Help Wanted: Must be able to attend 6 meetings per year and overlook blatant fraud. $20,000 annual salary plus stock options. Total compensation in the $320,000 range over 14 months.
We never saw this help wanted ad, but apparently President Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, did. He landed the plum gig, sat on the board of currupt Freddie Mac for 14 months and may have earned more than $320,000 for his meager efforts. Call 1-800-BIG-SCAM and ask for “Freddie.”
Here’s how the Chicago Tribune describes his odd tenure at Freddie Mac:
Before its portfolio of bad loans helped trigger the current housing crisis, mortgage giant Freddie Mac was the focus of a major accounting scandal that led to a management shake-up, huge fines and scalding condemnation of passive directors by a top federal regulator.
One of those allegedly asleep-at-the-switch board members was Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel—now chief of staff to President Barack Obama—who made at least $320,000 for a 14-month stint at Freddie Mac that required little effort.
As gatekeeper to Obama, Emanuel now plays a critical role in addressing the nation’s mortgage woes and fulfilling the administration’s pledge to impose responsibility on the financial world.
Emanuel’s Freddie Mac involvement has been a prominent point on his political résumé, and his healthy payday from the firm has been no secret either. What is less known, however, is how little he apparently did for his money and how he benefited from the kind of cozy ties between Washington and Wall Street that have fueled the nation’s current economic mess.
The board met no more than six times a year. Unlike most fellow directors, Emanuel was not assigned to any of the board’s working committees, according to company proxy statements. Immediately upon joining the board, Emanuel and other new directors qualified for $380,000 in stock and options plus a $20,000 annual fee, records indicate.
We only need two words to describe the Democrats’ connection to the financial crisis: hanky and panky.
Source: Chicago Tribune
