Republican Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, is coming under increasing attack as financial reform works its way through the Senate. Withering criticism has come personally from both the President and the Senate Majority Leader over McConnell’s recent closed door meeting with leaders of the financial sector.
McConnell is the longest serving senator in Kentucky history and has been the leader of Senate Republicans since 2006, following the retirement of Senator Bill Frist (R-TN). Prior to his election to the U. S. Senate in 1984, McConnell never held statewide or federal office. His highest prior position was Jefferson County Judge/Executive, though he had worked as a senate intern during law school and served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General during the Ford administration. He has never lost an election.
McConnell, born Addison Mitchell McConnell, is married to former Bush II Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, his second marriage. Wikipedia reports that he was born in Alabama, but that he fails to mention the fact on his website, referring to himself only as having been raised in Louisville, Kentucky. A check of his official website belies the Wiki report. His website’s official biography makes no reference to his birth or younger years.
Soft spoken and personable, he is regarded as a master tactician, consummate Washington inside player and staunch conservative. In 2006 he received a perfect score from the American Conservative Union. He opposed campaign finance reform (McCain-Feingold), has been a consistent supporter of the Iraq invasion and war, and sponsored the “Protect America Act” to permit warrantless wiretapping both inside and outside the United States of suspected terrorists and their contacts.
Over the past seven years his largest single donor base has been the financial sector, including five financial firms that rank among his top 20 donors. McConnell has been dogged from time to time by allegations of corruption, but none has ever been proven or resulted in any action. The most recent is the current suggestion by Democrats that his much publicized closed door meeting with financial sector executives resulted in quid pro quo deal with McConnell representing their interests under the guise of seeking bipartisan amendment of the financial reform bill.
As a spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid put it,
“With 1,500 Wall Street lobbyists trying to water down our bipartisan efforts to hold Wall Street accountable, it is past time for Senator McConnell to come clean regarding the nature of his closed-door meetings with Wall Street executives. It’s been 12 days since he and Senator Cornyn met secretly with two dozen Wall Street executives to scheme about killing reform. The public deserves to know who attended this meeting and what promises were made by Republicans to big banks.”
For his part, McConnell, who got all 41 Senate Republicans to sign off in opposition to the current reform bill, called on Democrats from the Senate floor to drop the personal attacks and get on the with the work of improving the bill to achieve bipartisan support. Despite his admonition for bipartisan improvement, he continues to call the reform package a “bailout bill”, a term universally refuted by proponents of financial reform.
[Author’s Note: This is the first in a series of mini-profiles of government leaders. They will appear from time to time as various leaders come to the attention of the public.]
Cross posted at Elijah’s Sweete Spot where COMMENTS/DISCUSSION are Disqus(tm) enabled.
Contributor, aka tidbits. Retired attorney in complex litigation, death penalty defense and constitutional law. Former Nat’l Board Chair: Alzheimer’s Association. Served on multiple political campaigns, including two for U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield (R-OR). Contributing author to three legal books and multiple legal publications.