Political Quotes

“I commend my colleague, Senator Boxer, for those excellent comments on the subject. I would like to add my own remarks to this in support of my colleague's, and Senator Lieberman's sense-of-the-Senate resolution essentially to ask FASB to cease and desist in this proposed accounting rule. At a time when California continues to just begin to break out of the recession, when our economy is struggling to convert thousands of defense jobs into private sector jobs, I think it is critical to ensure that the growth of the high technology industry, over one-third of which is located in the State of California, is not curtailed by FASB's decision to impose huge new accounting charges on the use of employee stock options. I am concerned that if FASB's rule is adopted tens of thousands of desperately needed jobs in California and the Nation will never, in fact, be created. Now, a lot of my colleagues may not be familiar with the widespread use of employee stock options. Certainly, we have heard them attached to CEO salaries. We have heard them attached to golden parachutes. But this is not what we are talking about. Broad-based employee stock option plans play a crucial role in creating and sustaining the entrepreneurial culture that is essential to competitiveness in high technology.”