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NEW HAVEN, OCTOBER 24, 2002
I am speaking today in front of the New Haven building, which formerly housed the consulting offices of Arthur Andersen, Enron’s now convicted auditing firm. I am here to challenge both the Democratic and Republican candidates in this 3rd District race to sign the Congressional Candidate’s Pledge to
Crack Down on Corporate Crime, sponsored by Ralph Nader’s public interest organization Democracy Rising. In so doing, I will outline three specific steps the federal government can take to curb unaccountable corporations and their overpaid and, sometimes, crooked CEOs.
First, I support eliminating federal corporate tax deductions for excessive executive compensation. See Pledge Item #1.
If corporations want to pay their CEOs more than 25 times the amount of compensation received by their lowest paid corporate employees, we taxpayers should not have to subsidize these exorbitant executive salaries.
Second, I support establishing a Congressional Commission on Corporate Power to explore proposals to make giant corporations more accountable to their shareholders and the general public.
See Pledge Item #12.
One specific proposal is the mandatory federal chartering of corporations with assets greater than one billion dollars. Recently enacted state laws have drastically limited the right of shareholders to bring shareholder derivative suits against corporate executives who steal corporate assets. A strong federal incorporation law would allow shareholders to sue on behalf of their corporations to hold crooked CEOs accountable.
Finally, I support repealing the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
See Pledge Item #3.
The New Haven Register described the law this way: it "stripped stockholders of their rights and gave extraordinary protection to executives who lied and accountants who fudged." N.H. Reg., 2/16/02, p.A10. Then President Clinton actually vetoed this awful law, but both the Senate and the House, including Congresswoman DeLauro, voted to override his veto. In the wake of the Enron/Arthur Andersen debacle this summer, despite pleas from the Consumer Federation of America, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans pushed for this law’s repeal.
Why did so many members of Congress, including Rep. DeLauro, vote for a bill limiting auditor liability and corporate fraud lawsuits? One answer: massive campaign contributions. The Arthur Andersen/Enron scandal is not just about President Bush’s ties to Enron executives; it’s about the ability of special interests to buy politicians from both major parties. In the 1995-96 election cycle, the accounting industry, including Arthur Andersen, contributed $7,782,990 in hard and soft money to Republicans and Democrats alike.
Rep. DeLauro received a total of $1,500 in campaign contributions from Arthur Andersen’s PAC at the same time she was voting to protect auditing firms, like Arthur Andersen, from shareholder lawsuits. This demonstrates that DeLauro is not a friend to the consumer, the shareholder, or the pension plan participant. She is a friend of big business. She is an "Arthur Andersen" Democrat, and, like Arthur Andersen, it’s time for her to vacate her office.
When it comes to the issues of corporate crime and corruption, the only political party with any integrity both locally and nationally is the Green Party. We don‘t accept money from corporate PACs, like the "Enron" Republicans and "Arthur Andersen" Democrats do. Let’s clean up our political system. Let’s fight corporate crime and corruption. Let’s hold giant corporations and their CEOs accountable. Vote Rep. DeLauro out of office. Replace her with an independent, clean Green candidate. Vote for Pillsbury for Congress!
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