Dems appoint big donors to financial investigation committee

When Congress puts together bipartisan blue-ribbon committees, the intent is to remove the taint of electoral politics from their deliberations — or at least to leave that impression with voters.  More often than not, though, the appointees themselves are political hacks, and the best result is that the two parties equal each other out in hackery.  Keep that in mind as the Democrats announce their appointments to the panel tasked with investigating the financial-sector meltdown last year:

Speaker [Nancy Pelosi] … appointed:

• Phil Angelides as chairman of the Commission. … Mr. Angelides, one of Speaker Pelosi’s three appointments to the commission, served with distinction as the elected California State Treasurer from 1999 to 2007. He has earned national recognition as an effective public and private sector leader with broad expertise and accomplishments in the fields of investor protection, housing, finance, and corporate and financial market reform.
• Brooksley Born, who was appointed by President Clinton as Chair of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission from 1996-1999. As the top Federal overseer of commodities and futures markets, she presciently warned about the need to reduce unwarranted risk in our financial system by strengthening regulatory oversight of over-the-counter financial derivatives products, such as credit default swaps. Born is a 2009 recipient of the “Profile in Courage Award” from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
• John W. Thompson, who is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Symantec Corporation, a leading security software provider. Prior to his retirement in April 2009, Mr. Thompson led Symantec as Chief Executive Officer for 10 years. As Symantec CEO, he championed corporate responsibility, effective corporate governance, and strong business ethics policies and procedures.

Majority Leader [Harry] Reid appointed:

• Senator Bob Graham, the former U.S. Senator and former Governor of Florida. Senator Graham brings a wealth of experience and understanding of finance to this appointment from his years of service as a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee. He also served as the Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and, in that role, co-sponsored a bill that lead to the creation of the Director of National Intelligence position. Currently, Senator Graham is leading the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida, his alma mater.
• Heather Murren, a retired Managing Director for Global Securities Research and Economics at Merrill Lynch. At Merrill Lynch, Ms. Murren was the group head for Global Consumer Products Equity Research. In 2004, she was recognized by Las Vegas magazine of the Las Vegas Review-Journal as one of the Influential Businesswomen of the year. Ms. Murren is the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board for Nevada Cancer Institute. Ms. Murren is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and a chartered financial analyst.
• Byron Georgiou, who is a Las Vegas-based businessman and attorney. Mr. Georgiou serves on the advisory board of the Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance which hosts the leading blog on corporate governance and financial regulation. Mr. Georgiou is the President of Georgiou Enterprises, a company with a wide range of business interests from international carbon emission reductions projects to residential and commercial real estate and golf course management and development.

Let’s take a look at each of these appointments in regards to their political contributions to Barack Obama and others in the 2008 cycle:

• Phil Angelides: $4600 to Barack Obama, $34,500 to the DCCC, $5400 to the DSCC, $23,900 to the DNC
• Brooksley Born: $4600 to Barack Obama
• John Thompson: $4600 to Barack Obama, $9800 to various state Democratic committees in odd amounts, $26,700 to the DCCC
• Heather Murren: $4600 to Harry Reid, $28,500 each to the DSCC and the NRSC, $10,000 to the Nevada Democratic Party
• Byron Georgiou: $57,000 to the DSCC, $4600 to Barack Obama, $3000 to Nancy Pelosi

Money can’t buy you love, but it can buy you a seat on government commissions, can’t it? (h/t HA reader Eric H)