Bachmann Vs. Newt On Freddie Mac

The World's Most Expensive Historian

In one of the most snort-worthy lies ever vomited up by the GOP, Newt Gingrich is claiming that he was paid $1.6M by Freddie Mac to act as a historian. And not to peddle his influence as a lobbyist.

I offered advice. My advice as an historian when they walked in and said we are now making loans to people that have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything but that’s what the government wants us to do. I said at the time, this is a bubble. This is insane. This is impossible. It turned out unfortunately I was right and the people who were doing exactly what Congresswoman Bachmann talked about were wrong.

They truly are shameless.

Ex-Gays Mad That Fannie & Freddie Gave Money To LGBT Activist Groups

Via Christianist "news site" One News Now:

The group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) is outraged that even though government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac went broke and received a federal bailout, they still managed to give thousands of dollars this year to homosexual activist groups. PFOX executive director Regina Griggs says Freddie Mac shelled out $65,000 over the past two years to the Human Rights Campaign to help homosexual couples adopt children. The Freddie Mac Foundation has given more than $125,000 to homosexual activist groups over the last three years, and the Fannie Mae Foundation has given $80,000 to such groups in the past decade.

Shawn Flaherty, a spokeswoman for Freddie Mac, told PFOX that she was not sure whether the ex-"gay" group would meet grant guidelines. However, Griggs says Flaherty noted the Foundation focuses on three priorities -- stable homes, foster care and adoption, and youth development. "What could be more important than supporting marriage as a man and one woman, adoption by heterosexual couples, and how about telling youth the truth -- you're not born that way [homosexual], that change is possible?" she wonders. "It was interesting because her other comment was that 'the grants have not focused on the gay community. It's a piece of it.' That's my tax dollars silencing me, silencing our organizations, coming after [Christian non-profits]. This is unbelievable."

PFOX head troglodyte Regina Griggs insists that the money was only donated because Barney Frank's ex-boyfriend from twenty years ago used to work for Fannie Mae. Twenty years ago.

Fannie & Freddie Suspend Foreclosures

Well, the stock market dropped another jillion points today and now it's at about 50% of what it was a year ago. But at least Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have announced a temporary suspension of home foreclosures. Via Calculated Risk:

Press Release from Fannie Mae (no link yet): Fannie Mae to Suspend Foreclosures Until January

In order to support the streamlined modification program announced on November 11, 2008, Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) today issued a notice to its loan servicing organizations and retained foreclosure attorneys directing them to suspend foreclosure sales on occupied single-family properties as well as the completion of evictions from occupied single-family properties scheduled to occur from November 26, 2008 until January 9, 2009.

The temporary suspension of foreclosures is designed to allow affected borrowers facing foreclosure to retain their homes while Fannie Mae works with mortgage servicers to implement the streamlined modification program scheduled to launch December 15.

Freddie Mac also announced they are suspending foreclosures.

Mark Buse Worked For Freddie Mac

I totally missed it when I was looking at the list of his lobbying clients, but the Washington Post and others are reporting that openly gay McCain chief of staff Mark Buse once worked for Freddie Mac as a lobbyist.

When mortgage giant Freddie Mac feared several years ago that Sen. John McCain was too outspoken on the issue of executive pay, it pinpointed a lobbyist known for his closeness to McCain and hired him to work with the senator.

Mark Buse, a longtime McCain adviser who had been staff director of the Senate commerce committee, signed on as a Freddie Mac lobbyist, and his firm, ML Strategies, earned $460,000 in lobbying fees in late 2003 and 2004, according to lobbying disclosures. Buse is now chief of staff at McCain's Senate office.

Buse was one of many strategic hires made by Freddie Mac in its efforts to sew up support and manage opponents on Capitol Hill, a push that peaked in 2004 with the retention of 34 outside lobbying firms. Over the past decade, Freddie spent more than $95 million on lobbying, while its sister company, Fannie Mae, spent more than $79 million.

The story of how Buse came to get involved is emblematic of the interconnections among Fannie, Freddie and the lawmakers whose support was critical for their business.

McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said the hiring of Buse did not influence McCain. "I think the reality is that John McCain takes positions, you know, based on what he believes is in the public interest, period," Rogers said. "If these folks thought they were getting something out of John McCain . . . it's not based in fact."

Buse was providing Freddie Mac "with advice on how to deal with issues of concern to them, you know, both in the commerce committee and in the Senate at large," Rogers said. Through the McCain spokesman, Buse declined to comment.

Freddie Mac's interest in Buse dates back to mid-2003. That May, McCain presided over a hearing on executive pay at which he condemned "a disconnect between CEO pay and performance at many of America's corporations" and said that "these kinds of excesses are making a lot of Americans angry."

[snip]

"Senator McCain was talking about limiting executive compensation, and Buse was retained to nip that in the bud," said a former lobbyist who insisted on anonymity because of continuing relationships with the companies.

The commerce committee, which McCain chaired, considered taking up legislation to address Fannie and Freddie in 2003 but refrained from doing so because it lacked jurisdiction, Rogers said.

McCain continued to talk about the compensation issue. But inside Freddie Mac, Buse's effort was viewed as "hugely successful," a former Freddie Mac lobbyist said. "The statements didn't go away completely, but in terms of Senator McCain doing anything about it, it just never materialized. As far as I know, Buse was the only person working that issue for Fannie or Freddie, so he got a lot of credit internally for the results."

As a Freddie Mac lobbyist, Buse participated in a meeting on executive compensation with aides to members of the commerce committee, said sources informed about the matter who insisted on anonymity to avoid professional repercussions. Freddie Mac spokeswoman Sharon McHale said she was unable to get any information on Buse's relationship with the company.

McCain campaign spokesman Rogers said Buse "met with, obviously, a variety of staff." He said Buse never spoke with McCain about Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae or executive compensation.

McCain co-sponsored a bill to overhaul regulation of Fannie and Freddie in September 2003 and again in 2006. "He helped sound the alarm on the risk that Fannie and Freddie posed to the taxpayers unless they were reformed," Rogers said. McCain also advocated requiring companies to count stock option awards as expenses, a move opposed by many corporations because it could depress their earnings and make options less plentiful.

The lobbying reports filed by Buse's firm say his work for Freddie Mac involved "general issues affecting the mortgage industry." The forms listed four other ML Strategies employees as lobbyists for Freddie Mac, but a spokeswoman for the firm, Gina P. Addis, referred questions about their work to Buse.

Buse was nicknamed "The Ferret" because he helped his boss, McCain, find pork-barrel provisions buried in legislation. McCain has said he considered Buse to be like a son.

Buse left the commerce committee staff to lobby, signing on clients as diverse as oil giant Exxon Mobil, Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, according to the government records. He also represented telecommunications clients affected by the committee.

Buse returned to McCain's office this year as chief of staff. Davis, the McCain campaign manager, last week defended his long association with the Homeownership Alliance, saying he served as "the public face of an organization that promoted homeownership." But people who worked for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Homeownership Alliance said the group's central mission was promoting Fannie and Freddie.

I could kick myself for missing Freddie Mac on that list.