As NJ Senator Lobbied Fed for Campaign Donor Bank, re (CRA?) Sunshine

Today's WSJ news, that NJ Senator Menendez wrote to urge the Federal Reserve to fast approve an acquisition by JJR Bank Holding Co. of First BankAmericano, whose owners were big contributors to his campaigns, brings to mind the so-called Community Reinvestment Act "sunshine" provisions the Senate adopted in 1999. Their rationale was that community groups should disclose any support from banks. Then Senator Phil Gramm, now with Swiss bank UBS, called commenting, mostly to the Federal Reserve, by funded groups "a piece of old Italy." But now it seems that it's elected officials, in this case a Senator, who are more in need of sunshine....