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POLITICS: A Look at Locke’s Disclosure Statement

A Half-Million Dollars in Stock Round Out Ex-Washington Governor’s Finances

By Josh Israel | February 25, 2009, 11:07 am

image Former Washington Governor Gary Locke Now that President Obama has nominated former Washington Gov Gary Locke to head the Department of Commerce, PaperTrail (and probably Obama himself) wonders if three times will be the charm. The prez’s first pick for the job, New Mexico Gov Bill Richardson, stepped aside due to ethics questions and his second attempt to fill the position turned sour when GOP Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire changed his mind about taking the job.

With financial questions having already torpedoed Richardson and other Obama picks, we scoured through Locke’s most recent personal financial affairs statements, from 2004 to 2008. Locke continued to file the statements even after he left office in 2005 as a board trustee of the Life Sciences Discovery Fund, created by the State of Washington to promote bio-science.

The documents reveal that, post-governorship, Locke has been working as a partner in the big law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP The handwritten form was changed to note that the firm received payments from not “hundreds of customers,” but “thousands.” He also serves on the corporate board of Safeco Insurance Company.

Locke reported a modest number of trips — mostly to political events and paid for by various Democratic political committees — but none appear too unusual.

The former governor’s financial holdings include stock worth at least $468,000: in Amgen (at least $75,000 worth), Associated Bank (at least $30,000), Conseco (at least $30,000), Costco (at least $75,000), Esterline Technologies (at least $75,000), Getty Images (at least $3,000), Microsoft (at least $75,000), Starbucks (at least $75,000), and Washington Mutual (at least $30,000) — clearly favoring investments in companies based in his home state.

Assuming there are no surprises, Obama can focus now on the vacancy at Health and Human Services, and hope to avoid having to go for a hat trick there, as well.

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  1. Posted by: HROLLER on February 25, 2009, 1:31 pm

    On September 18th Alan Fishman the new CEO released a letter (pdf link) to shareholders in which he stated “Capital ratios describe the financial strength of a bank. Our ratios continue to be well in excess of the levels that government regulators require of “well capitalized” institutions. We also have an ample supply of funds on hand to meet your needs and the needs of our other customers and our day-to-day operations.” That the WaMu bank was well capitalized has never been disputed and the OTS in a Fact Sheet (pdf link) they issued on WaMu on September 25th 2008 said “WMB met the well capitalized standards through the date of receivership.”

    JPMorgan Chase is one of the primary stockholders of the Federal Reserve which means they have the power to force favors from the Federal Reserve. The CEO of JPMorgan Chase, Jaime Dimon, sits on The Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY. Citigroup is also a stock holder of the Federal Reserve. It is the Federal Reserves job to insure that its member banks have the liquidity to transact business. The member banks borrow and lend among themselves electronically every night to keep each other liquid. This is called the Federal Funds. If need be a bank can also borrow directly from the Federal Reserve itself through a process known as the Discount Window.

    more…. http://www.wamu-shareholders-resources.com/wamued.html

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