Over the last couple of days, I’ve written about the blatant ethical violations of Kathryn S. Wylde, a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. One thing struck me in particular about the Fed’s rules for its Class C directors:
Class C directors are prohibited from owning bank stocks, for example,…
Hmmm…which led me to ask Ms. Wylde:
Question #1: at any time during Ms. Wylde’s service as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, did she hold any bank stocks in her personal portfolio, or in any other financial instrument containing bank stocks over which she had control or partial ownership?
Question #2: if the answer to Question #1 is “yes”, what were those holdings and did she disclose those holdings to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and/or to the Fed’s Board of Governors?
To her credit and the credit of her spokesperson at the Partnership for New York, a very timely and quick reply came:
Per Kathy, the answer to your question is no.
I take her at her word–but, just to make sure nothing slipped through the cracks or was forgotten (it is a small little detail after all), I’ve filed a Freedom of Information request with the Fed’s Bank. Stay tuned.
But, this story still has aspects that need to be shaken out:
I’m very curious as to any role our governor, the poodle-for-the-rich, had in unleashing Wylde on her verbal attack against Schneiderman. On Nov 8th 2009, Wylde wrote a check for $1,000 to the poodle-for-the-rich’s campaign committee.
And she is a board member of the odious Committee To Save New York–which basically was a front group for the poodle-for-the-rich governor and business to form a united front to attack unions, in particular, the teachers and state employees by hyping the financial deficit of the state. The mantra of the Committee was regurgitated by the transcribers of press releases (formerly known as "journalists") and media editorial boards: cut wages and benefits but don’t raise taxes on the wealthiest in the state.
The timing of this seems curious:
Schneiderman says he won’t sign off on the deal giving banks a "get out of jail card no matter what we uncover down the road".
The White House applies pressure for Schneiderman to cave–and Wylde, among others, delivers the message.
Then, comes the sudden decision to kick our attorney general off the national committee of 50 states which is negotiating a deal with the banks on the topic of foreclosures. Recall that the poodle-for-the-rich governor previously held the post of attorney general–during which he likely made a lot of friends among those people who sit on, or influence, the national committee negotiating with the banks.
Curious.
Even if the links are not there, on its own, the ethical violations I’ve previously pointed out are sufficient reason for Wylde to step down from the Bank.
