Aaron Blake is so very right about this. He micro-profiles the members of Congress who showed up for the signing of the STOCK (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) Act
[I]t’s no surprise that these men would try to attach themselves to the STOCK Act. It’s a stone-cold political winner for an incumbent in a swing district or state. The bill, which prevents members of Congress from trading stocks on information that the general public doesn’t have amounts to a populist pumpkin pie topped with dollup of anti-Washington whip cream.
Indeed, and just read the act. It is one of the most obvious pieces of legislation ever passed, especially after it was diluted to remove a ban on passing information from Congress to “political intelligence firms.” Sure, Spencer Bachus is still under more scrutiny than he used to be, but there’s no scrutiny on how, say, a hedge fund uses the information it got from the Washington contact. The watering down happened, and the endorses of the bill moved on. You can see CREW’s president in Blake’s photo, smiling at the partial victory.
