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TITLE I - Authorizing the Treasury Department to Buy Mortgage-Related Assets

Sec. 16. Conflicts of interest. (8 Comments) subscribe to the comments feed

  1. REGULATIONS REQUIRED.The Secretary shall promulgate regulations necessary to address and manage or to prohibit conflicts of interest that may arise in connection with the administration and execution of the authorities provided under this Act, including

    1. conflicts arising in the selection or hiring of contractors or advisors, including asset managers;

    2. the purchase of troubled assets;

    3. the management of the troubled assets held;

    4. post-employment restrictions on employees; and

    5. any other potential conflict of interest, as the Secretary deems necessary or appropriate in the public interest.

  2. TIMING.Regulations required by this section shall be issued in final form not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

8 comments on Sec. 16. Conflicts of interest.

  • These industries spent roughly $2 billion on federal political contributions since 1989 and another $3 billion on lobbying Congress since 1998. How about a prohibition, or strict scrutiny, or full and complete transparency on lobbying on behalf of companies looking to receive any of the bailout? What about, as a condition of receiving the bailout, companies agree in exchange to not make expenditures meant to influence elections? Or an audit of the political influence wielded by Wall Street? Or an investigation about how their campaign contributions helped lead us down this disastrous and costly path?

    posted by David Donnelly, Public Campaign Action Fund at September 22, 2008

  • I don't think audits or investigations are on point for markup of a bill.

    I'm worried about the timing; 120 days is a long time in a crisis, and it's clear that Treasury is an old boy's network from Goldman Sachs anyhow.

    How about an absolute prohibition, from the get go, of hiring contractors or advisors from (a) any firm already bailed out and (b) any firm on the list of firms that can't be shorted?

    Yes, that may rule out a lot of Wall Street "experts." And that would be bad why?

    posted by lambert strether (Corrente) at September 22, 2008

  • I agree with both donnelly's and strether's comments & no contractors shall have any employees having worked for any entity receiving bail-out from this act for the last 5 years.

    posted by d blevins, private citizen at September 22, 2008

  • Conflict of interest rules should be written and upheld by a wider range of individuals more representative of US citizenry than Mr. Secretary is. I do not trust that he or others in this administration would adequately police this.

    Also, to a point made above, is promulgation within 120 days sufficiently quick to prevent conflicts of interest from arising and being acted upon?

    posted by Sam (private citizen) at September 22, 2008

  • Compensation should be reduced to reflect the down-turn in the market (SP DJ NASDQ,etc). All executives above management level should have compensation reduced a minimum of 25 percent, and all savings thus realized shall be placed in an interest bearing fund to offset tax base for those earning less than 70K per year.

    posted by greg wood at September 23, 2008

  • So the Secretary is going to police him(her)self?

    This is the fox guarding the henhouse! Who will oversee the Secretary to ensure he or she is not taking bribes and kickbacks for bailouts?

    posted by Craig Bryant, Citizen at September 28, 2008

  • This whole bill is a conflict of interest. But, I agree with Greg but would have a maximum of 20 percent with what we are currently going through.

    posted by Chris in Phoenix at September 28, 2008

  • Nobody on the public side involved in the administration, management, sale, or acquisition of troubled assets shall be eligible to work for an institution that received assistance for a period of ten years from the time the institution received the assistance.

    That includes but is not limited to the Secretary, his/her staff, the assistant secretary in charge of the special office, and his/her staff, the oversight board and their staffs, any employees of firms appointed to administer the plan, or employees of consulting firms, and so on.

    Any firm that employs a former public worker in the assistance program is prohibited from merging with or acquiring another company that received assistance while that former public worker was active in the assistance program.

    The folks doling out the money or profiting from the logistics of the assistance operation should NOT be allowed to subsequently work for a company that benefited from the assistance until well after the dust has settled. It seems like common sense.

    In a nutshell, I am proposing a moratorium of approximately ten years on the infamous revolving door between Washington and Wall Street.

    posted by Roger Weinheimer (concerned citizen) at September 30, 2008
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