The SIPA

The SIPA has been asked to help moderate a “Meet The Candidates” forum on Friday July 30th at the Financial Services Exchange meeting being held this week at the Ritz Carlton in Fort Lauderdale Florida. Candidates for the three FINRA Board of Governors seats include Jed Bandes, Joel Blumenschein and Ken Norensberg. In addition, invitations were also extended to other candidates who were appointed by FINRA and as of this writing only Lisa Roth has agreed to attend and we credit her for being open to this question and answer.

With this in mind all three candidates have agreed that upon being voted onto the board their first order of business will be to immediately demand the board to distribute a minimum of $35,000 in funds to all member firms of record. In addition, the candidates believe that if a higher payment is possible, that the funds above that also be immediately distributed to the member owners. This is your money not the regulators

Do you trust FINRA? It’s a simple yes or no answer that is at the heart of this election. Do you believe FINRA has YOUR best interests in mind or do they cater to a certain segment of Firms? If you believe that FINRA has shown itself to be completely trust worthy, then by all means vote for their handpicked candidates.

Over 100 Million dollars of YOUR money was paid out to the top executives of FINRA over the last four years, yet this organization told you that the IRS would only allow a payment of $35,000 to you. While you are fighting for survival, the compensation paid to these people at FINRA has swelled to proportions that would make John Thain of Merrill Lynch fame blush.

I’m a clueless small business owner who can only judge things from my eyes and ears on the street. Instead of quoting Greenspan and Bernanke , I’d rather quote Bluto from Animal House after they accidentally killed the horse in the Dean’s Office…I believe the words of shock Bluto uttered over an over again were: “ H-O-L-Y S-H-I-#!..H-O-L-Y S-H-I-#"!!