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On a light day for political news, CBS filed a couple of features from inside the federal bureaucracy. Kelly Wallace introduced us to Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg, whose job it is to check executive salaries at major corporate recipients of the Treasury Department's TARP bailout funds. Feinberg's first test case is Andrew Hall, the Connecticut-based speculator who runs Citigroup's Phibro energy trading desk. His contract calls for a $100m bonus out of 2008's profits. Feinberg's job is to "strike the right balance between rewarding performance and discouraging the risk-taking blamed for the financial crisis." There are six firms besides Citigroup on Feinberg's watchlist: the automakers General Motors and Chrysler and their financing firms; Bank of America; and AIG, the nationalized insurance conglomerate.
CBS offered a hat tip to the Washington Times as the source for its Follow the Money investigation into the Legal Services Corporation. Sharyl Attkisson quoted audits into LSC that were given to the newspaper. They found funds being used for extravagant interior decoration, alcohol and catering, interest-free loans to workers, and contracts without competitive bids. LSC funds 137 Legal Aid programs for poor people who need attorneys. It has a $390m annual budget that is about to be increased to $440m. LSC "says it has strengthened oversight and is fixing each problem raised."
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