WASHINGTON — Anyone with a bank account or credit card has a stake in the overhaul of financial rules Congress is working on.
But the industry ties of some politicians writing the law go far beyond the norm.
One senator’s wife is a director of a securities exchange; another senator and his wife run a multimillion-dollar title company; and a congresswoman’s husband drew salaries from three industry players last year.
Several lawmakers hashing out a House-Senate compromise on the legislation have millions in financial-services company investments or owe big mortgage debts to banks lobbying on the legislation, according to an Associated Press review of financial-disclosure reports released Wednesday.
None have stepped away from the deal-making.
Sen. Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat and chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is leading the negotiations for the Senate. Dodd’s wife, Jackie Clegg, serves on the board of CME Group, which has spent at least $2.9 million since January 2009 lobbying on federal issues, including the financial-regulation overhaul.
CME Group, formed when the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade and the New York Mercantile Exchange merged, is the world’s largest futures and options exchange. It has a huge stake in the overhaul.
It’s not the first time Dodd has had a personal financial connection to an industry he has taken a lead role in regulating. As Dodd was put in charge of writing Senate health care legislation last year, his wife sat on the boards of four health care companies. Dodd announced earlier this year he would not seek re-election.
Another panel member, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the banking committee, is president of an Alabama-based title company that he and his wife Annette co-founded.
