If Scott Brown Wants To Once More Be A Senator, Let Him Unseat Edward Markey

If Scott Brown runs for the Senate in New Hampshire, he will be inducted into the Carpetbagger Hall Of Fame on the first round.

Brown can beat Markey in Massachusetts. It's a long shot but it can be done. Brown lost to fake Indian Elizabeth Warren by eight points down ticket from Obama in a blue state. This is an off-year election and as absurd as this might sound, Markey is a weaker candidate than the fake Indian. Markey has been caught red-handed in what could be a huge scandal.

Brown would be coupled with a strong Republican gubernatorial candidate in Charlie Baker in Massachusetts. Baker gave incumbent Deval Patrick a run for his money in 2010. Patrick was assisted by lifelong Democrat State Treasurer and fiscal conservative, Tim Cahill, who declared himself an Independent and ran in the general election. (Even though the pundits mostly thought Cahill's candidacy benefited Patrick, Cahill would later be repaid with a corruption indictment that still makes absolutely no sense to me.) Baker has already announced his candidacy and he might just have coattails.

Meantime, Brown ponders his political future. If he defeats Bob Smith in the primaries, he will succeed in dividing the New Hampshire Republican Party that has been fractured for over a decade (starting with a feud involving Bob Smith of all people.) He will succeed in denying New Hampshire a genuine conservative choice.

For what? Shaheen is a strong candidate. Brown has a better chance of unseating Markey who is rightly perceived as a joke, even in Massachusetts. If it's all about Scott, and that seems to be the case, Markey might be the course of lesser resistance.

Stay in Massachusetts, Senator. You have a brighter future there.

A Blanket Apology To Anyone Who Has Ever Traded On Inside Information

Re the prior post: http://obotomy.blogspot.com/2014/03/insider-trading-by-any-other-name.html . I referred to Senate Markey's brutish, avaricious, unethical and possibly criminal activity as insider trading. This description greatly understates the gravity of the wrongdoing and as such, I apologize to everyone else who has ever been accused of trading on inside information.

If the actions of Markey-Ackman are as they appear on the surface, the gang conspired (yes that is the correct word) to damage Nutralife's stock to the immediate benefit of Mr. Ackman. I know of no other trader who has used the full force of a US Senate seat and its subservient bureaucracies to benefit an allied short seller. This sort of (crime?) might have been done in the past but if so, it was done with some discretion. To his credit, I would like to say that Senator Markey has done his part to promote transparency in the Senate.

This event, whatever we want to call it, goes far beyond trading on privileged knowledge. For that reason, I apologize for categorizing all other inside traders with these ruthless thugs.

Insider Trading By Any Other Name...

THE FOLLOWING IS A REVERSE TIMELINE NARRATIVE OF sENATOR mARKEY'S nUTRALIFE sAGA. pLEASE NOTE THE RECURRING CHARACTER, wILLIAM a. aCKMAN.

1.

SENATOR EDWARD J. Markey insists his staff knew — but he didn’t — that a Wall Street investor stood to make a fortune if Markey and other politicians urged federal regulators to open a fraud investigation into a company the investor wants to destroy.

In Washington, they call that deniability. In the real world, it’s called hard to believe.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2014/03/15/don-let-markey-hedge-herbalife/xo9kRuA1vuWuFLBaDH80kK/story.html

2.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission will investigate the controversial vitamin company Herbalife, the company disclosed Wednesday, an action that Senator Edward J. Markey had urged in a letter to the FTC in January.

Markey was the only member of the Senate who said yes to entreaties by hedge fund executive William A. Ackman to seek an investigation of the company, which were relayed to the senator through his staff.

Ackman, who has a $1 billion bet against Herbalife and lobbied Markey and other members of Congress to take action against the company, has said most lawmakers rebuffed him because they knew he would reap a windfall if the company’s stock declined significantly.  http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2014/03/12/federal-trade-commission-will-probe-herbalife-after-hedge-fund-lobbying-and-request-senator-edward-markey/lGRhXMDQtWUUq3yAHFCJwO/story.html

3.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is giving “every consideration” to concerns raised by Senator Edward Markey that Herbalife Ltd. may be a pyramid scheme, the agency’s chairman said in a letter dated today.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-04/sec-giving-every-consideration-to-herbalife-concerns.html

4.

Markey Calls for Investigation into Herbalife Business Practices

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Lawmaker concerned nutritional supplement company could be operating outside securities law as a pyramid scheme

Washington (January 23, 2014)  After hearing serious complaints of improper pressure and financial hardship, including from a constituent in Massachusetts who lost her entire retirement savings, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) is calling for more information about the business practices of Herbalife Ltd. In letters sent today to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and to the company itself, Senator Markey queried each for more information about Herbalife’s operation

http://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/markey-calls-for-investigation-into-herbalife-business-practices