Friday, April 03, 2009

Emanuel's Freddie Mac Board Pay is Instructive


Board compensation and oversight should be front and center given the world's financial crisis. However, it gets little mention. It doesn't take much probing to find political names on the boards of corporations, especially those vying for big chunks of work from America's Government-Industrial Monstrosity, Eisenhower's Military-Industrial Complex on steroids.

Right wing blogs cite Rahm Emanuel's $320,000 in pay during 14 months on the board of Freddie Mac. I'll see those bloggers Democratic Emanuel and raise them a Republican Ken Duberstein, a long time Fannie Mae board member. Ken made over $1.8 million providing regulatory advice and lobbying services to Fannie. That's in addition to his board pay.

The same year Congress passed Gramm-Leach-Bliley, The Duberstein Group earned $140,000 lobbying for Fannie Mae. The Red and Blue teams peddle influence. Corporate board service is one of the ways the do gets done. I'll reveal my hand.

I have a pair of Bushes, Jeb and Uncle Bucky. They may not beat a single Rahm, not with his Carlyle Group backing. Ask Senator Evan Bayh about that, along with his wife's considerable income from WellPoint, where she shares the board table with the aforementioned Uncle Bucky. It's a small world after all, one where Andy Card and Mac McLarty can coexist on the Union Pacific board. A pox on all their political and corporate houses.

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