Congress Looks at Mortgage Industry CEO Compensation: Opinion

Back on February 16 in "Congress Looks at Sports," I noted that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Harry Waxman's committee that has been so "carefully" investigating Roger Clemens, was to hold hearings last Friday on CEO Pay and the Mortgage Crisis. As you may recall, the Clemens hearings centered around baseball's Mitchell Report and whether or not Roger Clemens had used performance enhancing drugs as implicated by Brian McNamee.

On Friday, Mr. Angelo R. Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Mortgage testified that as he neared retirement, he had systematically gone about diversifying his holdings portfolio.

He testified (PDF) that between 1982 and 2007, Countrywide's stock increased by 23,000% and that his compensation was based on earnings per share. Over the years, he received a significant portion of his compensation as stock options - in answering the committee's questions, he testified he still owns approximately 1,000,000 shares.

Clearly exercising some foresight, Waxman requested information from compensation consultants back in May of last year. Important here, because according to Financial Week, Mozillo used one of Countrywide's compensation consultants as his own personal adviser, with the goal of achieving "maximum opportunity" for the CEO.

Regardless of whether or not you think executive compensation had a role to play in the mortgage crisis or that CEO's are paid too much, the House Committee on Oversight actually DOES have better things to be doing than investigating whether Dr. McNamee provided a "Baseball Titan" steroids and/or HGH, a hearing in which the congressmen looked ill prepared and, in a word, obsequious toward that "titan." On Friday, as befitting the topic at hand and while they certainly had their respective agendas, the Representatives were not ill prepared. Sad, then, that the only time we sit up and pay attention to them is when they are in their full buffoonery pursuing an issue about which they should have no say and no true interest.

Perhaps that's perfectly befitting: they all put their hero worship ahead of their duty to the rest of us and allowed Clemens to schmooze and bully his way into a hearing that never would have happened if Clemens didn't want it - by Waxman's own admission.

Ridiculous.

Isn't it time we demand just a little more from our elected officials? Yes, Congress DOES have more important things to look at than Clemens, as demonstrated Friday. Perhaps by putting on that charade last month, with the whole world watching and their ill considered performance put forth that day and the egg freshly wiped from their brow, perhaps they got the message that there is more important work to be done. Or not.