Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hasn’t yet responded to Issa’s request for salary information

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hasn’t yet responded to Issa’s request for salary information
By: J.P. FREIRE
Associate Commentary Editor
08/04/10 4:00 PM EDT

Last week, Rep. Darrell Issa, D-Calif., ranking Republican member of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, sent a letter to Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) chairman Phil Angelides asking why the Commission has run out of taxpayer money so quickly that it is requesting more. Yesterday, FCIC spokesman Tucker Warren told the Examiner, “We are reviewing the letter Representative Issa sent to the Commission.” Warren did not indicate when they might respond.

The letter outlines both the curious way in which the FCIC has burned through so much money when much of the staff are not paid out of the allotted budget, as well as the numerous conflicts of interest manifest in the staff list (which the FCIC had refused to release until after we had written about it extensively). From the letter:

In addition to potential financial mismanagement, it appears that commissioners and staff of the FCIC may have conflicts of interest created by their previous roles in the public and private sectors which may interfere with the Commission’s ability to conduct a thorough and even-handed investigation. Both Commissioner Byron Georgiou and investigator Christopher Seefer are employed by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, a major plaintiffs’ law firm which has been active in suing many of the companies currently under FCIC investigation. Another staff member, Bart Dzivi, reported to be Special Counsel to the FCIC (although he inexplicably does not appear on the commission’s official staff list) has his own law firm specializing in financial services litigation. According to reports, many FCIC staff members have long-standing ties to many of the private companies currently under investigation, while others are on detail from government agencies such as the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which have themselves been the subjects of congressional investigations into their controversial actions during the financial crisis. It is particularly troubling that the FCIC’s executive director is not an independent hire but rather an employee of the Federal Reserve. Finally, staff member Greg Feldberg appears to be related to Chester B. “Chet” Feldberg, one of the three trustees charged with managing the taxpayers’ 80% stake in AIG. While I recognize that the need to assemble a staff with expertise in financial markets will naturally lead to hiring individuals with a wide range of experiences, it is also critical to prevent conflicts of interest which inappropriately influence the FCIC’s investigation.

That the special counsel hasn’t been included in the staff list is disconcerting reminder that the staff list the FCIC only includes full-time employees. This means that we still don’t know who else has contracted with and received funds from the Commission. (It’s unclear whether we ever will.) The Examiner’s requests for this information have been denied repeatedly. (My column on concerns over conflicts of interest was cited in Issa’s letter.)

Issa’s letter also notes the overwhelming number of Democrat-affiliated staffers:

I am troubled by the extensive ties of some of the senior staff at a putatively bipartisan commission to partisan Democrat politics. For example, Beneva Schulte, a communications professional reportedly serving as a Deputy Director at the FCIC, has worked as Communications Director for Senator Dodd’s presidential campaign as well as a string of Democrat Members of Congress. Susan Baltake, a spokeswoman and consultant at the FCIC, was your [Angelides] own campaign manager for five years, as well as a press secretary to the California Democrat Party and Assistant Treasurer of California. Ms. Baltake’s extensive personal ties to you also include years in marketing for your property development company, which is also listed as a client of her public relations firm. I am sure you will agree with me that the FCIC’s efforts will have been wasted if the American people come to believe that it has served as nothing more than a cheering section for the Administration and congressional Democrats in their efforts to defend a partisan and ineffective financial regulatory reform bill.

Issa did miss one more person who served a Democratic political candidate: Tucker Warren worked on Al Gore’s campaign in 1999.