Thomas Lauria: Whte House Treatened Bank with Press Corps
Thomas Lauria has told ABC News that, "Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration's Auto Industry Task Force, threatened one of the firms, an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration's Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation."
Both the Obama administration and the investment bank, Perella Weinberg Partners, have disputed Thomas Lauria's claims.
The astonishing part of Thomas Lauria's claims is not that the Obama administration might play hardball with people and institutions that get in their way. Other Presidents have been just as ruthless and the Obama people, forged in the hot house of Chicago politics, are very adept at following Chicago rules. "If they come at you with a knife, pull a gun. If they put one of yours in the hospital, put one of theirs in the morgue."
The astonishing part is that the Obama administration, if one is to believe Thomas Lauria, believes that it can rely on the White House press corps to do its bidding insofar as ruining the reputation of an opponent of the administration it is covering. Technically, the White House press corps does not work for the White House.
On the other hand, the White House press corps have Presidents they like and do not like. White House reporters regularly covered up some of the more unseemly behavior that President Kennedy indulged in. However the White House press corps behaved quite vicious and hostile against Republican Presidents, such as Reagan, both Bushes, and especially President Nixon.
It is no secret that the White House press corps loves President Obama. For proof all one has to do is to watch one of the prime time press conferences and marvel at all of the soft ball questions the White House reporters asked the President.
But is Thomas Lauria right in suggesting that the White House press corps would actually go after someone at the President's bidding? If so, it would constitute a new low in compliant behavior of a profession which ought to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable" to quote Finley Peter Dunne, a newspaper man of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.
Source: White House Denies Charge By Attorney that Administration Threatened to Destroy Investment Firm's Reputation, Jake Tapper, ABC News, May 2nd, 2009
Published by Mark Whittington
Mark R. Whittington is a writer residing in Houston, Texas. He is the author of The Last Moonwalker, Children of Apollo, Dark Sanction, and Nocturne. He has written numerous articles, some for the Washington... View profile
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4 Comments
Post a CommentThis is a situation in which my husband and
I have disagreed for over 30 years. Who
should have first dibs on the assets of a
company should something go wrong. It has
been my assumption that it should go first
to the workers because they actually worked at the place. Investors should see themselves as gamblers. The take a risk, sometimes it works, sometimes it
doesn't. Whatever the law might be, I
believe that the workers should come first.
Basically, Obama wanted to wipe out other individual's retirement accounts so that he can "protect" Auto workers pensions and "legacy" payments because he got massive union support which got him elected, which is why he's giving the UAW (united Auto Workers Union) 55% ownership in the Fiat deal. The Union(s) were not asked to take $0.29 on the dollar,like the bond holders. Why would anyone representing their cleints take 29 cents in this shakedown of a deal when they could get 69 cents or more in Court proceedings, where I can assure you, they would be protected because of their superior position?
Spoken like someone who does not know or understand U.S. Contract and Bankruptcy Laws. So, let me explain: If you as a creditor (you are owed money) is in a secured position (fist place), you get paid first,you are in a senior position, and whatever is left over is paid out to other creditors, depending on their position, and as a consequence, is guaranteed to recoup most of their money.
Now, with this deal, Obama was basically asking them to "voluntarily" place themselves in a junior position, behind the Auto Unions, and Fiat,who by the way is not putting up any money! Fiat is basically being "given" this Icon of an American company for nothing! Would you do that if you were owed $Billions? And by the way, the "speculators" Obama was talking about is people like me who have invested in retirement accounts in IRA accounts, 401K accounts, etc through brokerage companies like Fidelity, Vanguard, T.Rowe Price, etc.
Basically, Obama wanted to wipe out other individual's retirement
this move by the attorney is simple...the drive behind this holdout is the influence of the asian automakers on southern politicians who stand to lose everything if they do not stop the deal...the asians believe that they wanted a monopoly on us auto sales and fiat represents a threat to this dominance. second, it will be revealed who the small fish are that are holding this merger and are trying to buy time and conceal the identities of these holdouts because it would destroy their portfolio!. the longer the stall, the more it hurts the process! one of those hedgefund managers is chelsea clinton! make them public, expose this attorney for the fraud that he is, and let's go public! just look what the autoworkers have gone through in the last year. i have no sympathy for these obstructionists!