Clinton campaign launches preemptive strike on Sanders Wall Street plan

A top Hillary Clinton campaign official on Monday sought to undercut Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) Wall Street reform plan a day before her Democratic rival unveils the proposals in New York.

{mosads}Gary Gensler, chief financial officer for the Clinton campaign and former top regulator at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, panned Sanders’ “hands-off” stance on regulating risky hedge funds and investment banks.

“Any plan to further reform our financial system must include strong provisions to tackle risks in the ‘shadow banking’ sector, which remains a critical source of potential instability in our economy,” Gensler said in a statement. “Senator Sanders should go beyond his existing plans for reforming Wall Street and endorse Hillary Clinton’s tough, comprehensive proposals to rein in risky behavior within the shadow banking sector.”

Clinton’s plan calls for greater transparency from financial institutions to measure risks, higher collateral and margin requirements for short-term borrowing and make sure new financial regulations adequately protect taxpayers.

Sanders has proposed taxes on financial to curb high-speed trading and Wall Street speculation among measures that instead focus on large banks.

Financial regulation has been a critical Democratic primary issue and a common sparring topic for Clinton and Sanders. Both call for greater oversight and tougher rules, but differ on some key components.

While Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley support restoring the Glass-Steagall Act separating conventional and investment banking activity, Clinton doesn’t. Clinton has also been criticized for close ties to and political donations from Wall Street, which she represented as a U.S. senator from New York between 2001 and 2009.