MJ Lee
Politico
12/29/2013
As an ambitious politician with eyes on the White House, Tim Pawlenty cast himself as the everyman — the working-class son of a truck driver, a practical Midwesterner, a “Sam’s Club Republican.”
But when those ambitions were dashed, the former Minnesota governor found a new role that takes him a long way from Sam’s Club: being the voice of big banks and other financial companies in Washington — some of the same institutions the prairie populist once criticized on the stump.
Taking on the job as CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable seemed an odd fit, to put it mildly, for Pawlenty, who called for Wall Street to get its “snout out of the trough” during the 2012 campaign.
But Pawlenty has plunged into the task of making the group and the companies it represents even more of a player in Washington’s crowded financial services lobbying world than when the former governor was bemoaning government bailouts on the campaign trail…
…Pawlenty said that among the issues he wants to focus on next year is the debate over what new mortgage financing system should replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, cybersecurity and the renewal of the terrorism risk insurance program.
Where to land on policy positions is also serving as an example of where Pawlenty the Republican ends and his new role as an industry representative begins…
The complete article, with video, is at Politico.
