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(Who will oversee the overseer? - promoted by Dean Barker)
As you may remember, John E. Sununu sits on the Congressional Oversight Panel that monitors the TARP funds, but was recently named to the board of a firm that's a subsidiary of Bank of New York Mellon, which both received TARP money and administers the program for the Treasury Department. According to Talking Points Memo, not all of John E.'s colleagues agree that serving on the TARP oversight board, while also serving on the board of a company subject to TARP oversight, is just ducky:
Shannan Guinn, a spokeswoman for the COP, repeatedly declined to offer a direct answer when asked by TPMmuckraker whether any other members had expressed concern about Sununu's conflict.
By her own admission choosing her words carefully, Guinn told us:
Mr. Sununu has told the panel that he's a board member of ConvergEx, and he's discussed it with each of the panel members individually....Mr. Sununu doesn't believe that there's a conflict, and the statute itself doesn't allow the panel to make decisions on its own makeup.
But asked twice by TPMmuckraker whether panel members had expressed concern, Guinn declined to say, eventually instructing us to ask Sununu. (He didn't respond to our earlier efforts to reach him.)
Papa Sununu likes to talk about a "San Francisco" agenda. Well, if we are going to engage in branding, perhaps it is time for us to engage in branding, too - only fact based branding, since truth in advertising is a good thing.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I unveil for you: "Sununu style ethics". Need to go to the dentist? Have a government jet fly you! Want to go to a fishing tournament? Ted Stevens and his pals have a trip for you to the Kenai Peninsula! Looking for work after a forced early retirement? Take a board here, another board there, and don't worry about an inherent conflict of interest. When challenged, talk about your high IQ or former status as the smartest man in the senate.
All joking aside, however, what is John E. Sununu still doing on the TARP oversight board? And why aren't colleagues publicy calling for him to step down? While they may not have any authority to force him off, they do have the ability to speak out forcefully, rather than mumbing quietly behind the scenes. Show some spunk, people.
