Specter's 'reluctant' vote helped firm with ties to his wife By Walter F. Roche Jr. TRIBUNE-REVIEW Thursday, February 26, 2009 Buzz up! Post to MySpace! StumbleUpon Toolbar On Oct. 1, after a critical vote on a $700 billion financial industry bailout package, Sen. Arlen Specter issued a two-paragraph statement explaining why he "reluctantly" voted, along with 73 colleagues, for the measure. Before the year was over, a Delaware-based bank holding company that counts the senator's wife as a nearly decade-long director got a $45.2 million infusion from the bill.