EDITORIAL: Shut down Operation Choke Point

Banks must cooperate with authorities if the government, working with the courts, can demonstrate that a financial institution’s customer is committing fraud or other crimes. Banks should not be expected to cooperate with authorities who, for political reasons, want to deny financial services to perfectly legal businesses.

Why are we not surprised that the Department of Justice, already predisposed to overreach under Attorney General Eric Holder, is engaging in the latter?

Operation Choke Point, a partnership between Justice, the Treasury Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies, was initiated to protect consumers by cutting off fraudulent businesses from banking services. However, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in July, the initiative came under fire. The committee said it had received a flood of letters from company owners who claimed the Justice Department was pressuring banks to drop them, even though they were not engaged in fraud.

At issue is the Justice Department’s targeting of businesses operating within what it considers “high-risk” industries, including ammunition sales, payday loans, pornography, pawnshops and fireworks companies. In the vast majority of cases, businesses in these industries are not being targeted because they are committing fraud, but rather because they are at odds with the politics of the Obama administration.

William M. Isaac, former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, says Operation Choke Point is “one of the most dangerous programs” he has experienced during his 45 years in the financial industry. “Operating without legal authority and guided by a political agenda, unelected officials at the DOJ are discouraging banks from providing basic banking services … to lawful businesses simply because they don’t like them.”

The Justice Department already has served more than 50 subpoenas on banks, essentially threatening them with lengthy and expensive regulatory scrutiny if they don’t drop these “high-risk” clients.

According to the Daily Caller, one Justice official told a banker who provided services to a payday loan company, “I don’t like this product, and I don’t believe it should have a place in our financial system. And if you don’t agree, there will be an immediate, unplanned audit of your entire bank.”

It is simply outrageous for the federal government to bring enormous political pressure upon one legal, taxpaying industry to not do business with another legal, taxpaying industry. This amounts to a politically motivated prosecution in which the accused are denied their due process rights.

What if, as The Washington Post wondered recently, a Republican administration initiated a similar program against abortion clinics or radical environmental advocacy groups that sue to block development? Would that result in any outcry? And, if left unchecked, how soon might Operation Choke Point extend its tentacles into the regulated casino industry?

If federal authorities believe a company is breaking the law, they have an obligation to investigate that company — while at the same time respecting the rights of its owners and executives. Mr. Holder must halt this unaccountable operation immediately.

Not only is Operation Choke Point further proof of why Mr. Holder should have been forced to resign years ago, its overreach is yet another example of why a large and powerful federal government threatens our liberties.

When will all of this overreach end? When we elect people who champion a smaller government with limited powers.