Cantor's New Leadership Style?

Worth Clicking: Blasts from the past wound Romney

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February 22, 2012

Cantor's New Leadership Style?

The Hill provides a behind-the-scenes look at how House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) successfully navigated the STOCK Act, the bill that would apply insider trading laws to members of Congress, through the House with bipartisan support.

"Cantor...wanted to study, expand and build support for an insider-trading bill that would garner support from a large majority of House GOP legislators. In doing so, the majority leader read Throw Them All Out, the book by Peter Schweizer that served as the basis for the '60 Minutes' report... As the House deliberated, the Democrat-led Senate pounced. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) bypassed committee action and quickly passed the chamber's version of the STOCK Act. "

"Cantor, who is not shy in mixing it up with Democrats, refrained from responding to the attacks and worked to win over skeptical House Republicans. From late December until its passage in February, Cantor met with scores of members, talked with the counsels on six of the committees with jurisdiction and briefed the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC) and the entire House GOP conference... In an unanticipated twist as the measure neared consideration on the House floor, Cantor praised Walz and Slaughter in a press release. He also called Walz for help to pass the insider-trading bill."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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February 22, 2012