Brown gets reform bill changed

Dick Taffe — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:56:48 +0000

By threatening to withhold his vote for the final compromise, Massachusetts GOP U.S. Senator Scott Brown (l.) got the Democratic negotiators on the financial regulatory reform bill to delete a $19 billion fee on large financial institutions to cover costs of implementing the new law. Law Professor Cornelius Hurley, director of the Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law and a former counsel to the Fed Board of Governors, says the Dems missed the boat by labeling the charge a “tax,” making it vulnerable to read-meat ideological attacks.

“Pure and simple, their charge should be labeled for what it is — a return of the subsidy that taxpayers bestow on the too-big-to-fail banks every day by pledging to their creditors and depositors that if the big banks go bust we collectively will pick up the tab. Senator Brown would have a difficult time refuting this framing of the discussion.”

Contact Cornelius Hurley, 617-353-5427, ckhurley@bu.edu

BU and PEJ release report on election coverage

Kira Jastive — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:28:43 +0000

A new study produced by Boston University and the Project for Excellence in Journalism that outlines media coverage of the Massachusetts special senate election has revealed some interesting points about the recent race. According to the report, national media initially lost interest in a “fairly dull and utterly local contest.” But, “when it became clear something was up, it was polling—not journalistic reporting—that caught the wave in the race to succeed Kennedy.”

For more information, contact: Tobe Berkovitz, 617-353-7724, tobetv@bu.edu.

BU Now » Scott Brown

Brown gets reform bill changed

BU and PEJ release report on election coverage