Steven Rattner, the first Obama car czar who allegedly "bribed a political consultant to win business from New York's pension fund for his former investment firm," was extremely close this week to cutting a deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), only to see that agreement held up this week to the intervention of New York Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo, the Washington Post reported today.
Post writer Zachary A. Goldfarb's 12-paragraph story notes that Rattner "agreed this week to pay $6 million and be barred from the financial industry for two years to resolve [the] allegations." Rattner presently works for liberal New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the "ban isn't likely to affect that role, a source familiar with the matter" told Goldfarb.
"As is customary in such settlements, [Rattner] won't admit or deny wrongdoing" in the pay-for-play scandal Goldfarb noted.
It's hard to imagine this story being buried that deep in the Post were this within three weeks of the first midterm during the Bush administration, especially given the attempts by liberal critics to tie Bush and Republicans to the malfeasance at companies like Enron.
Thumbnail photo of Rattner by J. David Ake for the Associated Press. Accessed via WashingtonPost.com
