Saturday, October 04, 2008
CSI Political Corruption: Let's play investigator. If you're investigating a crime, and you're looking at the crime scene one thing you do is dust for prints and try to identify potential suspects. Let's say we've surveyed the crime scene and found failed banks, credit vacuum, failed lending institutions, rampant corruption of public officials, etc. We've run the finger prints and here are our possible suspects:
Chris Dodd- Senator. Democrat. Authored legislation that President Bill Clinton signed making it legal for Aurthur Andersen to serve Enron as both auditor and as investment consutlant. Recipient of the largest total campaign contributions of all U.S. Senators over last the 20 years from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Helped thwart Republican efforts in the Senate in 2003, 2004, and 2005 to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by using Senate procedures to kill legislation in committee.
Bill Clinton- Democrat. Former President. Signed authorizing legislation allowing Arthur Andersen to both audit and advise Enron. Set the stage for manipulation of Enron books and the ultimate collapse of Enron. Appointed Jamie Gorelic to Vice Chair of Fannie Mae in 1997.
Bob Reuben- Democrat. Former Clinton Treasury Secretary. Made the frantic call to President Bush's Treasury Secretary in 2001 requesting the Bush Administration intervene and save Enron.
Arthur Andersen- Audit firm and Consulting agency for Enron. Oversaw the management of Enron's books while also running their audits. Prior to the legislation written and sponsored by Democrat Senator Chris Dodd and signed by Democrat President Bill Clinton, it was illegal for an investment and consulting firm to also serve as the auditor for customer companies.
Ken Lay- Presiding CEO of Enron when it collapsed. Frequent golf friend of President Bill Clinton. Frequent Lincoln Bedroom guest of President Bill Clinton. Convicted on 10 of 11 counts of securities fraud against him in connection with the fall of Enron. Bob Reuben, President Clinton's former Treasury Secretary tried a last minute request to the Bush Administration to rescue Enron.
Enron- Formerly a Houston based energy that went bankrupt in late 2001. Systemic securities fraud and corruption brought the company down resulting in the conviction of Ken Lay and the dissolution of Arthur Andersen after Enron and Arthur Andersen took advantage of the law that was changed to allow AA to serve as auditor and investment consultant. Dangerous investment practices that would, under the previous law, have been detected in the audit process were, after the change, obscured during AA's audits so as not to impact their profitable investment business.
Diane Feinstein- Senator. Democrat. Steered lucrative defense contracts to her husbands company though legislative pressure.
William Jefferson- Congressman. Democrat. Under investigation by the FBI for graft. Found with $90,000 of FBI sting money wrapped in tin foil in his home freezer.
Charlie Wrangle- Congressman. Democrat. Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the committee that writes tax law. Discovered to have failed to pay any income taxes on the income of his off-shore rental properties. House Ethics Committee is "investigating" him after his statements that he had neglected to pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income from a vacation home in the Dominican Republic. Back taxes due on this are estimated to be $10,000. He is also under investigation for using a rent-controlled apartment in Harlem, rented at below-market rate, as a campaign office- a violation of New York State Law.
Nancy Pelosi- Congresswoman. Democrat. Speaker of the House. Second in the successional line for the Presidency. Tax filings revealed she funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars of PAC money to her husbands company. Publicy decries the practice of funneling PAC money to congressional relatives and tried to ban it. Her effort to ban the practice was defeated and she has continued to practice this to present day.
Harry Reid- Senator. Democrat. Senate Majority Leader. Investigated by the Los Angeles Times for suspicious land deals in Nevada. Reid and family members profit through kick backs on commercial land deals in Nevada.
Barney Frank- Congressman. Democrat. Chairman of the committee charged with oversight of the banking system. Defended Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Chairmen during committee hearings in 2003, 2004, and 2005. Helped kill legislation in 2005 authored by John McCain to reign in Fannie and Freddie practices.
Maxine Waters- Congresswoman. Democrat. Defended and complimented stewardship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in Congressional hearings in 2005.
Jamie Gorelic- Deputy Attorney General under Clinton Administration, Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae from 1997 - 2003 during which a $10 billion accounting scandal was discovered. Government Regulators accused Fannie Mae in 2002 of improper accounting to the tune of $9 billion in unrecorded losses. In addition, in another scandal it was discovered that falsified financial transactions helped Fannie Mae meet earning targets in 1998 and thus triggered multi million-dollar bonuses for top execs- Gorelic received $779,625
Jim Johnson- Former Executive Officer of Fannie Mae. Stepped down after fraudulent morgage transactions nearly bankrupted Fannie Mae. Johnson personnally profited by $21 million through pay and compensation. Jim Johnson was also a managing director with Lehman Brothers, another financial institution that has collapsed in recent months. Personally led Barack Obama's process for selecting Obama's running mate. Donated the individual maximum contribution of $4,600 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign and raised and bundled between $200,000 and $500,000, also for Obama. Participated for Obama in efforts to recruit former President Bill Clinton supporters for the Obama team.
