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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (62148)	3/30/2009 9:19:37 AM
From: TideGlider	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224748

Aren't you going a bit further back than necessary? Dodd put the bonus amendment on the recent bill. Pu-leeaasse....don't use media matters as a source for anything. It is a derelict site of Dems pretending to be a source of the truth.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (62148)	3/30/2009 9:22:40 AM
From: TideGlider	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224748

MARCH 19, 2009 Dodd's Amendment at Crux of Bonus Issue Article Comments (42) more in Politics »Email Printer Friendly Share: Yahoo Buzz facebook MySpace LinkedIn Digg del.icio.us NewsVine StumbleUpon Mixx Text Size By JONATHAN WEISMAN WASHINGTON -- A provision in President Barack Obama's stimulus law might have forestalled payment of $165 million in bonuses to employees of American International Group Inc., but was altered before final passage at the request of the Obama administration, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said Wednesday night. Mr. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, introduced a provision into the stimulus that capped executive pay, among other things. But the final language specifically excluded bonuses included in contracts signed before the bill's passage -- a broad category that included the AIG bonuses. At the time, few objected to that move, which was designed to ensure the measure was constitutional. "I did not want to make any changes to my original Senate-passed amendment but I did so at the request of Administration officials, who gave us no indication that this was in any way related to AIG," Mr. Dodd said in a statement. "Let me be clear -- I was completely unaware of these AIG bonuses until I learned of them last week." After the recent furor relating to the AIG payments, lawmakers returned to make a forensic examination of the provision seeking to assign blame for what some called a secret agreement to spare the tottering insurance giant, which has received more than $170 billion in federal aid. The provision and its genesis consumed Capital Hill Wednesday. "The president goes out and says this is not acceptable and then some backroom deal gets cut to let these things get paid out anyway," said Sen. Ron Wyden, (D., Ore.), author of an earlier, alternative pay amendment, told the Associated Press. The Obama administration had not tried to hide its concern about the moves to clamp down on executive compensation. Both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers lobbied Mr. Dodd to make changes. Administration officials said the Treasury didn't suggest any language or say how the amendment should be changed. They said they noted legal issues that could likely lead to challenges, but was the end of their involvement. The official said Mr. Dodd and Congress made the final changes on their own. At issue were competing provisions in the stimulus bill that capped executive compensation for recipients of bailout funds. One, drafted by Sens. Wyden and Olympia J. Snowe (R, Maine), would have capped bonuses at $100,000, retroactive to 2008. Companies awarding bonuses above that level would face the choice of returning those funds to the Treasury or having them taxed at 35%. Another, by Mr. Dodd, slapped sharp limits on all compensation of top employees, including bonuses. Both amendments passed the Senate easily, but during House and Senate negotiations, the Wyden-Snowe amendment dropped out of the bill with little fanfare. Lawmakers and the administration raised constitutional objections, since it would have taxed 2008 income retroactively. Its authors argued that because companies were given a choice whether to return the bonuses or face a tax, the measure was not actually taxing past income but would "tax" a company's future decision -- made with full knowledge of the consequences. After the retention bonuses at AIG came to light this weekend, the Wyden-Snowe efforts were hailed as tragic heroism, with Republicans and the media demanding to know who was responsible for its backroom execution. Mr. Dodd was criticized for his role in the matter, a problem considering his already difficult re-election run next year. Mr. Dodd is the top all-time beneficiary of AIG campaign contributions, with a total of $280,000 in donations from the company's employees and fund-raising arm since 1990, according to campaign finance data collected by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. A Dodd spokesman had no immediate comment on the campaign contributions Wednesday. In an irony, Mr. Dodd managed to sharpen other language in the provision while acceding to the administration's request. That new language clarified that contracts existing before passage of the stimulus bill could be violated in the extraordinary circumstance of "national interest." That's the language the administration hopes now to use to claw back the AIG bonuses. online.wsj.com

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (62148)	3/30/2009 9:27:34 AM
From: TideGlider	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224748

Not only did Dodd put the amendment in, but according to you, the bonuses couldn't have happened without "Obama's permission"...right? Geeze didn't think I would get to use that post so quickly <GGG>

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (62148)	3/30/2009 11:03:50 AM
From: longnshort	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224748

EXCLUSIVE: AIG chiefs pressed to donate to Dodd $160,000 streamed in as senator gained power on banking committee Jennifer Haberkorn (Contact) and Jerry Seper (Contact) Monday, March 30, 2009 EXCLUSIVE: As Democrats prepared to take control of Congress after the 2006 elections, a top boss at the insurance giant American International Group Inc. told colleagues that Sen. Christopher J. Dodd was seeking re-election donations and he implored company executives and their spouses to give. Getty Images Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, has lost some political standing heading into re-election because of his ties to American International Group Inc. The message in the Nov. 17, 2006, e-mail from Joseph Cassano, AIG Financial Products chief executive, was unmistakable: Mr. Dodd was "next in line" to be chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which oversees the insurance industry, and he would "have the opportunity to set the committee's agenda on issues critical to the financial services industry. "Given his seniority in the Senate, he will also play a key role in the Democratic Majority's leadership," Mr. Cassano wrote in the message, obtained by The Washington Times. Mr. Dodd's campaign quickly hit pay dirt, collecting more than $160,000 from employees and their spouses at the AIG Financial Products division (AIG-FP) in Wilton, Conn., in the days before he took over as the committee chairman in January 2007. Months later, the senator transferred the donations to jump-start his 2008 presidential bid, which later failed. Now, two years later, Mr. Dodd has emerged as a central figure in the government's decision to let executives at the now-failing AIG collect more than $218 million in bonuses, according to the Connecticut attorney general - even as the company was receiving billions of dollars in assistance from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). He acknowledged that he slipped a provision into legislation in February that authorized the bonuses, but said the Treasury Department asked him to do it. The decision has generated national outrage and put the Obama administration into the position of trying to collect the bonuses after they were distributed. It also endangers Mr. Dodd's re-election chances in 2010 as his popularity tumbles in his home state. Despite all the claims that Washington has changed, the tale of Mr. Dodd's lucrative political ties to AIG is a fresh reminder that special interests continue to use donations and fundraising to sow good will with powerful lawmakers like Mr. Dodd. "The message seems clear: The boss says I want you to support the senator," said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which studies political fundraising and ethics. "And I think the employees got the message." Representatives for Mr. Dodd did not answer specific questions about AIG's fundraising, but spokesman Bryan DeAngelis said in a statement: "Senator Dodd´s fundraising has always been above board, transparent and in accordance with campaign finance rules washingtontimes.com