Rahm Emanuel, part of the problem
Outstanding Chicago Tribune report today about Rahm Emanuel's "profitable stint" at Freddie Mac in 2000 and 2001.
It seems that the man who's now the top aide to President Obama was just another one of the boys cashing in on slipshod financial practices.
Some key passages from the Trib:
"Emanuel's Freddie Mac involvement has been a prominent point on his political résumé, and his healthy payday from the firm has been no secret either. What is less known, however, is how little he apparently did for his money and how he benefited from the kind of cozy ties between Washington and Wall Street that have fueled the nation's current economic mess."
More after the jump ...
"He was named to the Freddie Mac board in February 2000 by Clinton, whom Emanuel had served as White House political director and vocal defender during the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky scandals.
"The board met no more than six times a year. Unlike most fellow directors, Emanuel was not assigned to any of the board's working committees, according to company proxy statements. Immediately upon joining the board, Emanuel and other new directors qualified for $380,000 in stock and options plus a $20,000 annual fee, records indicate.
"On Emanuel's watch, the board was told by executives of a plan to use accounting tricks to mislead shareholders about outsize profits the government-chartered firm was then reaping from risky investments. The goal was to push earnings onto the books in future years, ensuring that Freddie Mac would appear profitable on paper for years to come and helping maximize annual bonuses for company brass.
"The accounting scandal wasn't the only one that brewed during Emanuel's tenure.
"During his brief time on the board, the company hatched a plan to enhance its political muscle. That scheme, also reviewed by the board, led to a record $3.8 million fine from the Federal Election Commission for illegally using corporate resources to host fundraisers for politicians. Emanuel was the beneficiary of one of those parties after he left the board and ran in 2002 for a seat in Congress from the North Side of Chicago."
"The Obama administration rejected a Tribune request under the Freedom of Information Act to review Freddie Mac board minutes and correspondence during Emanuel's time as a director. The documents, obtained by Falcon for his investigation, were 'commercial information' exempt from disclosure, according to a lawyer for the Federal Housing Finance Agency."
"One of Emanuel's fellow directors at Freddie Mac was Neil Hartigan, the former Illinois attorney general. Hartigan said Emanuel's primary contribution was explaining to others on the board how to play the levers of power."
"In his investigation, Falcon concluded that the board of directors on which Emanuel sat was so pliant that Freddie Mac's managers easily were able to massage company ledgers. They manipulated bookkeeping to smooth out volatility, perpetuating Freddie Mac's industry reputation as 'Steady Freddie,' a reliable producer of earnings growth. Wall Street liked what it saw, Freddie Mac's stock value soared and top executives collected their bonuses.
"Another focus of Freddie during Emanuel's day—and one that played to his skill set—was a stepped-up effort to combat congressional demands for more regulation.
"During a September 2000 board meeting—midway through Emanuel's 14-month term—Freddie Mac lobbyist R. Mitchell Delk laid out a strategy titled "Political Risk Management" aimed at influencing lawmakers and blunting pressure in Congress for more regulation. Through Delk's initiative, Freddie Mac sponsored more than 80 fundraisers that raised at least $1.7 million for congressional candidates despite a federal law that bans corporations from direct political activity."
"Federal campaign records show that Emanuel received $25,000 from donors with ties to Freddie Mac in the 2002 campaign cycle, more than twice the amount collected that election by any other candidate for the U.S. House or Senate.
"Emanuel joined the House in January 2003 and was named to the Financial Services Committee, where he also sat on the subcommittee that directly oversaw Freddie Mac. A few months later, Freddie Mac Chief Executive Officer Leland Brendsel was forced out, and the committee and subcommittee launched hearings to sort out the mess, spanning more than a year. Emanuel skipped every hearing, congressional records indicate."
Thanks to the Trib for this valuable insight into the character of the White House chief of staff.
Comments (16)
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Don't forget about questioning the character of the man who appointed these folks, including shady connections with his pal Franklin Raines. It's amazing that all Obama's cronies got payouts from Fannie/Freddie (while knowingly running it into the ground), including Obama from both Fannie/Freddie and AIG, and now we're seeing some of the same names appointed.
You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours with the dollars of the American taxpayers. Typical dirty Chicago politician - too bad so many Americans actually bought into his nonsensical brayings of hope and change.
Posted on March 26, 2009 9:49 AM
Emanuel is just another in a long list of crooks appointed by The Messiah in his "most ethical administration in history" boondoggle.
Talk about "bait-and-switch"; he promised salvation but gave us corruption.
God help us.
Posted on March 26, 2009 10:11 AM
This is not news. For more than a year Fox News, and talk radio reported repeatedly about the connections among Fannie, Freddie, Clinton, Raines, Jim Johnson, Jamie Gorelik BarneyFrank,Chris Dodd, the Congressional Negro Caucus (particularly Maxine Waters who reveled in telling us what a "wonderful" job Franklin Raines was doing at Fannie. before of course he was canned for fraud), and the Messiah!
No one in the "mainstream" media cared. They were too busy fawning over, and protecting the soon to be "Savior," from the well known, and well chronicled Chicago political corruption in which he has been mired beginning with his state senate, and culminating with his disastrous election!
Now, suddenly, after the damage has been done, the media is reporting the corruption that most of us already knew about. None of this is new. Where were these people when it mattered? The damage has been done, and may be irreversible. We have the corrupt Chicago Political Mafia now running the country!
Posted on March 26, 2009 11:06 AM
Tony, it's possible to grab this football and run straight out of bounds with it.
Why would the media have reported on Rahm Emanuel's Freddie Mac connections in relation to Barack Obama's presidential campaign last year? It became relevant to Obama only when Obama made Emanuel his chief of staff.
