Although I haven’t seen it, POLITICO’s Ben Smith reports that this ad equating financial reform legislation to another “big bank bailout” has been airing in Montana. The group responsible, the Committee for Truth in Politics, alleges that the proposal would result in taxpayers footing a $4 trillion bill and urges Montanans to call Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester to oppose it. Although some of their claims appear dubious at best. From Smith:
The source of the “$4 trillion” claim is language in the bill that would give the Fed authority to conduct a bailout in a future crisis, after debates over authority hampered the federal reaction in 2008. The bill has been written, however, to avoid this criticism, insisting that failed institutions be dissolved and their creditors take a bath, rather than that they be propped up and repaid.
The ad’s sponsor, the Committee for Truth in Politics, is an obscure third party group reportedly run by a former North Carolina GOP official. The group has battled disclosure requirements in court after launching attacks connected to abortion policy and sex offenders during the presidential election.
As health care legislation stalls, interest groups on both sides of the debate are dishing out far less money on the issue. USA Today reported this week that groups “spending about $1 million a day” on advertising are now spending about $1 million a week. I wonder if financial reform, which I naively assumed would be far less controversial, will fill the void.