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Sununu: New Board Membership Doesn't Conflict With TARP Oversight Work
John Sununu has denied the charge that he has a conflict of interest in regard to his work on the Congressional Oversight Panel for the TARP funds.
Over the weekend, we reported that the former New Hampshire GOP senator has joined the board of a firm that's an affiliate of Bank of New York Mellon -- which, in addition to receiving bailout funds itself, has contracted with the Treasury Department to help administer the program.
Yesterday, the Associated Press picked up the story, and got a response out of Sununu.
"ConvergEx Group is an independent company," Sununu said in an e-mail Monday. "It is not eligible to apply for or receive funds through any programs established under TARP." He pointed out that the bank "holds a minority position only" with ConvergEx.
That's a 33.8 percent stake to be exact, the AP reports. Not enough for Bank of New York to control ConvergeEx, but perhaps enough so that ConvergeEx's interests are at least somewhat affected by the TARP program.
Separately, a spokeswoman for the COP told TPMmuckraker that the panel has not yet formally addressed the issue, since it not met since Sununu's appointment to ConvergeEx's board was announced last week. We'll keep you posted if and when it does.
Josh
Zachary
Talk about stupidly disingenuous. At 33.8% (do we know who the other shareowners are?) BONY has a strong voice in who will be on ConvergEX's board, on monetary compensation and other conditions of employment for the board and so forth. It's also quite plausible that a bunch of business arrangements go with that stockholding, so that the health of BONY has a direct impact on ConvergEX's bottom line.
This would pretty much be the poster for "appearance of a conflict of interest".
March 3, 2009 11:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sununu: New Board Membership Doesn't Conflict With TARP Oversight Work
Yeah, right.
Does he really think we're as dim as most Rs seem to be?
March 3, 2009 2:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
BONY/ConvergEx is brazen. Pretty damn stupid too. It's not like we're all in hyper-alert mode looking for such conflicts. Yet they bring Sununu on board anyway. It's a PR disaster.
If they wanted John Sununu for his business acumen, BONY/ConvergEx could've hired him as a "consultant." Then later bump him to the board. That wouldn't look so hinky. But subtlety would dull the point of all this.
In this post-sub prime landscape, BONY is positioning themselves as undisputed top dog. They administer TARP. They've only needed $3b thus far. Now they have a TARP oversight committee member on the payroll of a "subsidiary." **wink, wink**
BONY wants the whole financial world to know it. From the press release they sent out to everybody: "He currently is a member of the Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the expenditure of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds and to provide recommendations on regulatory reform."
-AF
Andrew Sullivan Is A Fraud
March 3, 2009 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am going to have to confess my ignorance. I sort of assumed that members of Congress did not belong on any Board of Directors/Governors. It would seem to me that any board has the potential to become a conflict of interest.
March 3, 2009 10:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sununu lost in November, he is a former Senator. He is not a member of congress, but he is on an advisory board to congress.
March 3, 2009 11:36 PM | Reply | Permalink