Obama's James Johnson Has Shady History

In case people didn't realize this, James Johnson, the man Obama picked to find his running mate, has a dubious background as head of Fannie Mae. In 1998 Fannie Mae failed to report $200 million in expenses, which allowed Fannie Mae to hit it's earnings targets, which in turn allowed Johnson to collect a bonus of almost $2 million.

An Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight report in September accused the company of improperly deferring $200 million of estimated expenses in 1998, which allowed management to receive full annual bonuses. Had the expenses been recorded that year, no bonuses would have been paid, the report said.

Fannie Mae reported paying bonuses in 1998 to Johnson, who received $1.932 million.

Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, chief executives and chief financial officers are required to give back incentive-based bonuses if the company has to restate its earnings because of financial misconduct. One attorney said yesterday that the law probably wouldn't apply to misconduct prior to 2002. But he said that plaintiffs in a lawsuit could argue that other legal precedents dictate that the bonuses were ill-gotten and need to be returned.
Source

So not only did Obama pick a Washington insider to pick his VP, he picked an insider that was already discovered to have betrayed the public trust for his own financial gain.

The amazing thing is that the media has focused on Obama's associations with Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers while totally downplaying his association with Johnson, and totally ignoring Johnson's past.

Is the main stream media really so far gone and lacking in any journalistic integrity at this point?

It's odd that even though Johnson resigned, no msm stories even talked about his shady accounting at Fannie Mae, or his position on the board of Goldman Sachs, or his partnership with George Soros, or his position at Perseus.

Why?

Is it becoming more and more obvious that the msm really IS in the tank for Obama?

$50 Million DOE Reinvestment Act Loan Benefits Millionaire James Johnson and 3 Billionaire Friends

Those who march on Wall street need to look to the White House for cronyism and corruption. Follow the money:

June, 2008 - Senator Obama names Perseus LLC Vice Chairman James A. Johnson to head his committee to select a Vice President. Johnson is also a co-founded Public Strategies, a private consulting firm, with diplomat Richard Holbrooke. Holbrooke was also Vice chairman of Perseus LLC from 2001 to 2008. He was later appointed as a special adviser on Pakistan and Afghanistan, working under President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, before is death in December, 2010.

Johnson is well known for his time as the CEO of Fannie Mae from 1991 to 1998 and as the campaign manager for Walter Mondale's failed 1984 presidential bid. In addition, Johnson was a campaign financing “bundler” for the Obama presidential campaign, raising between $200,000 and $500,000 according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Johnson has also been a board member of Goldman Sachs.

July, 2008 - July 14, 2008 - US House Representative Rahm Emanuel introduces legislation that would compel automakers to make 10% of their fleet run on natural gas by 2018. The bill also required major oil companies to install one natural gas pump per gas station by 2018.

August 11, 2008 - The Vehicle Production Group LLC (VPG) a developer of specialty vehicles designed for the taxi fleet market completes equity financing of $160 million. The financing was led by Perseus LLC, a merchant bank and private equity fund management company. Another significant investor is Clean Energy Fuels Corp., founded by billionaire T. Boone Pickens, a major CNG supplier.

Note: The Perseus-Soros BioPharmaceutical Fund, LP was jointly founded by Perseus and Soros Private Fund Management, LLC with $449 million in capital commitments. Billionaire George Soros is Chairman of Soros Fund Management, LLC.

January 2009 – Ron Perelman donates $50,000 to the Obama Inauguration Committee, along with five people with the last name Soros, including George Soros.

On August 26, 2009 - Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the selection of 25 cost-share projects under the Clean Cities program that will be funded with nearly $300 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The Chicago Area Alternative Fuels Deployment Project receives $15M. The project will deploy 554 alternative fuel and hybrid electric vehicles and install 153 alternative fueling stations throughout the Chicago region.

October, 2009 – AM General, 70% owned by Obama supporter Ron Perelman, is selected as the contractor to build the new MV-1 vehicle by the Vehicle Production Group (VPG).

November, 2010 – Marc D. Klein, co-founder of the Vehicle Production Group LLC (VPG) is named Vice President at Clean Energy Fuels Corp.

May 16, 2011 – Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel Becomes Chicago Mayor

March 10, 2011 - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that the Department of Energy finalized a nearly $50 million loan to The Vehicle Production Group LLC (VPG). The loan will support the development of the six-passenger MV-1, a purpose-built taxi that will have a compressed natural gas (CNG) powered option.

June 23, 2011 – The City of Chicago announces the opening of CNG fueling stations and the growth of CNG vehicles to Chicago's taxi fleet. The fueling stations were in part funded by a Clean Cities grant that provided $800,000. Among the ceremony attendees: Marc D. Klein, Vice President, Clean Energy Fuels; T.Boone Pickens, Co-founder, Clean Energy Fuels Corporation; Michael Levine, CEO, Taxi Medallion Management; Patton Corrigan, Taxi Medallion Management (and a co-founder of VPG LLC).

August 19, 2011 – Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel Announces CNG Airport Taxicab program.

To be eligible, CNG vehicles must have an official Green Taxi Chicago CNG sticker affixed to the vehicle. The six-month pilot program will run from August 4th, 2011 to February 4th, 2012. The Green Taxi Program is a $1 million dollar Clean Cities grant that is set to expire on December 31st, 2011. Through the program, CNG or propane powered vehicles can be reimbursed for up to 100% of the implemental cost, which is between $9,000 and $14,000.

September 21, 2011 - Miami-based Vehicle Production Group (VPG) holds a press conference marking the official launch of the MV-1 at its vehicle contractor AM General in Mishawaka, Indiana where it once built Hummers.

Apparently Rahm is paying back some favors to his and President Obama's old pal James Johnson. This speaks volumes to the President's claim that he is a “middle class warrior”.

James Johnson, the man Obama picked to find his running mate, has a dubious background

Dick Cheney, the man Bush picked to find his running mate, has a dubious background.

Oh, and he helped kill hundreds of thousands of people in the middle east, but who cares about human life? It's not like there's a "culture of life" that cares about peoples' lives or anything.