What does Maxine Waters have to do with Obama? What does Barney Frank have to do with Obama? They don't work for him.
What's Obama's involvement in Chicago corruption other than coming from Chicago?
I happen to think it's true that lots of politicians who now are presenting themselves as saviours of our financial system contributed to the debacle. I didn't like Obama's choice of Emanuel to begin with because Emanuel is a foul-mouthed, vicious political partisan. Maybe Obama wanted someone to play Mr. Hyde to his Dr. Jekyll. After learning about Emanuel's role with Freddie, I have no confidence in his concern for the public interest.
However, I don't see those same traits in Obama. I'm not going to agree with all his policy proposals, and I'm happy to see "moderate" Dems questioning some of them. But, until I'm proven wrong, I'm still going to credit him with good intentions. I don't believe he ran for president for personal profit or that he is corrupt.
Posted on March 26, 2009 11:27 AM
It seems that the man who's now the top aide to President Obama was just another one of the boys cashing in on slipshod financial practices* Doug
What do you expect from a man who is a citizen of Israel and fought with their Army as a terrorist commander?
Posted on March 26, 2009 11:59 AM
"However, I don't see those same traits in Obama. I'm not going to agree with all his policy proposals, and I'm happy to see "moderate" Dems questioning some of them. But, until I'm proven wrong, I'm still going to credit him with good intentions. I don't believe he ran for president for personal profit or that he is corrupt."
- Doug
How can you not, Doug? He's the man appointing these folks, so either his judgment is that terrible, or he shares many beliefs with such individuals. Which is it, Doug? It has to be one or the other...
Either we have a president that's incapable of sound judgment or we have one with terrible values. Or perhaps one that's too stupid to know the difference (which is far-fetched, because I believe Obama is very smart). Frankly, I think it's all political payback, which lends my beliefs to his terrible values and ethics, which scream to me that he was certainly a player in the Chicago political machine.
Posted on March 26, 2009 12:05 PM
Obama is too smart, and the stakes are too high, for him to build an administration of hacks and crooks. I don't think he is. However, he made a poor choice in Emanuel, and maybe he's given Emanuel too much authority to make other appointments. I don't know.
Sad to say, in politics it's hard to avoid connections with shady characters. But there's a difference between connections and influence, and between influence and action. This administration has been in office for nine weeks. The jury -- I'm speaking figuratively -- is still out.
Posted on March 26, 2009 12:13 PM
Doug, so the thugs in O'Bummer's administration are "free lancing!" They're doing it when they're "off the clock!"
O'Bummer is every bit the thug that Emmanuel is, just more polished. O'Bummer didn't do the "hits" that removed two opponents, one in his first state senate race, and his thugs in the media taking our Ryan in the '04 senate race. It's kind of like the "affable, lovable, polished John Gotti, and his uncoth thug hitman, Sammy "the Bull" Gravano! Whatever his public personna, Gotti was a murdering thug! Gotti, Gravano, O'Bummer, Rahm "the Bull_ _ _ _ _ _r" Emmanuel!
Posted on March 26, 2009 1:51 PM
Obama's a thug?
Tony, when you argue on the policy pro's and cons, you're worth listening to. When you throw out stuff like this, not.
Posted on March 26, 2009 2:01 PM
He certainly uses many tactics that thugs use, especially when he's attacked, or made to look bad. Joe the Plumber, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity. He personally attacked them. Had minions in Ohio invade Joe's privacy.
So you do beleive that Rahm, the Bull......is acting without any knowledge of the "Godfather," er, the president, his Boss!
Posted on March 26, 2009 2:26 PM
He certainly uses many tactics that thugs use, especially when he's attacked, or made to look bad. Joe the Plumber, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity. He personally attacked them. Had minions in Ohio invade Joe's privacy.
So you do beleive that Rahm, the Bull......is acting without any knowledge of the "Godfather," er, the president, his Boss!
Posted on March 26, 2009 2:28 PM
Tony, we're talking about what Rahm Emanuel was doing in 2000-01, not as WH COS in 2009.
Granted, those earlier activities cause me to distrust him now. I hope Obama keeps him on a short leash, but we'll have to see about that.
Your evidence for Obama being a thug is tissue-paper thin. If "attacking" (by which I take it you mean criticizing) someone is thuggish, then we're all thugs.
Posted on March 26, 2009 2:40 PM
Only after we are elected president, and promise to change the tone in our politics, and just after we 95% get our tax cuts! Oops, just saw this on line:
How many times, during the course of the presidential campaign, did you hear Barack Obama say “95% of all Americans will get a tax cut under my plan?” If your answer was about ten times a day then congrats, you are correct. So, in Barack Obama's gigantic budget he recently proposed, Obama said that things looked great---they have worked in 98% of the agenda. Only a few small things are missing -- like the 95% of all Americans tax cut thing.
Posted on March 26, 2009 3:03 PM
You're on solid ground now. Anyone who believed that line wasn't listening or thinking.
First, nowhere near 95 percent even pay federal taxes. How could they get a tax cut?
Second, Obama also said he would raise the ceiling on social security taxes. That would not touch most taxpayers, but still quite a few, and a lot whose family incomes are under $250K.
Third, we will all pay "carbon taxes" through our utility bills and when we purchase gas.
Posted on March 26, 2009 3:20 PM
Well, enough believed the Godfather's lies to stick those of us who not so easily fooled with his destructive policies.
Posted on March 26, 2009 4:50 PM
Not that McCain/Palin inspired much confidence.
Despite naysayers, Obama might be succeeding in one level by fueling a little optimism. Don't spoil it, Tony.
Posted on March 26, 2009 5:00 PM