Tom Swan of Connecticut Citizen Action Group (and former Ned Lamont campaign manager) is one of the people I most respect in Connecticut politics. He’s a dyed in the wool progressive with a history of getting results, from forcing Joe Lieberman out of the Democratic Party to fighting for marriage equality and universal healthcare. Swan and CCAG have also done a lot of work around credit card reform, which is the subject of his Connecticut Post op-ed from yesterday on Chris Dodd’s achievements in that area and beyond. Swan writes:

That it happened at all is a credit to the leadership of our senior senator, who took on the banks and beat them. It’s no secret that Chris Dodd has been attacked from all sides recently. And certainly, public sentiment during the economic crisis helped make this moment possible.

But it was Chris Dodd — who’s been on the right side of this fight for 20 years — who held the line, insisting on much tougher protections than those included in a similar bill that had already passed the House of Representatives. As chairman of the Banking Committee and a 30-year veteran of the Senate, he shepherded the legislation through the chamber, drawing upon his unique ability to reach across the aisle to get some very conservative Republicans to join him.

In a career filled with big, bipartisan victories — the Family and Medical Leave Act, election reform after the 2000 debacle in Florida — passing meaningful credit card reform during a time of economic crisis may well prove the senator’s most lasting.

But the real winner here isn’t any public official, industry or interest group. It’s the American consumer, including the people of Connecticut, who have a right not to be deceived, misled or ripped off — particularly during a recession when they can least afford it. [Emphasis added]

Swan’s whole op-ed is worth a read, as it shows the remarkable scope of Dodd’s credit card reform legislation, which will surely go down as yet another piece of landmark lawmaking that will have a lasting impact on our country.