NNN: No Contest: Tom White vs. Lee Terry On Wall Street Reform

Kyle Michaelis, New Nebraska Network
May 21, 2010

After the U.S. Senate passed its Wall Street reform bill last night - on a 59-39 vote, with Ben Nelson in favor and Mike Johanns opposed - this debate heads to a conference committee. But, it will come up for a final vote in both Houses of Congress. When it does, we must all be more prepared to hold our elected officials accountable than we were in December, when all three of Nebraska's Republican Congressmen voted against the House's Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act with hardly a peep from the Nebraska press or the local progressive community.

Thankfully, State Senator Tom White is already on top of this issue, making the following statement in his campaign against six-term incumbent Lee Terry:

Today's cloture vote in the Senate on the Wall Street reform bill is another major step toward much-needed financial regulatory reform that Congressman Lee Terry has been working to derail....

"Congressman Terry has consistently chosen to side with Wall Street over Main Street," said Tom White. "Since supporting the Wall Street bailout that was funded by taxpayer dollars, Lee Terry has doubled down in his support for Wall Street's irresponsible behavior by voting against TARP reform, against limiting tax-payer funded bonuses at bailed out banks, and against comprehensive financial regulatory reform. It's no wonder that Washington special interests and bailed-out banks continue to fund his campaign."

There has been no stronger voice for corporate accontability in the Nebraska Legislature than Tom White. This is an issue on which there are clear distinctions between the candidates and there's going to be a clear choice on the ballot this November.

I am hopeful that, for a candidate and a campaign that have so far been quite restrained, this summer's fight for Wall Street reform might allow White to demonstrate the fierce intellect and passion he brought to so many debates in the Legislature. This is an issue tailor-made to his strengths, to which 2nd District voters will respond if they are given the chance.

That possibility has to scare Lee Terry, who's been hoping that the 2010 election would be all about how much voters hate health care reform, Nancy Pelosi, and President Barack Obama. That's all he can count on because that's all he's got as a back-benching underachiever in a party that's run out of ideas and offers no solutions. Nowhere is this more true than on Wall Street reform - where Terry, Johanns, and their ilk have devoted all of their energy towards weakening consumer protections and maintaining a status quo that poses a constant threat to the American people.

If Lee Terry has his way, Wall Street reform would continue to be watered-down and would ultimately be defeated. It would only be a matter of time before American taxpayers would again face the impossible choice between bailing out corporate behemoths or risking the consequences of outright economic collapse. In either case, regular people are left on the hook to suffer for others greed.

This can and should be one of the defining issues of the 2010 election. Tom White has always stood up for taxpayers and consumer protection. He has been the leading voice in our state fighting for accountability and fairness from powerful corporate interests - demanding a level playing field on which working people and middle-class families could get an even break.

That record - and those principles - could not contrast more sharply with Lee Terry's. Right now, Terry can only hope that voters never realize they have a real choice - and a chance at real representation - in the 2010 election. But, they do. His name is Tom White.