Franklin Raines- Sitting Executive Officer of Fannie Mae when it collapsed. Took over $90 million in personal payments based on overstated earnings of about $6.3 billion before the collapse of Fannie Mae. Civil charges were filed against Raines by the OFHEO seeking $110 million in penalties and $115 in returned salary bonuses from Raines and two other Fannie Mae executives. Raines was one of several public officials who received below-market rate loans from Countrywide Financial based on his personal associations. While CEO of Fannie Mae, he received over $3 million in loans. Raines has told people and it was reported in the Washington Post that he has taken calls from Barack Obama for advice on the housing and lending industries.
ACORN- Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The original, failed "$700 Billion Bailout Bill" that died a public and painful death from a House vote contained an earmark that would have given 20% of all funds recooperated from the $700 billion bailout to ACORN. That's 20% of all money that comes back to the government from the re-sale of the bad mortgages and loans purchased by the federal government through this bailout legislation. ACORN: A "community organizer" organization. In 2004 four ACORN employees indicted by federal grand jury for submitting false voter registration forms. In 2005 two Colorado ACORN workers sentenced to community service for submitting false voter registrations. In November 2006, four part time ACORN workers were indicted in Kansas City for voter registration fraud. In 2007, five Washington state ACORN workers were sentenced to jail and paid King County $25,000 for investigative costs. So far in 2008, the Michigan State Secretary of State reported ACORN has been submitting sizeable numbers of duplicate and fraudulent voter applications/registrations. Barack Obama served as a community organizer with ACORN and served as their legal representative as well. Obama trained it's members in Chicago and, in turn, ACORN volunteers served on his campaigns.
Barack Obama- Senator. Democrat. Democrat Party Presidential Candidate. Recipient of second largest total campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over a 20-year period even though he's only been in the Senate for four years. Appointed Jim Johnson, former Fannie Mae Chairman, as head of his Vice Presidential Candidate Selection Committee. He reportedly sought advice of Franklin Raines on housing and mortgage issues. Raines was Chairman of Fannie Mae when it collapsed and had profited by $90 million in pay and bonuses from Fannie Mae. Obama served as community organizer, trainer, and legal representative for ACORN in his early years and the recent $700 billion bailout legislation that failed in the House of Representatives contained an earmark that would have steered to ACORN 20% of all money returning to the federal government from re-sale of bad loans. Barack opted to avoid returning to Washington to help work on this legislation, returning only when directly requested by President Bush. Obama was very careful to avoid any direct contact with the legislation and studiously avoided providing any specific, detailed input.
George W. Bush- President. Republican. Tried in 2003 and 2004 to get legislation through Congress to tighten regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Legislation died in committee each time. Democrats on those committees complimented the management of Fannie and Freddie and lauded their efforts to increase the number of loans made to people who would not have qualified under previous lending policies and encouraged them to continue increasing the risky loans.
John McCain- Senator. Republican. Republican candidate for President. Authored legislation in 2005 to strengthen regulation and oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Legislation died in committee when Democrats in both chambers used parliamentary procedures to prevent committee votes.
Can we draw any conclusions from this list?
-One party set the legal wheels in motion and then protected the processes that allowed the credit melt down.
-One party populated the major credit institutions with party faithfuls who raked millions of dollars out them before they ultimately destroyed them.
-One party and one administration refused to bail out and cover up the looting and collapse of Enron
-One party began trying to head off the problems as early as 2003 and was defeated at every turn by the other party who protected their money makers
-One party has a Presidential candidate that actively alerted the nation to the problems and authored legislation to fix it in 2005 but was stymied by the other party
-One party has a Presidential candidate that, when the scope of the problem became clear, flew back to D.C. and tried to participate- again- in fixing the problem. The other party derided him and ridiculed him before their "plan" collapsed in a humiliating defeat in the House of Representatives
-One party has a Presidential candidate that is so closely tied to the collapse of the credit market through cash donations and the active involvement of key campaign chairmen and advisors that he COULD NOT participate in the fix and kept as much distance between himself and "the problem" as possible.
-One party seems to have a thread of corruption that runs through the very highest levels of it's party and political offices
It's a lengthy list of suspects and conclusions. But it appears there are two suspects you can dismiss from the investigation right off the bat. To sort through and investigate the remaining suspects, it will likely take a Special Prosectuor and a Grand Jury- if there is any national interest in such an investigation.
