Meg Whitman connected to scandal-ridden Goldman Sachs (Los Angeles, San Francisco: insurance, mortgages)
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Looks like Meg may be hurt by fallout from the fraud scandal erupting around Goldman Sachs--she was on their board of directors, and received contributions from them.
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The latest public opinion surveys on Goldman could spell trouble for Whitman, the former eBay CEO, who was paid an estimated $475,000 as a member of the Goldman Sachs board of directors for little more than a year beginning in 2001.
Whitman received $110,500 in contributions last year from her contacts at Goldman - including from two Goldman executives who are members of Whitman's campaign finance committee, according to her Web site. Investment adviser Brad DeFoor, a Goldman Sachs managing director in San Francisco, gave her campaign $24,900 and Gene Sykes, who co-chairs Goldman's global mergers and acquisitions group in Los Angeles, donated $25,900.
In addition, records show that Whitman's family foundation is administered by a Goldman Sachs subsidiary, the Ayco Company - a New York firm that manages money for wealthy families, according to its Web site. The Griffith R. Harsh and Margaret C. Whitman Charitable Foundation had $48 million in assets at the time of its 2008 tax filing.
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Read more: Whitman feels heat as Goldman's image tarnishes
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And it looks like conservative Republican Tom McClintock doesn't like her much either:
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"I am very concerned that if the Republicans don't make a clean break with that past, and if Democratst run agaisnt the Schwarzenegger wing of the Republican Party, the Republican tidal wave that's sweeping the rest of the country could very easily stop at the California state line," McClintock said.
"I'm afraid that if Whitman were the nominee, the Republican base would have no reason to turn out. I think it would be both ironic and tragic if at a time the rest of the nation's going Republican, the Republicans nominated a Republican in name only," McClintock said.
"It's obvious to me that she lacks the background or the conviction to speak for herself. How can she posibly lead if she has to be shielded by layers of media handlers every time she opens her mouth?" McClintock said.
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Read more: SFGate: Politics Blog : Tea Party hero Rep. McClintock rips Whitman as a Republican in Name Only, unfit to lead
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If she is worth her salt in financial knowledge and for how much access to the company her connections would have provided her, then there is no way she was ignorant as to what Goldman Sachs was up to. People in the public knew about their problems, there is a good chance she or someone close to her knew about their schemes also.
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Whitman received $110,500 in contributions last year from her contacts at Goldman - including from two Goldman executives who are members of Whitman's campaign finance committee, according to her Web site. Investment adviser Brad DeFoor, a Goldman Sachs managing director in San Francisco, gave her campaign $24,900 and Gene Sykes, who co-chairs Goldman's global mergers and acquisitions group in Los Angeles, donated $25,900.
In addition, records show that Whitman's family foundation is administered by a Goldman Sachs subsidiary, the Ayco Company - a New York firm that manages money for wealthy families, according to its Web site. The Griffith R. Harsh and Margaret C. Whitman Charitable Foundation had $48 million in assets at the time of its 2008 tax filing.[LEFT]
Read more: Meg Whitman connected to scandal-ridden Goldman Sachs
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On TV tonight there's footage of Meg Whitman's campaign dinner in LA where the nurses union upstaged Whitman. They were all dressed like "Queen Meg" & even had a horse and carriage while demonstrating in from the the auditorium. The nurses portrayed Meg as an elitist who is not connected to the everyday people of California. It was hilarious.
She was on their board in 2001 and 2002, well before the current scandal involving Goldman Sachs.
The criminal investigation involves Goldman Sachs creation in 2007 of "synthetic collateralized debt obligations". The investment was put together by John Paulson, a hedge fund manager, who selected the specific assets that he thought had the most likely chance of default. Goldman Sachs lied or didn't adequately disclose the selection of the assets, instead attributing the selection to ACA Management LLC, which managed multiple collateralized debt obligations, totalling over $15 billion.
Both Paulson and Goldman Sachs thought the investment had a high risk factor, so they invested in credit default swaps against this offering, in effect getting insurance that would pay off if the mortgages defaulted.
