41.   Morgan Stanley was subsequently barred from the municipal finance business in Massachusetts for two years.

42.   Municipal finances are almost totally dependent on the property-tax system, he said.

43.   Most securities firms have scaled back their municipal finance operations amid shrinking profit margins in the past two years.

44.   Part of the problem is that neither Swartzlander nor Kline, like many municipal finance officers, are schooled in finance or receive much help.

45.   Robert Maloney had no involvement in municipal finance, said Sally Cates, a spokeswoman for the Travelers Group Inc. unit.

46.   Since Levitt took office, the commission has tried to clean up municipal finance in a number of ways.

47.   Some have been hired at other firms, or have become municipal finance consultants.

48.   Some municipal finance analysts were particularly surprised about the loss in Orange County, considered a bastion of conservatism, both fiscal and political.

49.   State legislators and municipal finance experts say the bailout, rather than rescuing TexPool, is likely to lead to its demise.

50.   Still, political fund-raisers have come up with new, though more indirect, ways to allow municipal finance firms to make donations.