From: alanb@sonic.net   
      
   after Geithner on Nov. 24, 2008, was named by   
   then-President- elect Barack Obama to be Treasury Secretary.   
      
   Geither said he recused himself from the bank's   
   day-to-day activities, even though he never actually   
   signed a formal letter of recusal.   
      
   That left issues related to disclosures about the deal   
   in the hands of the bank's lawyers and staff, rather   
   than a top executive.   
      
   Those staffers didn't want details of the swaps purchase to become public.   
      
   New York Fed staff and outside lawyers from Davis Polk & Wardell   
   edited AIG communications to investors and intervened with the   
   Securities and Exchange Commission to shield details about the   
   buyout transactions, according to a report by Issa.   
      
   That the New York Fed, a quasi-governmental body, was able to   
   push around the SEC, an executive-branch agency, deserves a   
   congressional hearing all by itself.   
      
   Later, when it became clear information would be disclosed,   
   New York Fed legal group staffer James Bergin e-mailed colleagues saying:   
      
   "I have to think this train is probably going to leave the   
   station soon and we need to focus our efforts on   
   explaining the story as best we can.   
      
   There were too many people involved in the deals -- too many   
   counterparties, too many lawyers and advisors,   
   too many people from AIG --   
   to keep a determined Congress from the information."   
      
   Think of the enormity of that statement.   
      
   A staffer at a body with little public accountability   
   and that exists to serve bankers is lamenting the   
   inability to keep Congress in the dark.   
      
   This belies the culture of secrecy obviously pervasive within   
   the New York Fed. Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns   
   noted during the hearing that the bank initially refused to   
   disclose even the names of other banks that benefited from   
   its actions, arguing this information would somehow harm AIG.   
      
   'Penchant for Secrecy'   
      
   "In fact, when the information was finally released,   
   under pressure from Congress, nothing happened," Towns said.   
      
   "It had absolutely no effect on AIG's business or financial condition.   
      
   But it did have an effect on the credibility of   
   the Federal Reserve, and it called into question   
   the Fed's penchant for secrecy."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)