PELOSI CALL FOR MAJOR WALL STREET INVESTIGATION IMPORTANT FIRST STEP TO CLEAN UP THE MESS WE’RE IN

Borosage: “Devil is in the details, and the people”; warns modern-day “Pecora Commission” must have broad powers and tough leadership

WASHINGTON – Campaign for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage today praised House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement that she will form a commission to investigate what happened on Wall Street to cause the economic collapse, but warned that the “devil is in the details, and the people.”

Pelosi has notified Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner that she will form a special commission along the lines of President Franklin Roosevelt’s “Pecora Commission,” according to Time Magazine. The Pecora Commission’s dramatic hearings took apart Wall Street barons and unearthed many of the frauds, abuses and schemes that led to the 1929 crash.

We applaud House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s pledge to create a special commission to investigate the roots of the financial collapse similar to the Pecora Commission that exposed the crimes and collusions of Wall Street in the 1930s.

The devil, of course, is in the details – and the people. The commission needs subpoena power. It needs to be able to expose what appears to be widespread fraudulent and illegal practices – that can only be done with the power to demand production of documents and witnesses. It needs a large, aggressive and competent staff able to sort through volumes of material. It needs time to lay out the case to the public. And it needs courageous commissioners and a fearless prosecutor, a modern day Pecora, committed to unearthing the truth.

There's one obvious candidate for that post – Elizabeth Warren, the steely Harvard law professor who is now chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel of the TARP, the banking bailout. She has no prosecutorial experience, but she's proven to be independent, bold, fearless and intelligent. She's neither awed by the wealth of Wall Street nor cowed by the complexities of exotic financial instruments. She understands the need to reveal the truth, tell the story and lay the basis for fundamental reform.

This may be the last best chance to provide the basis for the financial reforms and regulation we need, so these appointments will be critical.