WSJ: Foe of Fed (Bunning) Drops Out of Race

[Matt Collins]

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/07/27/fed-foe-bunning-drops-out-of-2010-race/



Sen. Jim Bunning, the Senate Banking Committee member who has castigated Federal Reserve chairmen for years, won’t be around after next year.

Mr. Bunning was the only committee member to vote against Ben Bernanke’s confirmation as Fed chairman almost four years ago. It wasn’t personal: He also was the lone vote against Alan Greenspan’s confirmation for his final term leading the central bank. The former Major League Baseball pitcher, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996, could always be counted on to spend his seven minutes at a hearing attacking the Fed for its monetary policy, its bailouts and just about everything else it did (http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/?s=Jim+Bunning&x=0&y=0).


He’ll still be around for a year and a half to attack the central bank. And among the GOP candidates for the Bunning seat: Rand Paul, the son of Texas Rep. Ron Paul, whose anti-Fed sentiment is gaining traction among lawmakers (http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/07/20/no-longer-alone-ron-paul-fights-the-fed/). (Imagine what the father-and-son team could do from both sides of Capitol Hill.)

[Matt Collins]

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre56q5i0-us-usa-bunning-retirement/


As a member of the Senate Banking Committee (http://www.newsdaily.com/news/u.s._senate_committee_on_banking%2c_housing%2c_and _urban_affairs/), Bunning was known for grilling Fed officials testifying before the panel.

In April, the conservative Republican joined forces with more liberal senators in winning Senate passage of a measure calling on the Federal Reserve to disclose names of institutions that receive emergency loans. The legislation also pushed for a study to determine the "appropriate" number of regional Fed banks.

The nonbinding legislation represented an unusual political challenge to the central bank. Bunning was also an outspoken critic of U.S. (http://www.newsdaily.com/news/united_states/) government bailouts of financial firms.

Bunning said that for the remainder of his term, he will continue opposing Democratic policies, which he said "will put this country on the path to socialism" if enacted.

[Matt Collins]

Bunning announces he won't seek re-election, takes shot at GOP (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/27/bunning-announces-he-wont-seek-re-election-takes-shot-at-gop/)



Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Kentucky, announced Monday he would not run for re-election in 2010, blaming GOP leaders for his campaign's struggle to gain traction and its poor fundraising performance over the last year.

"To win a general election, a candidate has to be able to raise millions of dollars to get the message out to voters," Bunning said in a statement. "Over the past year, some of the leaders of the Republican Party in the Senate have done everything in their power to dry up my fundraising."


In conference calls with members of the media earlier this year, Bunning called McConnell a "control freak" and pledged to sue the National Republican Senatorial Committee if they supported another Republican candidate.