1. Following Dirty Money

    By Bill Allison Mar 27, 2009 3:19 p.m. 3 comments

    I like the concept behind what appears to be a new Washington Examiner feature called "Dirty Money" (you can see the latest installment here; I can't seem to find a page where previous installments are archived). I'm not a hundred percent certain though of their methodology of determining why certain contributions are dirty--if it's merely a company or organization that had employees or members who've committed crimes (embezzlement is one listed), that doesn't necessarily seem to taint the organization's donations. I think a little more context is needed to determine whether the employees were embezzling from the organization (which would seem to make the organization a victim) or if the embezzlement was part of a management scheme to victimize others.

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  2. Feds: Freddie Mac should hide info from SEC

    By Bill Allison Mar 27, 2009 1:28 p.m. 2 comments

    Yesterday, we learned from the Chicago Tribune that Freddie Mac documents are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act because they contain or might compromise commercial information--that is, the proprietary insider information of a private company. Today, in the Washington Post, we learn that that private company was pressured to withhold negative information it was obligated to disclose under SEC rules. It seems that following government policy will adversely affect its bottom line, and the firm wanted to tell its remaining shareholders that.

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  3. Freddie Mac records exempt from FOIA

    By Bill Allison Mar 26, 2009 2:24 p.m. 2 comments

    Bob Secter and Andrew Zajac of the Chicago Tribune report that, while researching what went at Freddie Mac during the period White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel served on the board of directors of Freddie Mac, they were unable to get minutes of board meetings and other information:

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  4. Financial Bailout: K Street hurting too?

    By Bill Allison Sep 30, 2008 6:11 p.m. 1 comment

    The Hill reports that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are dissolving their formidable lobbying operations (when the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight was investigating their shady accounting practices, Fannie Mae was spending $8 million a year on lobbyists, some of whom were working with Congress to derail the investigation).

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  5. CRP tracks beneficiaries of belly-up banks

    By Bill Allison Sep 15, 2008 2:41 p.m. 1 comment

    Our friends at the Center for Responsive Politics have been doing yeoman's work compiling lists of the politicians who've received the most money over the years from political action committees and employees and their family members of the big financial colossi that are seeking (or having imposed on them) federal help to stave off collapse. Their Lehman Brothers list is here while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are ">here.

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