AIG Gave More to Sununu in '02 and '08 Cycles than Most

What continues to amaze is for how little money these people are (4.00 / 1)

willing to sell out their responsibilities to the people they are pledged to represent.

Most likely, the money is just a token of appreciation.  If so, then perhaps the appreciation needs to be countered with a little condemnation.

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by: hannah @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 06:33:30 AM CDT

A lagniappe, as it were (4.00 / 2)

(I don't get to use that word often.)

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by: elwood @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 18:43:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

4 for a lagniappe (0.00 / 0)

Three cheers for uncommon words!

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by: Andrew Sylvia @ Sat Mar 21, 2009 at 06:24:31 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

It ain't just deregulation, Dean (4.00 / 1)

Sununu supports enlarging tax breaks on, say, million dollar bonuses, too!

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 07:11:11 AM CDT

What's the point? (0.00 / 0)

Sununu is out of office.  He has no power and no say in the current AIG controversy.

The real story is this amendment that was put into the bailout bill that allowed for the bonuses we're all up in arms about:

(i) shall not be construed to prohibit any bonus payment required to be paid pursuant to a written employment contract executed on or before February 11, 2009, as such valid employment contracts are determined by the Secretary or the designee of the Secretary.

Taken from pages 569-570.  Amendment to the bill was made by Chris Dodd.
http://www.nhinsider.com/steve...

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by: lildog @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 07:42:58 AM CDT

Here's the point (4.00 / 1)

It's relevant because:

(a) John E. Sununu has a horrible record on issues related to financial oversight;

(b) He is a rumored candidate for the US Senate; and

(c) His arrogant father blames the sins of the world on Barack Obama (7 weeks in the White House) while excusing George W. Bush (8 years in the White House).

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 08:02:16 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Fair enough (0.00 / 0)

But shouldn't you also question who else is on the list of donations?  Chris Dodd, the same one who put the amendment I mentioned in is the number 1 recipient.  And in the link above that showed Sununu 9th on the list, Obama came in at number 2 just under Chris Dodd.

Since they are in power right now and clearly as shown by the example of the amendment in the bailout, creating the loopholes they late put on a show about, I would hope you aren't so hypocritical and blinded by party that you'd look the other way when a democrat is even more guilty then the republican you are calling to the carpet?

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by: lildog @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 08:16:13 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

things must be slow (4.00 / 2)

at nh insider these days. The natives are restless.  

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by: susanthe @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 09:05:53 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I wondered that too n/t (4.00 / 1)

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by: JimC @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 09:52:05 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Aside from the fact that it's only money and what's important (4.00 / 1)

is that it circulate through the economy rather than being bandied back and forth like a tennis ball, retroactive legislation is a bad idea, particularly when it involves property rights (as in an employment contract), which tend to have a higher standing in the courts for the simple reason that, unlike human rights, they're fairly easy to quantify.
We would not want financial legislation to be undermined by a fatal flaw.

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by: hannah @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 10:36:36 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Since you asked. . . . (4.00 / 3)

But shouldn't you also question who else is on the list of donations?  Chris Dodd, the same one who put the amendment I mentioned in is the number 1 recipient.  And in the link above that showed Sununu 9th on the list, Obama came in at number 2 just under Chris Dodd.

As Dean noted, presidential candidates were removed for obvious reasons:  They raise far more money from a far broader (national) and more motivated audience.  One would expect this.

The fact that Sununu -- a junior senator representing a state with barely a million people -- would receive such a high percentage of his funding from AIG is disconcerting.  Really, though, it reflects Sununu's adherence to the same bankrupt and short-term philosophy that got us into this mess.

Since they are in power right now and clearly as shown by the example of the amendment in the bailout, creating the loopholes they late put on a show about, I would hope you aren't so hypocritical and blinded by party that you'd look the other way when a democrat is even more guilty then the republican you are calling to the carpet?

First off, you might want to spend a little time on this site before using words like "hypocritical" and "blinded by party" to describe its contributors.  I slammed Dodd for his sweetheart mortgage deal on this site, and am not adverse to criticizing other Democrats for improper actions.  (Check out my Howard Dean diary last week.)  You'll find that other Blue Hampsters are the same way -- unlike Rush-land and NH Insider, this is NOT a monolithic environment.

Second, your conclusion that Democrats "created the loopholes" is unbelievable bullshit.  The fact that Chris Dodd fought to cap executive compensation -- something Hank Paulson never even attempted -- merits praise, not condemnation for the fact that it could not be done retroactively.  

I'm glad that we have a President who actually cares about holding people accountable for the culture of corruption that President Shit-for-Brains and his laissez-faire nonsense enabled for the past eight years.  (You may call that a "show" -- I call that "accountability".)  

There's a new sheriff in town, and, unlike the last one, he knows enough about economics to care about making the system work.  These bonus payments WILL be returned to taxpayers.  And the culture on Wall Street (and Washington) WILL change.

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 13:45:41 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

4'd for almost all of it (0.00 / 0)

I hope you're right about the end there. It might take longer than we like.

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by: JimC @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 15:12:41 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

AIG is just a conduit (0.00 / 0)

Look, I'm a fan of the president's - donated and worked for him in NH.  This is a huge problem because it was Dodd's amendment but it was Treasury that put in the provision.  The whole financial mess is being mishandled in DC and the country knows it - Obama is going to run out of time with the Wall Street jamokes running the show at Treasury.  Oy.

And forget the bonuses - it's all BS.  Watch the billions not the nickels.

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by: j cicirelli @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 04:36:47 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

That's a lie. (4.00 / 4)

Sununu is out of office.  He has no power and no say in the current AIG controversy.

John E. Sununu is drawing a taxpayer salary on the TARP Oversight Committee, appointed after AWOL Judd quit.

He is in office, he has extraordinary power and say.

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by: elwood @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 18:46:42 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Before you start demonizing Dodd, (4.00 / 1)

you might want to read this.

birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 19:14:12 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Devil's Advocate (March 21st, 2009) (0.00 / 0)

Dean and DD are right. Comparing Sununu to Obama or McCain is like comparing a AAA or low level major league baseball player to an All Star.

Maybe not Apples and Oranges, but close.

However, the fact that the Presidential candidates received that much is alarming nonetheless, regardless of Sununu.  Shouldn't banks be spending their money on, I don't know .... banking?

The mentality of the people in power in Washington and those who seek to control those people, regardless of the party, is the real underlying problem with the AIG scandal, and it'll just happen again and again after this until that root problem is solved.  

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by: Andrew Sylvia @ Sat Mar 21, 2009 at 06:36:24 AM CDT