TAKE ON THE STREET

By David Bruderly

To the editors of the Ocala (FL) Star Banner and the Gainesville (FL) Sun:

Regarding your news article today that features Congressman Clifford Stearns (R., 6th congressional district, Florida) posturing as the “Tough Cop” on the Wall Street fiasco, Stearns may act like the tough cop but in the real world he has voted repeatedly against enforcement of security laws and accountability. Under his watchful protection financiers and shysters have repeatedly exploited investors since the mid-1990’s. Mr. Stearns is not the benevolent representative of the people and tough advocate of law and order that he now pretends to be; just the opposite.

The facts are well documented; the easiest source is a book called “Take on the Street” by Arthur Levitt; it was published in 2002. Mr. Levitt was appointed Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1993; he then spent most of his tenure in office fighting off attacks on his agency regulatory powers by Congressman Clifford Stearns and other members of the Republican controlled US House of Representatives. The book documents how our very own Clifford Stearns took extraordinary action to gut the oversight, regulatory and enforcement powers of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

I know your budgets for investigative reporting are non-existent, but in the interest of fair and balanced reporting, the Star Banner and the Sun should not allow “tough Cop” posturing by Congressman Stearns without also disclosing his actual performance on these matters while in office. Ask him to explain his votes to gut the SEC; disclose his comments from the Congressional Record. It is a fact that Mr. Stearns and his allies took extraordinary action in the 1990’s to severely weaken the regulatory oversight and enforcement capabilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission. If Stearns had not taken these deliberate and irresponsible actions American investors would not have been hammered by the prolonged and consistent financial corruption that is only now so obvious.
When he had a chance to be a positive agent of change, Stearns did NOT take on the Street; instead he gave Wall Street shysters cart blanche to separate as many people from their hard earned investments as possible.

Please report all the relevant facts on these matters, not just posturing intended to assure a congressman’s re-election in 2010.

David E. Bruderly is CEO of Wise Gas Inc. and owns renewable energy firm Clean Power Engineering

He has previously been the Democratic nominee for Congress running against Stearns in Florida’s 6th congressional district.