Rep. Collin Peterson wants Wall Street to see things his way

WASHINGTON - Rep. Collin Peterson has never walked on Wall Street, but it hasn't prevented him from trying to reform it.

While the rural Minnesota Democrat is playing a key role in the biggest piece of Wall Street legislation in decades, Peterson has never seen a reason to visit the 7,000-pound bronze Wall Street bull in Lower Manhattan. "What would you do, look at the computers sitting on the desk?" he said. "I don't see that that's any magic."

Peterson, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, has become an improbable broker deciding the fate of the most contentious aspects of the financial overhaul bill.

In an election year when he may be attacked for selling farmers short, Peterson is the point person in the House on provisions in the bill important to Minnesota farmers and agriculture companies.

Those provisions deal with derivatives, financial instruments that can reduce risk in trading crops and conducting business from Wall Street to Hollywood.

A House-Senate conference committee will take up the derivative provisions Thursday.

An amendment by Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., which would force banks to spin off some lucrative derivative business, has become the biggest source of disagreement between the House and Senate.

If Peterson is successful, it will give him a trophy for the agriculture community in his northwestern Minnesota district. Winning strong farming provisions in a high-profile bill can also help him atone for ultimately supporting the climate change bill last year that agriculture strongly opposed.

Too close to Pelosi

With anti-incumbent sentiment high this year, Peterson is vulnerable to charges that he's too close to Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic establishment, said Michael Brodkorb, deputy chair of the Minnesota Republican Party.

While Peterson voted against the health care bill that Republicans opposed, he voted for the House climate change bill that was unpopular in rural districts.

Peterson held out his support on the climate bill until the 11^th hour, winning an amendment that the farming community wanted. But the agriculture community still regarded the bill as a huge new tax, said Kelli Ludlum, director of congressional relations at the American Farm Bureau.

"He's no friend of Wall Street, but he takes care of his agriculture folks," said Barbara Headrick, a professor of political science at Minnesota State University Moorhead. "He will vote against the Democratic leadership whenever he chooses, so that means if they want his vote, they have to listen to what he needs."

Lobbyists hope to weaken

Banking lobbyists have furiously tried to strip the tough derivatives language from the final bill, and hope provisions regulating their use of derivatives will be weakened.

Peterson said he has been lobbied plenty by Wall Street since financial reform started, but that doesn't mean he plans on seeing the New York Stock Exchange trading floor anytime soon. He turned down an offer for a campaign fundraiser there.

"These Wall Street guys," he said, "they don't know what to do with me. ... They know I'm going to do what I'm going to do, and I'm going to do what I think is right."