminal,” he said.
Wenzel said a company like Winegar’s is “on its own” when things get tough and doesn’t receive a bail out. He suggested that people generally don’t have a good understanding of finances and, while they “kind of knew better’ they let it go on for so long, making decisions on offers that sounded too good to be true.
[The bill] is making government bigger but something has to be done,” said Searle. He compared it to issues between the Twin Cities metro and outstate Minnesota.
“We just want to be heard out here.”
He and Ruth Searle questioned who will decide the amount of money needed to implement the bill? Syrjamaki promised to find out. He said taxpayer funding was not in the original bill but it is the compromise bill.
With a “healthy dose of skepticism” the Waseca group seemed to recommend the compromise “on balance” and believe it is “probably headed in the right direction,” he said.
“If the bill passes, they’ll be tinkering with it as they get feedback on whether it’s working,” said Searle. “They can do that in a non-election year,” he said.
Ruth Ann Hager covers city politics and education for the Waseca County News. Reach her at 837-5446. |
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Member Opinions:
By: needtoknow on 7/2/10
And who is in charge of the country? Weren't we supposed to have transparencey and change? How is that change working for everyone?
By: WTF on 6/30/10
Maybe you should have printed what the Reform Bill is going to do? The legislators don't even know what they are reforming or what the bill is going to do.
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