GOP Will Get to Grill Jon Corzine in Congress

Reuters
Dino Grandoni 2,305 Views Dec 2, 2011

After talks on bankrupted financial firm MF Global in three separate congressional committees, the House Agriculture committee became the first to pull the trigger today by issuing a subpoena to its former CEO and former New Jersey Senator Jon Corzine, reports the BBC. And some are predicting that the Republican legislators will relish the chance to skewer the former Democratic senator and New Jersey governor. "Corzine’s Democratic credentials and past ties to Gary Gensler, now chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, are surely grist for the GOP political mill," reports Politico. Gensler's commission is now investigating the bankrupt financial firm, which is reported to have lost millions of investors' dollars -- including savings by farmers, which is why the Agriculture Committee wants his testimony. And Gensler's past buddy-buddy relationship with Corzine -- The Washington Post recalls how Gensler joked about Corzine's upcoming wedding at an event -- has already been fodder for GOP talking points. Just this morning Republican Senator Mike Johanns called out Corzine for recusing himself from the probe into MF Global. "It looks to me like you're trying to avoid the heat," he said according to Reuters. "You certainly didn't recuse yourself all of the other weeks and months and days while MF Global was doing what it was doing." Now with a subpoena out, GOP lawmakers have even more reason to take jabs at Corzine as a proxy for Democrats.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at dgrandoni at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

Related Articles   More by Dino Grandoni

Someone Told Someone Corzine Knew About the Missing Funds

The Hunt for MF Global's Missing $700 Million

Regulators Know Where MF Global's $1.2 Billion Went, They Just Won't Tell

 

The Drudge Report Can Thank Obamacare for 45 Million Page Views

Jon Stewart Dines Out on Fox News and CNN's Supreme Blunders

Elsewhere on the Web

User Comments

Please type your comment and click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be prompted to log in or register

  • The Atlantic Wire on Twitter
  • The Atlantic Wire RSS Feed
  • The Atlantic Wire iPhone App