Whitman was off the Goldman Sachs Board of Directors 5 years before this package was even put together.
Does she have any continuing ties with Goldman that makes her vulnerable? I have no idea, but her tenure in 2001 and 2002 shouldn't be linked up to the current investigation.
Whitman received $110,500 in contributions last year from her contacts at Goldman - including from two Goldman executives who are members of Whitman's campaign finance committee, according to her Web site. Investment adviser Brad DeFoor, a Goldman Sachs managing director in San Francisco, gave her campaign $24,900 and Gene Sykes, who co-chairs Goldman's global mergers and acquisitions group in Los Angeles, donated $25,900.
The ongoing support to her campaign from Goldman Sachs execs certainly doesn't look good.
The ongoing support to her campaign from Goldman Sachs execs certainly doesn't look good.
Certainly an issue that her opponent could use. However, if she ends up the candidate against Jerry Brown, he has some exposure there too. His sister, Kathleen, is an executive with Goldman Sachs and has been with them the past decade, and also was with Countrywide:
Ms. Brown, age 64, currently serves as Senior Advisor, Goldman, Sachs & Co., where she heads the Western Region of the Public Sector and Infrastructure Group. She joined Goldman, Sachs & Co in 2001. Ms. Brown served as Treasurer of the State of California from 1991 through 1994... She currently serves on the board of the Climate Action Reserve and the Advisory Board of the Keston Institute and the Public Policy Institute of California. Ms. Brown formerly served as a director of Countrywide Bank.
However, I think the IPO "spinning" issue while she was at Goldman Sachs may be more of a problem for Whitman. Getting IPO's at a discount before made available to the public is certainly an ethics issue that is legitimate for discussion concerning a potential Governor. She paid a fine for this issue, and it certainly can be something an opponent could use (I'm a bit surprised Poizner hasn't done it yet).
She was on their board in 2001 and 2002, well before the current scandal involving Goldman Sachs.
The criminal investigation involves Goldman Sachs creation in 2007 of "synthetic collateralized debt obligations". The investment was put together by John Paulson, a hedge fund manager, who selected the specific assets that he thought had the most likely chance of default. Goldman Sachs lied or didn't adequately disclose the selection of the assets, instead attributing the selection to ACA Management LLC, which managed multiple collateralized debt obligations, totalling over $15 billion.
Both Paulson and Goldman Sachs thought the investment had a high risk factor, so they invested in credit default swaps against this offering, in effect getting insurance that would pay off if the mortgages defaulted.
Whitman was off the Goldman Sachs Board of Directors 5 years before this package was even put together.
Does she have any continuing ties with Goldman that makes her vulnerable? I have no idea, but her tenure in 2001 and 2002 shouldn't be linked up to the current investigation.
People need to read the REAL story. Not just the headlines. The current GS case is very specific as stated above.
Goldman Sachs gave almost $1M to Obama's campaign. If CA Democrats are going to try to link Whitman to GS wrongdoings - they better be prepared for a bigger problem. GS gave money to many people, Democrats and Republicans.
People need to read the REAL story. Not just the headlines. The current GS case is very specific as stated above.
Goldman Sachs gave almost $1M to Obama's campaign. If CA Democrats are going to try to link Whitman to GS wrongdoings - they better be prepared for a bigger problem. GS gave money to many people, Democrats and Republicans.
Her tenure on the Board of Directors in 2001 and 2002 included her being found to have participated in "spinning" IPO's:
“Spinning” is obtaining, from securities firms such as Goldman Sachs, shares of stock in start-up companies’ IPOs at a preferred price (that is, a discount) not available to ordinary retail investors. This enables investors like Whitman to make a short-term profit by selling the stock in the secondary market, days if not hours later, to retail investors at non-discounted prices.
Whitman and co-defendants Pierre Omidyar and Jeffrey Skoll agreed to disgorge their profits and pay $3 million (Whitman’s share was $1.78 million).
While not illegal when she participated in the IPO spin, it certainly can be presented by an opponent as a potential ethics issue. Today, the practice is no longer legal.
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