Today's Power Line posted an article on the Pay Czar's decision that Ken Lewis, Chairman of the Board of Bank of America, would work for free in 2009. Not only will he not be paid for the rest of the year, he has been asked to return the $1 million he has already received this year. Mr. Lewis agreed to the decision, stating that "he felt it was not in the best interest of Bank of America for him to get involved in a dispute with the paymaster."
Aside from the obvious question of the government determining anyone's salary, there are some other interesting things to look at here.
According to the article:
"... Lewis took on the federal government by testifying that Fed chief Ben Bernanke and Henry Paulson, a Democrat who was then Secretary of the Treasury, bullied him into committing what was, in effect, an egregious violation of the securities laws. Bank of America was due to close on its purchase of Merrill Lynch, and Lewis knew that Merrill's value was plummeting. Lewis testified under oath that Paulson and Bernanke threatened to fire the entire management and board of Bank of America, including Lewis, if Lewis backed out of the Merrill deal or communicated to the bank's shareholders what a bad deal the purchase had become."
Essentially the government forced him to violate his duty to his shareholders in order to advance the government's objectives.
The Obama Administration is very willing to attack anyone who gets in the way of their policies or disagrees with them. This is another example of that willingness. If Mr. Lewis had kept quiet about the pressure the Obama Administration put on him, he would probably still be collecting a salary. Is this the way the Constitution is written?
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