Many a member of Congress seem to be enthusiastically supporting an insider trading law of their very own that a few years ago was as popular as a lobbyist without a lunch ticket.
Amazing what an story on CBS "60 Minutes" can do to enable the righteous.
Congressman Tim Walz, D-1st District finds himself to be a very popular guy after taking over the authorship of the STOCK bill a few years ago from a retiring Rep. Brian Baird of Washington, who had found few if any co-sponsors.
"60 Minutes" aired a piece on the practice of several prominent members of Congress having traded stocks near the time they came into some inside knowledge about how government policies might impact a certain industry. All have denied a connection.
But since the "60 Minutes" piece, Walz has found an amazing 170 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle.
The law, which stands for Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge, would essentially make it illegal for members of Congress to buy and sell stocks on knowledge they gained from being in a position of power in Congress.
The outpouring of support from all flavor of Congressman or woman stems from a desire, I suspect, for Congress to look above board in all its dealings at a time when it has some of the lowest approval ratings ever.
The whole bandwagon jumping scenario reminds me of a scene in the movie Casablanca when the prefect of police Monsieur Renault comes into Humphrey Bogart's saloon after he is ordered to find a reason to shut it down.
When Rick (Bogart) asks why the saloon must be shut down, the preferct says "I'm shocked, shocked to find gambling occurring in this saloon." And that's just before they hand him his winnings.
Members of Congress also seem a bit "shocked" that the insider trading law had not been in place before.
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