The commie’s at MoveOn.org’s States Project are up in arms about Governor Hassan’s Banking Commissioner appointee, and this could be one of those rare occasions where we agree. If New Hampshire wants to get away from its image as an administrative corruptocracy, she may want to heed this advice and find someone with a bit more distance from the industry they are tasked with overseeing. I am, however, torn. I’d love to get him out of the NH State Senate…
From the petition:
Rescind your nomination of Gerald Little, long-time banking lobbyist and Executive Director of the New Hampshire Bankers Association, to the position of New Hampshire Banking Commissioner. Seek a qualified individual who will not be compromised by years of aggressive defense of and support for an industry that he or she would be called upon to regulate.
Prudence, fairness, and trust demand a new appointee who has, at a minimum, an arm’s-length relationship with the banking industry.
From the email…
On February 9, New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan announced her intention to appoint first-term Senator Jerry Little, the former lobbyist and Executive Director of the New Hampshire Bankers Association, to the position of Commissioner of the New Hampshire Banking Department.1
Gov. Hassan’s decision is tone deaf. Sen. Little’s experience spending over two decades aggressively defending the banking industry makes him a flawed candidate for the job of top banking regulator. It flies in the face of the very definition of the job, which is to commit to protect “the public’s interest through professional supervision of the financial services we regulate.”
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What’s the verdict? Is he more dangerous as banking commissioner or in the NH State Senate?
