A Loophole in the Bribery Statutes

So, Chris Dodd, after a disastrous run for the Presidency, and 2 banking scandals, one of which was created by Tim Geithner, acknowledged reality, and announced that he was not running for reelection.

The question would then be how would this change his positions on banking reform?

One possibility is that, no longer needing the campaign donations, he would get harder on banks, and the other would be that he would go easier on banks, because he would be looking for post-Senate employment.

Well, we have our answer, and it's the latter.

The murmurs are that Dodd is looking at dropping an independent consumer financial protection agency entirely from the Senate banking reform bill the excuse is that he is looking for bipartisan support, but the fact is that anything that republicans will support will be completely toothless.

This isn't just a "rearranging deck chairs" thing. If the agency is not independent, then it will be attached to another agency, most likely Treasury, which is largely an arm of the banks by design, and they will have no control over the budget and personnel requests.

So, Chris Dodd is well on his way to getting a high paying gig with a bank, or a law firm for the banks.

It's depressing. He was my 1^st or 2^nd choice in the 2008 primaries, but much like Edwards, it appears that he has feet of clay.