Chris Dodd- Senator. Democrat. Authored legislation that President Bill Clinton signed making it legal for Aurthur Andersen to serve Enron as both auditor and as investment consutlant. Recipient of the largest total campaign contributions of all U.S. Senators over last the 20 years from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Helped thwart Republican efforts in the Senate in 2003, 2004, and 2005 to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by using Senate procedures to kill legislation in committee.
Bill Clinton- Democrat. Former President. Signed authorizing legislation allowing Arthur Andersen to both audit and advise Enron. Set the stage for manipulation of Enron books and the ultimate collapse of Enron. Appointed Jamie Gorelic to Vice Chair of Fannie Mae in 1997.
Bob Reuben- Democrat. Former Clinton Treasury Secretary. Made the frantic call to President Bush's Treasury Secretary in 2001 requesting the Bush Administration intervene and save Enron.
Arthur Andersen- Audit firm and Consulting agency for Enron. Oversaw the management of Enron's books while also running their audits. Prior to the legislation written and sponsored by Democrat Senator Chris Dodd and signed by Democrat President Bill Clinton, it was illegal for an investment and consulting firm to also serve as the auditor for customer companies.
Ken Lay- Presiding CEO of Enron when it collapsed. Frequent golf friend of President Bill Clinton. Frequent Lincoln Bedroom guest of President Bill Clinton. Convicted on 10 of 11 counts of securities fraud against him in connection with the fall of Enron. Bob Reuben, President Clinton's former Treasury Secretary tried a last minute request to the Bush Administration to rescue Enron.
Enron- Formerly a Houston based energy that went bankrupt in late 2001. Systemic securities fraud and corruption brought the company down resulting in the conviction of Ken Lay and the dissolution of Arthur Andersen after Enron and Arthur Andersen took advantage of the law that was changed to allow AA to serve as auditor and investment consultant. Dangerous investment practices that would, under the previous law, have been detected in the audit process were, after the change, obscured during AA's audits so as not to impact their profitable investment business.
Diane Feinstein- Senator. Democrat. Steered lucrative defense contracts to her husbands company though legislative pressure.
William Jefferson- Congressman. Democrat. Under investigation by the FBI for graft. Found with $90,000 of FBI sting money wrapped in tin foil in his home freezer.
Charlie Wrangle- Congressman. Democrat. Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the committee that writes tax law. Discovered to have failed to pay any income taxes on the income of his off-shore rental properties. House Ethics Committee is "investigating" him after his statements that he had neglected to pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income from a vacation home in the Dominican Republic. Back taxes due on this are estimated to be $10,000. He is also under investigation for using a rent-controlled apartment in Harlem, rented at below-market rate, as a campaign office- a violation of New York State Law.
Nancy Pelosi- Congresswoman. Democrat. Speaker of the House. Second in the successional line for the Presidency. Tax filings revealed she funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars of PAC money to her husbands company. Publicy decries the practice of funneling PAC money to congressional relatives and tried to ban it. Her effort to ban the practice was defeated and she has continued to practice this to present day.
Harry Reid- Senator. Democrat. Senate Majority Leader. Investigated by the Los Angeles Times for suspicious land deals in Nevada. Reid and family members profit through kick backs on commercial land deals in Nevada.
Barney Frank- Congressman. Democrat. Chairman of the committee charged with oversight of the banking system. Defended Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Chairmen during committee hearings in 2003, 2004, and 2005. Helped kill legislation in 2005 authored by John McCain to reign in Fannie and Freddie practices.
Maxine Waters- Congresswoman. Democrat. Defended and complimented stewardship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in Congressional hearings in 2005.
Jamie Gorelic- Deputy Attorney General under Clinton Administration, Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae from 1997 - 2003 during which a $10 billion accounting scandal was discovered. Government Regulators accused Fannie Mae in 2002 of improper accounting to the tune of $9 billion in unrecorded losses. In addition, in another scandal it was discovered that falsified financial transactions helped Fannie Mae meet earning targets in 1998 and thus triggered multi million-dollar bonuses for top execs- Gorelic received $779,625
Jim Johnson- Former Executive Officer of Fannie Mae. Stepped down after fraudulent morgage transactions nearly bankrupted Fannie Mae. Johnson personnally profited by $21 million through pay and compensation. Jim Johnson was also a managing director with Lehman Brothers, another financial institution that has collapsed in recent months. Personally led Barack Obama's process for selecting Obama's running mate. Donated the individual maximum contribution of $4,600 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign and raised and bundled between $200,000 and $500,000, also for Obama. Participated for Obama in efforts to recruit former President Bill Clinton supporters for the Obama team.
