Even More Obama Cronyism….Penny Pritzker for Commerce (Update)

Update is at bottom of post in italics.

Penny Pritzker for Commerce is a bad choice in my opinion and certainly more of Obama’s Chicago cronyism. Is this really a message of hopey-changey? It was Pritzker’s bank, Superior in Chicago that went belly up first because of the sub-prime mortgage failure. She maybe a hotel mogul and certainly Obama’s most successful campaign finance chair but it was her bank that hung more than 1400 families out to dry when the bank closed. Is this really who we want running our Commerce Department?

Here’s more from the Washington Post:

Hotel heiress Penny Pritzker, who commanded Barack Obama’s record-shattering fundraising operation, has run into business obstacles that will likely prevent her from becoming Commerce secretary, sources close to the president-elect said.

“The issue is whether she ultimately wants to do this, and it may be – and probably will be – possible that for business reasons, she probably can’t do it,” said a Democratic source familiar with Obama’s Cabinet selection process.

The early favorite for the job, Pritzker may take herself out of the running soon, sources said. Pritzker was the first campaign insider and “Friend of Barack” to surface as a possible Cabinet pick. (Author’s Note: “Friend of Obama”? Call it what it is—cronyism. Paybacks and nothing more!)

Pritzker had started a review of her vast financial holdings, weighing whether she could disentangle herself to the extent necessary to meet Obama’s strict standards for service in his administration. Assuming she could, and wanted to, Obama sources said, the job would be hers.

She was an early Obama supporter who applied exacting standards to his finance team, but as a 49-year-old billionaire, Pritzker hardly broke the “business as usual” mold, as Obama pledged during his campaign. Most Commerce secretaries in recent decades were major donors for the presidents they served. (Author’s Note:Applied exacting standards as finance chair? Does that include illegal donations and removing security programs from the online donation site for Team Obama? Who approved it?)

But Pritzker allies also were confident that Pritzker herself would quickly depart from tradition by applying to Commerce the tough oversight and bristling energy that made her the most successful finance chair in campaign history.

Is she fit for the job? You decide. Be informed about Commerce Secretary. Here is the Commerce Secretary’s job description:

The Office of the Secretary is the general management arm of the Department and provides the principal support to the Secretary in formulating policy and in providing advice to the President. It provides program leadership for the Department’s functions and exercises general supervision over the operating units. It also directly carries out program functions as may be assigned by the Secretary, and provides, as determined to be more economic or efficient, administrative and other support services for designated operating units. The Office of the Secretary consists of the Secretary, certain Secretarial Officers, designated staff immediately serving those officials, and a number of “Departmental offices” which have Department-wide functions or perform special program functions directly on behalf of the Secretary.

Here is a list of the bureaus within the Commerce Department:

Bureau of Industry and Security
Economics and Statistics Administration
Bureau of the Census
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Economic Development Administration
International Trade Administration
Minority Business Development Agency
National Institute of Standards and Technology
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
National Technical Information Service
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Patent and Trademark Office

I am certain I don’t want a person who destroyed a bank and was fined by the government for its failure running any part of our government. Here is a history of Pritzker and her bank:

One of the banks that went under after making a lot of subprime loans — leaving 1,400 of its customers without part of their savings — was Chicago’s Superior Bank.

At the helm of Superior Bank at least some of the time was Obama’s national finance chairwoman, Penny Pritzker, an heiress to the Pritzker fortune.

Obama’s campaign notes that Pritzker stepped down as chairwoman of the bank’s board in 1994, seven years before it failed. She then went on the board of the bank’s holding company.

But a letter obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times shows that until the end, Pritzker appeared to be taking a leadership role in trying to revive the bank with an expanded push into subprime loans.

Pritzker wrote in May 2001 that her family was recapitalizing the bank, and she pledged to “once again restore Superior’s leadership position in subprime lending.” The bank shut down in July 2001.

What was left in the wake of the bank closing is really a financial mess not for the bank but for the 1400 people who are still owed money. More on that:

But at least some of the 1,400 victims who are still owed money seven years after the bank failed say Pritzker is the wrong person for Obama to put in charge of the campaign’s finances when part of his campaign is about reforming the banking industry.

“They still owe me $113,000,” said Fran Sweet, 63, of Downers Grove, who deposited her $480,000 retirement account at Superior a month before it collapsed. “To the Pritzkers, this is nothing. They probably think, ‘Why pay her back?’ That’s nothing. But we’re all upset that someone who made these decisions could be in that position.”

The Pritzker’s definitely have the money to pay these people back but have not even made an effort to do that. What they owe these people is a mere pittance considering they have billions of dollars. Read on:

The Pritzker family bought the former Lyons Savings and Loan with partner Alan Dworman in 1988. Lyons had failed, and federal regulators asked the Pritzkers to take it over. Crain’s Chicago Business reported that the FDIC gave the Pritzkers “cash, tax incentives and promissory notes” worth $645 million to take Lyons.

Critics, including private bank watchdogs Bert Ely of Virginia and Tim Anderson of Chicago, say it was a “sweetheart deal” for the Pritzkers in which they pledged far more money than they put up. The thrift was renamed Superior.

For just $15 million, the Pritzkers could pay back the 1,400 customers still owed money, Ely and Anderson said.

The Pritzkers put up $460 million, which federal regulators said absolved them of any further liability in the collapse.

That’s less than the $645 million the Pritzkers got to take the thrift, Ely and Anderson note.

Don’t you just love it when the federal government absolves a bank from any liability and screws the American taxpayer, voter and citizen! If Obama really intends to “reform” the banking industry then why tap Penny Pritzker for Commerce Secretary? I forgot he owed her for all her fund raising….more cronyism…no hope or change!

How’s that working out for ya’?

Update: Penny Pritzker turns down Commerce Secretary. Why? Here is the story from Politico:

Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker, national campaign finance chairwoman for the Obama campaign, has taken herself out of the running to be secretary of Commerce, a Democratic official said.

“She fears problems with her confirmation based on past business dealings,” the official said.

Pritzker was featured in a flurry of news reports as a likely secretary of commerce. But senior officials repeatedly — and correctly — told Politico that was not true.

Pritzker is a billionaire heiress to the Hyatt hotel fortune.

Officials said she was not vetted.

She should fear being confirmed for the post because of her banking failure. Remember Obama campaigned on banking reform….I’m not buying anything he said during the campaign because it is all falsehoods and tripe. Soory folks but Washington DC is awash with banking money, so I wouldn’t expect much reform!