Why Aren’t Democrats Tarring and Feathering Geithner Aides for the Millions They Raked In?

Democrats have been oddly silent about the millions of dollars aides to Treasury Secretary Tim Geither raked in while working for bailed out financial institutions. Based on past statements by President Obama, you’d think he would fire these guys out of principle.

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) — Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s closest aides, none of whom faced Senate confirmation, earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other Wall Street firms, according to financial disclosure forms.

The advisers include Gene Sperling, who last year took in $887,727 from Goldman Sachs and $158,000 for speeches mostly to financial companies, including the firm run by accused Ponzi scheme mastermind R. Allen Stanford. Another top aide, Lee Sachs, reported more than $3 million in salary and partnership income from Mariner Investment Group, a New York hedge fund.

As part of Geithner’s kitchen cabinet, Sperling and Sachs wield influence behind the scenes at the Treasury Department, where they help oversee the $700 billion banking rescue and craft executive pay rules and the revamp of financial regulations. Yet they haven’t faced the public scrutiny given to Senate-confirmed appointees, nor are they compelled to testify in Congress to defend or explain the Treasury’s policies.

As for executive pay rules, it looks like Geithner, his aides, and pay czar Kenneth Feinberg have their work cut out for them. Wall Street fat cats are on track to receive record compensation this year. Let’s hope all the bailout cash is returned to the taxpayers with interest before that happens. While I have no problem with honest pay for honest work, it’s hard to trust these institutions when it’s their own doing the regulating.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.