"It Wasn't ME !".....

Odious ... and odiferous?
(Bad ... and stinky?)

In case you came in late, we're working through "The 7 Deadly Sins" of omission in the 2/6/2013 NCUA OIG letter to Congressman Darrell Issa, responding to his inquiry into NCUA's payment of $42 million (so far!) in contingency legal fees to two politically well-connected Chicago law firms.... 

OIG says everything is A-O-K !!

Today let's take a look at the suspected presence of a serious game of political "Pass The Cash" which the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) implies drove this highly unusual transaction...

Let's start with what the CUTimes said in its 2/12/2013 article

( "OIG Tells Issa Contingency Fees Reasonable, ...") about the OIG's findings:

"The OIG also investigated charges raised in October by the WSJ that the NCUA selected firms based upon political affiliation, because partners in both retained law firms have public records of donations to Democratic candidates. Current Chairman Debbie Matz is also a Democrat."

"However, the decision to retain the firms was deliberated under Republican Michael Fryzel's chairmanship, and the NCUA signed the agreement one week prior to Matz's swearing in on August 24, 2009." (CUTimes)

P - U !!  Before ... and after !!

Since this blogpost is going a bit long,  I'm going to ask you to look for yourself into this one - go back to the OIG letter  and read the second paragraph carefully under:  

                 

"C. Standards of Neutrality" 

(... it's on page 10!)

.... you will note OIG says that the contingency fee agreements were signed "... on September 1, 2009 - one week after she [Ms. Matz] assumed the Chairmanship..."
You might also take careful note of this sentence in the same paragraph ( again from page 10 of the OIG letter):

"We note further that an OGC [ NCUA's Office of the General Counsel] memorandum to the NCUA Board setting forth, inter alia, the General Counsel's final recommendation regarding the choice of law firms was dated August 20, 2009, four days prior to Matz' assumption of the Chairmanship."

So, how would you answer the following 4 questions,....  If you had typed up a "final" recommendation to your Board on Thursday (8/20/2009) which defied an Executive Order of the President of the United States and delivered it on Friday (8/21/2009) - with a new Chairman [Ms. MATZ] starting the following workday (Monday - 8/24/2009)........ 

1) WHAT WOULD YOU -  A REASONABLE, RESPONSIBLE, HONEST PERSON - RECOMMEND ??

2) WOULD YOU RECOMMEND ACTING IMMEDIATELY WITHOUT ADVISING YOUR NEW CHAIR?

 3) WOULD YOU TELL THE NEW CHAIRMAN ON MONDAY ABOUT THE PROPOSED AGREEMENT? 

(... A FULL WEEK BEFORE THE DOCUMENT WAS  SIGNED ON SEPT. 1, 2009)

4) DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRY TALES ?

O, My !

O, Gee !

OMG !  OIG !