Accountable America Chairman Tom Matzzie submitted the following must read piece to the Huffington Post today. It outlines Accountable America's call for a stronger, more effective and more active Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC):

Have you heard of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission? If not, that's because this Commission with responsibility for investigating the financial crisis has so far failed to get to work. Last May Congress passed legislation creating the Commission with a broad mandate and specific powers including subpoena, public hearings, cross examination of witnesses under oath and even criminal referrals.

Where are the hearings? Where are the subpoenas? Where are the criminal referrals? Millions of people are out of work because of the casino economy setup by some in the financial sector.

So far, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission isn't living up to expectations. It has been eighteen months since the market crashes, fifteen month since the Madoff frauds were exposed, nearly ten months since Congress created the Commission and eight months since commissioners were appointed.

To date the Commission has held one public hearing with witnesses and then a forum recently with professors and academicians. No victims have had a chance to talk. No subpoenas have been issued. There is no real way for the public to give input.

With one in six Americans looking for work, the Commission can't be allowed to whitewash the failure and complicity of the SEC and other government regulators. The Commission needs to assign blame where blame is due, and bring the wrongdoers to justice.

It didn't have to be this way. The hopes for the Commission harkened back to the Pecora Commission of the 1930s whose findings led to passage of Glass-Steagall, the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Others were thinking of the role the 9/11 Commission played in pulling together a scrupulous accounting of the terrorist attack.

The victims of the hit and run economic crimes of this period expect and deserve much more. Years from now, there will be ample time for a leisurely stroll through the history of this crisis. Now is the time for action--investigations, prosecutions and more.

That's why a group I lead as Chairman, Accountable America, is working with victims of the Bernard Madoff frauds and others to push for investigation with teeth. Accountable America is sponsoring TV, radio and print ads, and organizing phone banks and public events.

Many Madoff victims see the lackluster government response so far as yet another form of financial abuse. One indirect Madoff investor, Suzanne Webel, who lost her life savings, said:

"We were robbed first by Madoff...and now by the government for failing to respond to our plight. We want the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to get to the bottom of this mess - we want a hearing on our issues and a commitment to compensate ALL victims fairly."

Accountable America sent a letter to Commission Chairman Phil Angelides and Vice-Chairman Bill Thomas, urging them to get serious about achieving their mandate. The letter aired several concerns:

* The Commission has made no commitment to hearing from the victims of Madoff frauds, other failed institutions or the broader financial crisis - despite a specific Congressional mandate to investigate these frauds. Victims deserve a full airing of their concerns.

* The Commission has not issued a single subpoena for current or former regulators who were either asleep at the switch or complicit in the financial crisis. Among many others, former S.E.C. Chairman Christopher Cox, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and former Chairman Alan Greenspan should all be subpoenaed and cross-examined.

* Testimony from academic experts is not enough. Too much time has been spent preparing for academic study instead of conducting investigations - which are the true intent of the Commission's Congressional mandate.

* The schedule and pace of work is too slow. Since July 2009, the Commission has only met in public three times. The first hearing with witnesses occurred just a month ago. If specific members of the Commission are dragging their feet or unwilling to work at an appropriate pace, they should be called to account publicly.

* The American people deserve clearer notice of the date, time and place of the Commission's meetings. The time of day for the most recent forum was announced only two days before it was held, and its location had inadequate space for the public. The Commission should announce a draft schedule of hearings with dates and locations for the rest of the year and ask for public input.

* Not a single subpoena has been issued. This is one of the Commission's most powerful tools, and it should not be left unused.

* If the reason for inaction is lack of resources, the Commission should publicly ask for what they need. Their work is too important to fall victim to indolence or red tape.

With the Commission's report due in December, there is still time to get on track -- but the clock is ticking.

Reflecting on his work in 1939, Ferdinand Pecora wrote:

Had there been full disclosure of what was being done in furtherance of these schemes, they could not long have survived the fierce light of publicity and criticism. Legal chicanery and pitch darkness were the banker's stoutest allies.

Pecora's singular focus on truth-finding did justice to victims and safeguarded America's economy for decades to come.

Chairman Angelides and the other nine members of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission have a choice to make.

They can continue to conduct a toothless, academic exercise that holds no one accountable.

Or they can learn the lessons of the past and bring the disinfecting power of sunlight to the shadowy corners of our financial system where greed lies in wait to strike again.

The clock is ticking. It's time for action.

