A Watchdog That Didn't Bark
Legal Affairs, March, 2006 by Norman Ornstein
THE INVESTMENT COMPANY INSTITUTE is the major trade association for mutual funds. According to The Washington Post, in 2003, staff members and possibly the chairman of the House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee threatened the institute: If the ICI didn't fire its Democratic chief lobbyist and replace her with a Republican designated by the committee, hearings scheduled on whether mutual funds had overcharged their customers and kept important information from them would turn ugly.
This kind of threat wasn't new. In 1998, Republican leaders in Congress reacted angrily to a decision by the Electronic Industries Association to hire former Democratic Congressman Dave McCurdy as its head instead of their choice, former Republican Congressman Bill Paxon. As...
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