Open Side Menu Go to the Top
Register
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair

11-05-2010 , 01:46 PM
According to The Hill, at http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-mone...services-panel, Rep. Ed Royce of California (D rated by PPA -- voted for HR 4411, the bill that became UIGEA, but no other action for or against us) is challenging Rep. Spencer Bachus for the position of House Financial Services Committee chairman.

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Hill
Republicans vying to replace Barney Frank on key bank panel
By Vicki Needham and Molly Hooper - 11/04/10 04:29 PM ET

Two Republican lawmakers are battling to lead the powerful House Financial Services Committee in the next Congress.

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), the panel's ranking member, and Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) are competing for the chairmanship of the committee that oversees bank regulators and Wall Street.

Royce tossed his hat into the ring for the chairman spot on Wednesday afternoon, creating a battle that will be decided by the GOP Steering Committee in early December.

In his statement, Royce said the “passage of the Dodd-Frank bill fundamentally altered the structure of the U.S. financial services sector. … There is no question that now is the time for a determined and effective Financial Services Committee Chairman.”......
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 01:48 PM
I live in the District that Ed Royce represents. Twice I have emailed him and got the same response below:

Thank you for taking time to contact me. Your contribution is very valuable in helping me represent the 40th District of California. I will review your correspondence and address your concerns accordingly.

Sincerely,
Rep. Ed Royce
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 01:49 PM
If Royce wins, we'd replace a staunch yet incompetent (at least IMO) opponent with someone presumably capable of doing the job. I assume we're better with Royce, in that Bachus' bumbling incompetence probably does not outweigh his singular focus against our right to play.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 01:57 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by theBUB
I live in the District that Ed Royce represents. Twice I have emailed him and got the same response below:

Thank you for taking time to contact me. Your contribution is very valuable in helping me represent the 40th District of California. I will review your correspondence and address your concerns accordingly.

Sincerely,
Rep. Ed Royce
Wow. He might be the only guy in Congress without a letter specifically on our issue. That's probably not a bad thing, honestly.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 01:57 PM
It seems Royce is an ally with Rep. John Campbell, so that's excellent for us. He'd also not be bringing an anti-poker staff to the job the way Bachus did. All in all, IMO we should all support Royce in his bid (but don't blame me if we get Besheared....this is one person vs another, not a case where I'm saying Royce will support us).
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 02:01 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by theBUB
I live in the District that Ed Royce represents. Twice I have emailed him and got the same response below:

Thank you for taking time to contact me. Your contribution is very valuable in helping me represent the 40th District of California. I will review your correspondence and address your concerns accordingly.

Sincerely,
Rep. Ed Royce
Can I trouble you with a request? Can you call his office today to share your beliefs on this issue and hear what they have to say? They'll probably just thank you for your input, but if they do say something beyond that it would be helpful. Thanks!
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 02:07 PM
Yeah, lets find out his stance before we get too far behind him. Bachus is pretty low on the list of guys I want heading that committee, but he's also an incompetent. If his opponent hates us as much but is competent, that's not really an upgrade in my mind.

Any idea how real this is? Everything Ive read in the mainstream press still has Bachus as a pretty heavy favorite.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 02:16 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by LetsGambool
Any idea how real this is? Everything Ive read in the mainstream press still has Bachus as a pretty heavy favorite.
The "conventional wisdom" of the mainstream press is usually off target. It will be very interesting to see if we catch a break and have an opportunity with Ed Royce that we did not with that doofus from Alabama.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 02:24 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by LetsGambool

Any idea how real this is? Everything Ive read in the mainstream press still has Bachus as a pretty heavy favorite.
I am not so sure the MSM has caught onto the fact that a lot of Repubs were down on Bachus' performance his last term....I would assume that is also why he is being challenged as Royce is probably working off the same info.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 02:30 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by LetsGambool
Yeah, lets find out his stance before we get too far behind him. Bachus is pretty low on the list of guys I want heading that committee, but he's also an incompetent. If his opponent hates us as much but is competent, that's not really an upgrade in my mind.

Any idea how real this is? Everything Ive read in the mainstream press still has Bachus as a pretty heavy favorite.
Given that he doesn't even have a response letter tailored to poker players, I think we know about all we're going to know. Fortunately, poker players are accustomed to having incomplete facts when making decisions. Here, getting rid of Bachus really would be huge for us.

Last edited by Rich Muny; 11-05-2010 at 03:39 PM.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 02:34 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mordan
I am not so sure the MSM has caught onto the fact that a lot of Repubs were down on Bachus' performance his last term....I would assume that is also why he is being challenged as Royce is probably working off the same info.
True. This is from a column I wrote on Bachus earlier this year:

Quote:
House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Spencer Bachus (R-AL) typifies the problems associated with having a big government mindset regarding social issues. Bachus spends much of his time focused on efforts to ban online poker. Unfortunately, Bachus’ lack of leadership has left important issues before his committee with insufficient conservative input, including bank bailouts, banking regulation, mortgage reform, and credit card regulation. In fact, in late 2008 he was almost removed as Ranking Member. It is so bad that Rep. Roy Blunt, then Minority Whip, had to replace Bachus at the bank bailout negotiating table in 2008. However, even if Bachus were more focused on the non-gaming issues before his committee, he would be hard-pressed to argue against more government regulations when he is keeping himself busy using the exact same arguments in favor of a federal online poker prohibition.

