Sunday, July 19, 2009

Hey, maybe someone should “claw back” Pay Czar’s big pay!

Written By Michelle Malkin
My column last week on Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg spotlighted his declaration of authority to retroactively “claw back” CEO compensation packages offered by TARP recipients that he deemed “excessive.”

Reuters reports today that His Highness the Special Master of Compensation himself has raked in some hefty compensation packages:

The “pay czar” tasked by the U.S. government with ruling on the eye-popping compensation of some of Wall Street’s top earners is far from a stranger to big paychecks and the trappings of wealth.

Kenneth Feinberg made $5.76 million last year as a partner in his Washington law firm, Feinberg Rozen LLP, according to a government ethics filing obtained by Reuters.

And his assets, which include a stake in his law firm, two homes and dozens of investments, are worth anywhere from $11 million to $37 million, according to the filing, which places assets in broad value categories.

His homes are a $1.66 million house in Bethesda, Maryland, near Washington, and a $1.96 million vacation home in West Tisbury, Massachusetts, on Martha’s Vineyard.

The article quotes experts who express hopes that Feinberg might be more sympathetic to high income-earners since he has enjoyed considerable income himself.

Nah. All depends on which cronies’ crostinis are being buttered.

Feinberg’s new filings also reveal potential conflicts of interest and — surprise — massive campaign contributions to the Special Master’s Democrat Masters:

A one-time chief of staff to U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, who died Tuesday, Feinberg is also active politically, making more than $300,000 in campaign contributions since 1990, mostly to Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The recipients include Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

Birds of a feather…

By Michelle Malkin

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