The Securities & Exchange Commission is responsible for enforcing securities and financial regulatory law in this country. In the lead up to and during the beginning of the global financial crisis three men were asleep at the wheel: former SEC head Christopher Cox, former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan and current Fed Chair Ben Bernanke.

Accountable America Chairman Tom Matzzie said that these three men must answer for their actions:

It’s about time. Chairman Angelides is right to call Cox and Greenspan. If they decline to appear they should be subpoenaed.

Cox macheted the law enforcement functions of the SEC—one of the reasons Bernie Madoff was never caught.

Cox in particular allowed the banks to over-leverage themselves by neglecting his role as SEC chair to protect the public. An SEC bank supervision program, started in 2004 by his predecessor, was abominably managed by Cox and has been called one of the single greatest factors contributing to the financial crisis. Cox’s 17-year record and demeanor as chairman was always to protect the Wall Street banks rather than investors, the public and the economy at large.

It is easy to forget that Alan Greenspan ran the Fed for most of the period when the housing bubble was being inflated. He sat by as the bubble grew with few critical words until after he left his post.

The last two days, Accountable America has run newspaper ads calling on the Commission to investigate the regulators who failed to protect the public and the economy. Support our efforts.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is meeting to start their review of what happened during the crisis that has dragged our economy into what some are calling the Great Recession. (You can watch a LIVE Webcast of the Commission hearings on C-SPAN or online at www.fcic.gov--January 13 and 14.) Today Accountable America released a new print advertisement--appearing in Politico and Roll Call in Washington, DC--urging the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to hold ALL the parties involved in the crisis accountable. The ads highlight the failure of former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox to catch the fraud of convicted Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff, despite significant warnings to the SEC.

The Commission's hearings are an important first step--they'll feature some of the most prominent bank executives in the industry. But as the chief regulator overseeing the securities industry before and during the crisis of 2008, Cox failed to do anything that prevented the crisis. Cox appeared to be more committed to his long record helping Wall Street banks than protecting America's investors, the public or the economy at large. The SEC was too docile and ineffective. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, chaired by former California State Treasurer Phil Angelides and former U.S. House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, should investigate the role that officials at the SEC, Federal Reserve and elsewhere played that allowed the foxes to get into the henhouse.

Ultimately we need real financial reforms that prevent a crisis from happening again and put a new cop on the beat protecting investors, the public and the economy. But we also need accountability.

The policies Doug Hoffman supports created America’s financial crisis. That's the message of Accountable America's new TV ad on the air starting this week in the 23rd district of New York.

Hoffman is the darling of the Club for Growth, the right-wing group funded by some of Wall Street's biggest fat cats. The Club for Growth’s agenda boils down to one idea: stop consumer protections in the name of “deregulation.”

They don’t want to see the Financial Truth Commission "name names" and hold people accountable like the 9/11 Commission. That is why many of the Club for Growth’s biggest supporters voted against setting up the Commission.

Doug Hoffman has yet to call for tough investigations into the banks who created the financial crisis. Nor has he called for new regulations to protect consumers and end corporate greed. Hoffman doesn’t want to upset his Wall Street friends, so, he's singing their tune by supporting Bush-style tax cuts and deregulation designed to help the richest banks.

In a new ad airing in New York's 23rd District this weekend, Accountable America exposes Doug Hoffman’s Wall Street agenda. Check out the ad and, if you like what you see, make a contribution to support work like this ad.

A new 60-second TV ad released by Accountable America today confronts the closing argument from Republicans that Democrats shouldn't be allowed to control all of government. The ad argues that "Americans Don't Want Government Hand Outs, Just Government in Good Hands."

The ad was produced by ZOON POLITIKON LLC, a newly founded ad company based in Louisville, Kentucky. Principally Elliot Greenebaum and Gabriel Wrye, two experienced feature filmmakers who draw on a talent pool of professional writers, actors and creative technicians, Elliot and Gabriel were in Kentucky when Hurricane Ike hit the coast. In the wake of the storm which disabled Louisville for a week, and Elliot and Gabriel saw the opportunity to make this ad, staging the action on an actual site of storm devastation, and use the real residents of the location as actors.

ZOON POLITIKON has already produced spots for statewide campaigns and national political organizations. ZOON POLITIKON aims to move political advertising away from the traditional 1950's informational, power-point model and replace it with real experiences. Their work can be seen at ZoonPolitikon.com.