Franklin Raines- Sitting Executive Officer of Fannie Mae when it collapsed. Took over $90 million in personal payments based on overstated earnings of about $6.3 billion before the collapse of Fannie Mae. Civil charges were filed against Raines by the OFHEO seeking $110 million in penalties and $115 in returned salary bonuses from Raines and two other Fannie Mae executives. Raines was one of several public officials who received below-market rate loans from Countrywide Financial based on his personal associations. While CEO of Fannie Mae, he received over $3 million in loans. Raines has told people and it was reported in the Washington Post that he has taken calls from Barack Obama for advice on the housing and lending industries.
ACORN- Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The original, failed "$700 Billion Bailout Bill" that died a public and painful death from a House vote contained an earmark that would have given 20% of all funds recooperated from the $700 billion bailout to ACORN. That's 20% of all money that comes back to the government from the re-sale of the bad mortgages and loans purchased by the federal government through this bailout legislation. ACORN: A "community organizer" organization. In 2004 four ACORN employees indicted by federal grand jury for submitting false voter registration forms. In 2005 two Colorado ACORN workers sentenced to community service for submitting false voter registrations. In November 2006, four part time ACORN workers were indicted in Kansas City for voter registration fraud. In 2007, five Washington state ACORN workers were sentenced to jail and paid King County $25,000 for investigative costs. So far in 2008, the Michigan State Secretary of State reported ACORN has been submitting sizeable numbers of duplicate and fraudulent voter applications/registrations. Barack Obama served as a community organizer with ACORN and served as their legal representative as well. Obama trained it's members in Chicago and, in turn, ACORN volunteers served on his campaigns.
Barack Obama- Senator. Democrat. Democrat Party Presidential Candidate. Recipient of second largest total campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over a 20-year period even though he's only been in the Senate for four years. Appointed Jim Johnson, former Fannie Mae Chairman, as head of his Vice Presidential Candidate Selection Committee. He reportedly sought advice of Franklin Raines on housing and mortgage issues. Raines was Chairman of Fannie Mae when it collapsed and had profited by $90 million in pay and bonuses from Fannie Mae. Obama served as community organizer, trainer, and legal representative for ACORN in his early years and the recent $700 billion bailout legislation that failed in the House of Representatives contained an earmark that would have steered to ACORN 20% of all money returning to the federal government from re-sale of bad loans. Barack opted to avoid returning to Washington to help work on this legislation, returning only when directly requested by President Bush. Obama was very careful to avoid any direct contact with the legislation and studiously avoided providing any specific, detailed input.
George W. Bush- President. Republican. Tried in 2003 and 2004 to get legislation through Congress to tighten regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Legislation died in committee each time. Democrats on those committees complimented the management of Fannie and Freddie and lauded their efforts to increase the number of loans made to people who would not have qualified under previous lending policies and encouraged them to continue increasing the risky loans.
John McCain- Senator. Republican. Republican candidate for President. Authored legislation in 2005 to strengthen regulation and oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Legislation died in committee when Democrats in both chambers used parliamentary procedures to prevent committee votes.
Can we draw any conclusions from this list?
-One party set the legal wheels in motion and then protected the processes that allowed the credit melt down.
-One party populated the major credit institutions with party faithfuls who raked millions of dollars out them before they ultimately destroyed them.
-One party and one administration refused to bail out and cover up the looting and collapse of Enron
-One party began trying to head off the problems as early as 2003 and was defeated at every turn by the other party who protected their money makers
-One party has a Presidential candidate that actively alerted the nation to the problems and authored legislation to fix it in 2005 but was stymied by the other party
-One party has a Presidential candidate that, when the scope of the problem became clear, flew back to D.C. and tried to participate- again- in fixing the problem. The other party derided him and ridiculed him before their "plan" collapsed in a humiliating defeat in the House of Representatives
-One party has a Presidential candidate that is so closely tied to the collapse of the credit market through cash donations and the active involvement of key campaign chairmen and advisors that he COULD NOT participate in the fix and kept as much distance between himself and "the problem" as possible.
-One party seems to have a thread of corruption that runs through the very highest levels of it's party and political offices
It's a lengthy list of suspects and conclusions. But it appears there are two suspects you can dismiss from the investigation right off the bat. To sort through and investigate the remaining suspects, it will likely take a Special Prosectuor and a Grand Jury- if there is any national interest in such an investigation.
Labels: $700 Billion, Bailout, Barack Obama, Barney Frank, Bush, Democrats, Dodd, Fannie Mae, Frank, Franklin Raines, Freddie Mac, Gorelic, Jim Johnson, Lehman, McCain, Obama, Pelin, Pelosi, Reid
