Shorter Barney Frank: “I Sure Hope My Constituents Are Stupid.”
Apparently, it was gossip site TMZ that broke the stroy of northern Rock’s big party on the taxpayer’s dime:
A bank that received $1.6 billion in bailout money just spent a fortune last week in L.A. hosting a series of lavish parties and concerts with famous singers … and TMZ cameras caught it all.
Northern Trust, a Chicago-based bank, sponsored the Northern Trust Open at the Riviera Country Club in L.A. We’re told Northern Trust paid millions to sponsor the PGA event which ended Sunday, but what happened off the golf course is even more shocking.
Northern Trust flew hundreds of clients and employees to L.A. and put many of them up at some of the fanciest and priciest hotels in the city. We’re told more than a hundred people were put up at the Beverly Wilshire in Bev Hills, and another hundred stayed at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. Still more stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey and others at Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica.
Go visit TMZ for videos of Sheryl Crow and Chicago (ugh) and photos of swag bags from Tiffany’s, all paid for by you and me thanks to the bail handout from Congress.
This brings me to barney Frank, one of the architects of the bailout, and who knows better than anyone that there was nothing legislated to mandate how the bailout money was to be spent (compared to, for example, the strict mandates the auto industry has to meet). This was confirmed to me 20 minutes ago by a staff member at his office: there were no mandates, no benchmarks to meet, no legislation spelling out appropriate and inappropriate use of OUR MONEY. Nothing: the republicans and democrats, in a moment of bipartisan beauty, voted to simply fork over piles of cash to Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Northern Rock, and countless others.
Today, Barney Frank is hoping that grandstanding and sternly worded letters will fool his constituents into forgetting exactly who it was that passed a bill that essentially gave away $700 billion dollars to the banks that caused all of our problems to begin with. Read it and weep laugh derisively:
Mr. Frederick H. Waddell
President and Chief Executive Officer
Northern Trust
50 South LaSalle
Chicago, IL 60603Dear Mr. Waddell:
We are dismayed and angered to learn that Northern Trust recently spent millions of dollars on a PGA golf tournament sponsorship and associated parties at the same time it has taken over $1.5 billion in federal stabilization funding under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. According to published media reports, your bank not only sponsored the Northern Trust tournament at the Riviera Country Club, but also hosted clients and employees at places like the Beverly Wilshire and Ritz Carlton hotels and gave away Tiffany souvenirs. If this is accurate, we are demanding you take corrective action.
At a time when millions of homeowners are facing foreclosure, businesses and consumers are in dire need of credit, and the government is trying to keep financial institutions – including yours – alive with billions in taxpayer funds, this behavior demonstrates extraordinary levels of irresponsibility and arrogance.
We insist that you immediately return to the federal government the equivalent of what Northern Trust frittered away on these lavish events. Federal taxpayers should not and will not stand for such abuses, and we will insist that any future Treasury support for Northern Trust be conditioned on a thorough reform of your company’s policies and practices.
We look forward to your reply and immediate reimbursement of these funds.
Sincerely,
Reps. Barney Frank, Carolyn Maloney, Brad Sherman, Dennis Moore, Wm Lacy Clay, Stephen F. Lynch, Brad Miller, Al Green, Gwen Moore, Paul W. Hodes, Keith Ellison, Charles Wilson, Bill Foster, Andre Carson, Mary Jo Kilroy, Steve Driehaus, Alan Grayson, Gary Peters
Honestly, does it get more deceitful than that? Barney Frank voted for a bill that gave away billions of dollars, no strings attached, and now he is strutting around, feigning outrage like Captain Renault in “Casablanca”, shocked to discover there’s gambling going on.
Memo to Massachusetts: Barney Frank thinks you’re stupid.
March 16th, 2009 at 7:42 am
[...] people think pot heads have no short term memory? You get the feeling congress is pulling bongloads like the stuff was legal! This brings me to barney Frank, one of the architects of the bailout, and who knows better than [...]