The *NEW* Valentine's Day Massacre

I recently was made aware of an editorial that was published in the Wall Street Journal on 14 Feb, 2008. E. Spitzer, then governor of New York and a former attorney general, was highly critical of the Bush administration. I have copied a portion of his writing below.

"The administration accomplished this feat through an obscure federal agency called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC has been in existence since the Civil War. Its mission is to ensure the fiscal soundness of national banks. For 140 years, the OCC examined the books of national banks to make sure they were balanced, an important but uncontroversial function. But a few years ago, for the first time in its history, the OCC was used as a tool against consumers.

In 2003, during the height of the predatory lending crisis, the OCC invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act to issue formal opinions preempting all state predatory lending laws, thereby rendering them inoperative. The OCC also promulgated new rules that prevented states from enforcing any of their own consumer protection laws against national banks. The federal government’s actions were so egregious and so unprecedented that all 50 state attorneys general, and all 50 state banking superintendents, actively fought the new rules.

But the unanimous opposition of the 50 states did not deter, or even slow, the Bush administration in its goal of protecting the banks. In fact, when my office opened an investigation of possible discrimination in mortgage lending by a number of banks, the OCC filed a federal lawsuit to stop the investigation."

This material was brought to my attention by a colleague that I have known since my college days. He joined the staff of that august institution during 2008. Be advised that there is now a team working to uncover possible links between the former administration and the subsequent scandal that resulted in Mr. Spitzer's abrupt departure from public service.

There are in fact substantive indications that the formula that had been deployed against Wilson and Plame may have had further use. I am wondering now if our current leadership will take action should yet another ethical breach come to light. The former governor shall not be blameless, however I feel that the politically motivated use of surveillance capabilities is deplorable.

As he said, our President wants to "focus on the future." I have almost always been in accord with this approach, as I am certain you must know about me. I admit, I now question this stance. Sometimes it may make sense to defer forward motion to undertake consolidation activity. We need to prosecute those who used torture and who flew our flag. Our society must remove this stain before progress can be initiated.