Adding insult to injury, he has not even been particularly effective in his quest to ban online poker. For example, at the December 3rd House Financial Services Committee online poker hearing, Bachus’ key witness was the leader of the California Morongo Indian tribe who, when asked by the committee chair, admitted that the tribe hopes to offer online poker throughout the state of California!

Bachus also frequently exaggerates and outright misrepresents studies on online gaming, including an infamous and egregious instance where he falsely claimed that a McGill University study found that one-third of college students who had participated in online gaming attempted suicide. Upon learning of this misrepresentation, Dr. Jeffrey Derevensky, head of the McGill research team, sent letters to Congress blasting the statement as unfounded and without any merit whatsoever. Derevensky further stated that he believes online gaming ought to be licensed and regulated, not prohibited.

Too bad Bachus did not read the British Gambling Prevalence Survey of 2007. Had he checked that out, he would have seen on page ten that the UK, a nation with ample licensed online and “bricks and mortar” gaming, has a problem gaming rate of just 0.6%. That rate was unchanged from 1999. Perhaps then he would realize that the focus ought to be on that small group, rather than on taking rights from the 99.4% of Americans who either responsibly enjoy poker or who choose not to participate. That is, of course, unless his real aim is to use big government to regulate behavior.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 03:03 PM
Bachus' ignorance is just at unreal levels for someone of his power....good article.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 03:24 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by theBUB
I live in the District that Ed Royce represents. Twice I have emailed him and got the same response below:

Thank you for taking time to contact me. Your contribution is very valuable in helping me represent the 40th District of California. I will review your correspondence and address your concerns accordingly.

Sincerely,
Rep. Ed Royce
LOL, sounds like he is "contribution" oriented. Maybe his email was too subtle.

Enclose a small contribution next time, see if you get a different response.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 03:27 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheEngineer
It seems Royce is an ally with Rep. John Campbell, so that's excellent for us. He'd also not be bringing an anti-poker staff to the job the way Bachus did. All in all, IMO we should all support Royce in his bid (but don't blame me if we get Besheared....this is one person vs another, not a case where I'm saying Royce will support us).
Disclaimer noted ..... If I ever get my contribution back, I will forward it to the PPA.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 03:37 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TruePoker CEO
Disclaimer noted ..... If I ever get my contribution back, I will forward it to the PPA.
You and me both.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 03:39 PM
Post #11,000!
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 07:55 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheEngineer
Can I trouble you with a request? Can you call his office today to share your beliefs on this issue and hear what they have to say? They'll probably just thank you for your input, but if they do say something beyond that it would be helpful. Thanks!
I apologize, I didn't see this message until late in the day. I will call Ed Royce's office Monday morning and report back what his office says.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 09:16 PM
Engineer, I don't think that was the only thing that was considered "anti-poker" that Royce did.

Royce voted no on HR 2267. I think this is why he shows as a grade D in congressionalpoker, and is marked down as voting against poker rights.

I live in his district, and he does meetings at Starbucks and w/e from time to time (he used to at least, I'm on his email list). Might be worth it to visit one of those.

imo, I think he's a good representative and he can't possibly be any worse for poker than Bachus.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 09:36 PM
A committee chairperson has a lot of clout in determining what legislation actually gets considered by the committee. This institutional power is not insurmountable, but it is substantial.

Given that fact, the choice is between an enemy leader who is uncompromising but inept versus a leader who is open to compromise but will be far more effective in any fight.

But even an inept Bachus would likely be able to block our advance, its just that our chances of out maneuvering him are much better than with Royce.

But Bachus would for certain do everything he could to block a vote, Royce might not, even if he personally voted against it ....

I will wait for our folks on the ground in DC to make the judgment call on this one.

Skallagrim
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 09:36 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by theBUB
I apologize, I didn't see this message until late in the day. I will call Ed Royce's office Monday morning and report back what his office says.
There was nothing specific about today, of course. Thanks for preparing to make the call. It's much appreciated.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-05-2010 , 09:42 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheEngineer
There was nothing specific about today, of course. Thanks for preparing to make the call. It's much appreciated.
+1

As you can tell from my previous post, any information we can gain in this situation is greatly needed as well as appreciated.

Skallagrim
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-07-2010 , 06:29 PM
I was wondering if any of you had any specific questions you would like to bring up while talking to Ed Royce's office.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-08-2010 , 06:57 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by theBUB
I was wondering if any of you had any specific questions you would like to bring up while talking to Ed Royce's office.
Thanks for doing this.

I would suggest that you touch the topic of personal liability and responsibility: it is the government's job to protect me from others who would infringe on my rights, but it is not the government's job to protect me from myself. In my experience, most people who visit this forum would agree with that.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-08-2010 , 09:28 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrewOnTilt
Thanks for doing this.

I would suggest that you touch the topic of personal liability and responsibility: it is the government's job to protect me from others who would infringe on my rights, but it is not the government's job to protect me from myself. In my experience, most people who visit this forum would agree with that.
Sounds like a good question to me.
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote
11-08-2010 , 09:52 PM
If the Republicans are not happy with Baccus, I have a feeling this is not going to help.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1..._n_780558.html
Reps. Spencer Bachus and Ed Royce battling for the House Financial Services Committee chair Quote

      
m