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CIA Pick Panetta's Earnings Released on Eve of Hearing

Interesting, isn't it to see
who collects such big money in literacy? First
a literacy spook and now a spook spook. The
good old boys network is alive and well.

It is hard to feel any sympathy for people
wailing about federal education fund cuts when
educationists have $$$ to spend funds this
way.

By Joby Warrick and Walter Pincus


Leon E. Panetta, President Obama's pick to head
the CIA, earned more than $1 million last year
in consulting and speaking fees and from
service on the boards of nearly a dozen
institutions and corporations, according to
documents released yesterday.

The Democratic former congressman from
California, who was White House chief of staff
under President Bill Clinton, disclosed his
earnings as required by law to the Office of
Government Ethics, which released them publicly
on the eve of his Senate confirmation hearing.
Though a surprise choice to head the spy
agency, Panetta has bipartisan support in the
Senate and is expected to win confirmation
easily.

Administration officials said that Panetta's
financial dealings had been carefully vetted
and that no problems or surprises were
expected. His consulting arrangements and
speeches for well-connected companies such as
the Carlyle Group and Merrill Lynch were
described as consistent with those of other
former high-ranking government officials who
pursue careers in the private sector.

Panetta's largest consulting fee came last year
from California State University's office of
the chancellor, which paid him $150,000 for a
variety of activities, an Obama spokesman said.
These included helping establish a literacy
program called America Reads and creating a new
campus at Monterey Bay. He also received a
salary of $50,000 from Santa Clara University,
where he teaches and serves as an outside
speaker.

"He gave speeches, that's part of how he made a
living," said one administration official who
agreed to discuss the disclosures on the
condition of anonymity. Panetta's fees for
those speeches to private companies,
universities and trade groups ranged from
$1,500 to $28,000, for a total of $250,000 in
2008, the report showed.

Some of his biggest fees came from his
membership on corporate advisory boards, under
a system that allows firms to attract
prestigious individuals without giving them a
basic responsibility -- or even direct say --
in how things are run.

Panetta's largest director's fee last year,
$170,000 in cash and stock options, came from
Zenith National Insurance, which promotes
safety on the job but specializes in protecting
businesses from the financial consequences of
workplace injuries. Other board members include
Catherine B. Reynolds, head of EduCap, a
controversial student loan company that is
under investigation by the IRS.

Separately, the Senate intelligence committee
is looking into Panetta's ties to EduCap,
according to people with knowledge of the
matter. The company's links to Thomas A.
Daschle became an issue in his failed bid to
become secretary of health and human services.

Panetta was paid $125,000 in director fees from
BP Corporation North America; three former
senators -- Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.), Alan K.
Simpson (R-Wyo.) and Daschle (D-S.D.) -- were
on the board with him. Panetta received an
additional $120,000 from the Fleishman-Hillard
public relations firm for serving on its
international advisory board, which also
included former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-
Ga.).

Researcher Julie Tate and staff writers Valerie
Strauss and Amit Paley contributed to this
report.



— Joby Warrick and Walter Pincus
Washington Post
2009-02-05


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