Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Beatty said Thursday that he would have voted against the Wall Street bailout plan that passed in the U.S. Senate Wednesday evening.

[img_assist|nid=168|title=Jeff Beatty (R)|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=99|height=180]Democratic U.S. Sen. John Kerry, who Beatty is challenging, voted for the measure, which passed by a vote of 74 to 25.

Beatty, of Harwich, told PolitickerMA.com Thursday that he thinks "that bill came up short when it comes to protecting the taxpayer's interest."

While acknowledging that he hadn't read all of the Senate bill, Beatty said that if he were drafting the bailout legislation, he would emphasize four principles.

First, Beatty said the Senate proposal didn't ask for executives who have benefitted from large severance packages to pay that money back.

"There was not enough in there about taking back money from these executives, who are not wanting financial assistance," Beatty said. "They have got to pay that money back."

Second, he would call for a reform to what he called the "alphabet agencies" that are in charge of oversight, referring to agencies such as the Federal Reserve and SEC.

"Weren't they supposed to be providing oversight already?" Beatty asked. "What they have in the bill is a watered down version of anything that could be called reform."

Third, Beatty called for a full investigation into how the country came to the current financial crisis. In the House bill, which Beatty read in its entirety, there were "only 34 words that talked about the FBI and what they could investigate," he said.

Finally, Beatty said he draft that would monitor from whom politicians receive contributions and what role they play in legislation that affects those donors.

"Special interests are still going to rule the day" after this proposal, Beatty said. "I want to see legislation, and I think it should have been a part of this, that says if you have an interest or a potential conflict of interest you cannot vote on, act on or influence a matter before the Senate."

Asked to respond to Kerry's remarks on Tuesday that the Senate needed to act because the country was facing a financial "crisis of confidence," Beatty said he understands Kerry's argument but that the remark illustrates Kerry's willingness to protect special interests that support him.

"I think it was another excuse to protect his special interests," Beatty said. "When the Congressional Budget Office is on the record that they cannot even estimate the impact of this bill because of its vagueness, why are you as a senator voting for $700 billion dollars if the Congressional Budget Office cannot even estimate the impact?"

The Kerry campaign responded by saying that Beatty's proposal doesn't fully grasp the magnitude of the financial crisis.

"This is no time for partisan bickering," Brigid O'Rourke, a spokeswoman for Kerry, said. "It's a time for all of us to come together and save our economy. Even John McCain knows that."

O'Rourke also questioned Beatty's judgment, saying he does not understand how important the bailout bill is to Massachusetts residents.

"Jeff Beatty's statements show he doesn't have the judgment or experience to put even the future of our nation's economy above his own extreme ideology," she said. "Without this legislation, Massachusetts small businesses may be unable to obtain financing and jobs would vanish. Families may be unable to borrow for new homes or to send their children to college. Retirement funds could plummet. While this bill wasn't perfect, too many Americans are hurting to turn a blind eye toward our economic problems."

Nevertheless, Beatty said giving Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson the authority over $700 billion is a mistake. And by voting for the bill, he said, Kerry is "right there in the same boat as Paulson."