Reforms Meaningless Without Enforcement

So, Congress is shying away from hard-hitting securities reforms that would protect retirement funds [“1995 Tort Reform Act Said to Provide Safe Harbor for Fraud,” July 21]?

Why am I not surprised? When the Retirement Savings and Consumer Protection Act was on the California ballot in 1996, Wall Street, Silicon Valley and the “Big Six” accounting firms spent a record-setting $40 million to successfully defeat consumers’ and seniors’ attempts to protect their nest eggs.

These are the same corporate interests fighting meaningful consumer protection reform in Congress today.

The corporate-sponsored 1995 Tort Reform Act weakened investors’ protections that Congress enacted after the Great Depression. This law must be overturned: Not until corporate CEOs, directors, lawyers, accountants and brokers are held personally responsible for their illegal activities will our retirement funds be safe from excessive corporate greed.

New laws, however, are meaningless if not accompanied by diligent government enforcement. That’s why legal liability of everyone involved in corporate swindling is essential. Lawsuits hit corporate bandits where it hurts the most--in their pocketbooks.

Kelly Hayes-Raitt

Santa Monica