Newsweek Profile: “The Wonk Who Slays Washington’
Categories: Media
A profile of the book, me, and the findings, by Peter Boyer. It starts:
In the Spring of 2010, a bespectacled, middle-aged policy wonk named Peter Schweizer fired up his laptop and began a months-long odyssey into a forbidding maze of public databases, hunting for the financial secrets ofWashington’s most powerful politicians. Schweizer had been struck by the fact that members of Congress are free to buy and sell stocks in companies whose fate can be profoundly influenced, or even determined, by Washington policy, and he wondered, do these ultimate insiders act on what they know? Yes, Schweizer found, they certainly seem to. Schweizer’s research revealed that some of Congress’s most prominent members are in a position to routinely engage in what amounts to a legal form of insider trading, profiting from investment activity that, he says, “would send the rest of us to prison.”
Finally the answers come. It always comes out in the wash. Great work, sir! I wondered why my small stock, by only I inherited, suddenly was suspended in 2010 through a large bank in NC. The previous owner of the account was associated with legislation, not sure if he was involved at the bank but he knew the president of the bank. I sold the stock. Humm, maybe I should request it back. The president US seems to be running back and forth to NC. Humm.
Peter – i am a Navy veteran and current Hillsborough County Commissioner running for Congress against Congresswoman Kathy Castor. Your book is the roadmap not just to victory, but reform.
I have a young family and would never consent to running at this time were it not for the global economic crisis and desperate need for massive reform in Washington. Your message gives purpose to many who still believe the notion of public service.
I hope to one day meet you and discuss how your ideas can put into action.
Respectfully,
Mark Sharpe
813-293-7064