Taking STOCK of another Brown claim
Senator Scott Brown holds out the STOCK Act as a signature accomplishment. But a closer look finds the measure -- which had been drafted and filed years before Brown ever got to the U.S. Senate -- ultimately got watered down by Wall Street and some Capitol Hill insiders, with his seeming support.
During debate on the STOCK Act back in February, Brown voted against an amendment to require that so-called political intelligence consultants register their clients and contacts, much as lobbyists are already required to do (Senate vote #12, 2/2/2012). It's an issue most of us have never heard of, and the vote might seem like just an obscure sidelight to the overall bill and its more-talked-about purpose: cracking down on members of Congress who supposedly engage in insider trading. Yet the political intelligence provision stirred so much pushback from the investment industry and GOP leadership that it threatened to delay or even kill the whole bill.