A Regulator Wall Street Can Work With
Rumors are floating that Dem Rep. Melissa Bean could head the consumer protection agency. But while Bean would be a good choice, it's unlikely she'll get tapped.
Rumors have it that Rep. Melissa Bean could be in line to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Two thoughts on this.
First, Bean would be a good choice. She certainly understands how financial services work and isn’t given to the clueless financial populism that’s endemic on the both the Left and Right. My main dealings with Bean and her staff have taken place mostly because she’s the chief Democratic co-sponsor of the well-intentioned National Insurance Consumer Protection Act (also known as the Optional Federal Charter) that would set up a national regulator for property, casualty, life, and commercial insurance. In debates over the financial reform bill, she was a voice of reason on the Democratic side who can be credited for pushing through many of the bill’s good parts and stopping many of the bad ones from getting worse. Contrary to some cries from the fevered corners of the Left, she’s hardly one for gutting consumer protection. In fact, her main contribution on insurance reform has been to strengthen already significant pro-consumer oversight in the bill. She would be a good choice.
Second, if Bean survives the recount currently in progress for her seat (and current totals have her holding a narrow lead) I tend to think that Obama probably won’t appoint her. Bean’s seat, in Illinois’s 8th district, is a swing district in the Chicago suburbs. For years, voters in the area sent Phil Crane (the House’s leading conservative firebrand in the 1970s) to Congress. While the district has voted for Bean and native son Obama, it contains a fair number of conservative suburban and rural areas. If Bean holds on, she’ll be one of the handful of moderates to have held down a seat against a Republican tide. As a political matter, the already-weakened Democratic Party would be better with her staying in Congress.
Cross-posted at Out of the Storm News.