When an early copy of the agenda for today’s White House fiscal summit leaked out on Friday, I half-jokingly questioned the wisdom of choosing Bill Lynn — a former senior lobbyist for defense giant Raytheon who had to get a waiver from administration ethics rules to join the Pentagon — to help lead a session on responsibility in contracting and procurement.
Now the final list of speakers at today’s summit has been released, and guess who mysteriously disappeared from the list? Instead of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Transportation Secretary (and earmark fan) Ray LaHood, and Lynn, the Procurement session will now be led by Napolitano, Rahm Emanuel, and Jacob Lew.
Lew, incidentally, comes to the administration from Citigroup, where he headed an alternative investments unit that “ran up hundreds of millions of dollars in losses last year on [an] esoteric collection of investments … even as they collected seven-figure salaries and bonuses,” as the New York Times reported earlier this month.
I hate to ask the same question twice, but on a day when Citigroup is generating headlines like this one, is Lew the best choice to replace Lynn on this “fiscal responsibility” panel?
