The Washington Post reports the convention "is
being bankrolled and feted to an extraordinary degree by the financial
services behemoths...Hardly a meal or cocktail hour will pass that
won't find a securities firm or a venture capitalist hosting members of
Congress, key committee staffers, Republican Party officials who
control the investment of state pension funds." President Bush now
lists the financial services industry among his top contributors. It is
all payback for the administration's willingness to water down serious
corporate reform in the wake of the Enron scandal, and its strong
support ofanti-consumer bankruptcy legislation that gives even more
power to credit card companies. However, at least one of the industry's
key GOP point men may be in hot water over this kind of aggressive
fundraising. Rep. Michael Oxley (R-OH), chairman of the House Financial
Services Committee, "was the guest of honor at 19 of 45 events" and is
now under scrutiny by the FBI for election law violations. [more ]
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