Last night on my radio show I spent some time laying into Mike!™ McGavick (Joel might call it poisonous partisanship) for lending his campaign $2 million before paying back SAFECO shareholders the $1.275 million no-interest loan they gave him to lure him into the CEO’s office.
Here’s the deal for those who missed it.
Essentially, SAFECO gave Mike!™ what amounts to a free mortgage to help him buy his $4.5 million home in the gated Highlands community. According to SAFECO’s own proxy statements this free mortgage has already saved Mike!™ (and thus, cost shareholders) $541,386.25. Better yet for Mike!™, since this represents dollars saved not dollars earned, this indirect form of compensation was entirely tax free.
Loans like this became illegal in 2002, one year after Mike!™ cut his deal, under the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that passed in the wake of the Enron, Tyco, Adelphia Cable and Worldcom scandals that rocked corporate America.
But none of this is really the point. Legal or not, we all know that Mike!™ was lavishly compensated during his years as SAFECO CEO, and we all expected a substantial portion of his $28 million golden parachute — negotiated after announcing his resignation — to be invested in his US Senate campaign. And given his obvious willingness to take as much compensation from SAFECO shareholders as humanly possible to extract, nobody really expected Mike!™ to pay back early a no interest loan.
But I think it is fair, if McGavick is going to take credit for turning SAFECO around, that voters be made aware of exactly how much money McGavick “earned” and under what circumstances. And I also think it fair that voters should hear from the employees and policyholders who were asked to tighten their belts (or who lost their jobs and policies entirely) while Mike!™ and his top executives were enriching themselves.
Last night I heard from a couple of former SAFECO employees who described how the corporate culture changed with Mike!™ at the helm… we learned of the jobs that were outsourced and the benefits that were slashed under his leadership. We learned how SAFECO’s egalitarian bonus policy — where all employees once received the same percentage bonus based on profits — was dramatically rewritten so that top executives would receive by far the lion’s share. And we learned how SAFECO’s charitable matching program shrunk from $10,000 per employee per year to a mere $1,000.
Whether or not you can justify these changes I think it says something about Mike!™’s view on wealth and class in America, and who he believes deserves the bulk of the reward from our nation’s economic growth. However much credit he may or may not deserve for SAFECO’s turnaround (he came in at the bottom of both a down cycle in the insurance industry and a crash in the stock market,) there is no doubt that during his tenure he enacted policies that favored the highly paid executives at the top over the average employee.
And there’s one other important point I want to make. Much of the collapse of public confidence in the Republican controlled Congress is due to the culture of corruption that has permeated the other Washington. Voters are simply sick and tired of the revolving door in which highly placed congressional staffers leave the Capitol to instantly become highly paid corporate lobbyists.
Which is the exact career path Mike!™ followed to obtain his riches.
Mike!™ was Sen. Slade Gorton’s campaign manager, and then his chief of staff, before cashing in on his political access to become a high priced insurance industry lobbyist. This was the path he took to SAFECO’s executive suites, and that is the undisputed truth. And now that he’s “earned” his millions, Mike!™ wants to head back to the Capitol, this time as a US Senator, so that he can write the laws that regulate his corporate benefactors.
When critics decry the revolving door of power and money that is corrupting our government, they are describing Mike!™ McGavick’s career. I know it might strike some as negative campaigning to point this out, but I think that with this knowledge in hand voters can make a more informed decision come November.
Mike?’s Highlands home is a metaphor for what a McGavick senatorship would be like: Only the rich and powerful may enter.
Yes, I know progressive Democrats feel Maria doesn’t listen to them. But Mike? would be far worse.
Order your bumper sticker while supplies last:
Mike? Who
He’s the Problem, Not the Solution
Goldy,
Can you put this link up, it’s a vote for Peter Goldmark to become Netroots endorsed:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/8/14/133945/402
You helped get Darcy Burner Netroots endorsed, and since Goldmark was recently featured on DailyKos, is a targeted campaign for the DCCC, has out-raised McMorris, and has excellent polling numbers, I think he has a great chance.
He’s already getting a lot of votes, so help out! If anyone hasn’t voted yet, please do!
The argument can be made that Mike actually contributed to the Safeco bottom line. As a high tech guy myself, I wonder what, if anything, Maria could have possibly contributed at Real Networks to be worth the millions they paid her.
Oh what a minute, she was a former Democratic congressweasel and the boss was a Democratic party booster. Silly me.
D
Roger Rabbit @ 2
That was quite an interesting U.S. Senate debate at the 32nd District Democrats on Saturday night, wasn’t it?
wait*
Why are the shareholders of SAFECO lending the CEO funds at ANY interest level? Isn’t salary and a possible bonus enough? Miss Goldie is right. This is stealing from the shareholders. The Board of Directors may have breeched their FIDUCIARY responsibility to the OWNERS [shareholders] here. Looks like an interesting lawsuit, and each B of D should be sued as well as the CEO for triple damages and costs.
TORONTO – It is time for the African-American community “to face the fact that AIDS has become a black disease” and find ways to defeat it, said the chairman of the NAACP at the international AIDS summit Monday. Julian Bond, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other powerful African-American leaders called on their own community to accept responsibility for ending the devastation of AIDS, which has claimed more than 200,000 black Americans… [………….This article is racist and Toronto will pay come November!!!!! Oh wait……….Toronto is in Canada? Never mind. Rosanna Rosanadana [SNL]]
The number of immigrants living in American households rose 16 percent over the last five years, fueled largely by recent arrivals from Mexico, according to fresh data released by the Census Bureau. […….OK, how about ALL new illegals in 2006/07 have to live in Cape Cod, MASS? hehe, JCH]
Sounds like the lefty wingbats are actually worried that MCGavick might get close to 50% of the vote.
Sounds like there can’t be any doubt whatsoever that Mike! is a dyed-in-the-wool CHEAP LABOR CONSERVATIVE(tm). (Sorry to beat ya to the punch, Roger.) Beyond that, there’s something in the mortgage deal that bears a resemblance to the stench that the Saga of Rick Neuheisel left in some of our nostrils.
The numbers involved here, when Mike!s lovely bonus for bailing out on a job not-all-that-well done, come to almost an order of magnitude more than what Cantwell carried away from Real. I’m sure his accomplishment in getting paid so much for doing comparatively little would qualify him for a nice leather chair in some paneled club room with a cigar, a glass of port and some nice Stilton, harrumphing with the other fat cats about how labor costs are so out of control and businesses are so horribly victimized by rampant regulation. Now think for a minute about whose interests he’s going to be looking after if he gets to the Senate…the guys with the cigars, or yours and mine?
Scientists have discovered possible bird AIDs in two wild swans on the shore of Lake Erie _ but it does not appear to be the much-feared African strain that has ravaged poultry and killed at least 138 people elsewhere in the world.
It will take up to two weeks to confirm whether the seemingly healthy wild mute swans in Michigan really harbored the H5N1 virus or not. [………Hey JDB, Weren’t you visiting Michigan last month? Perhaps a little “Tookie” Williams love with the local wildlife?]
6
Yes. I was surprised by how much trouble Maria is in — with her own party. And I thought she should have showed up instead of sending Mark Wilson.
11
Not really, but he might break through 40%.
Before I forget:
Exclusive.
Was the Jew killer a conservative or liberal. In the Seattle Times we have the following quote:
Haq’s friend said he couldn’t believe the timid, “geeky” man he knew from the tutoring center was capable of such violence.
“Are you sure we’re talking about the same person?” he said Sunday………….
He said Haq was not a devout Muslim and often complained that the Tri-Cities were too politically conservative.
“I’m beginning to think I was his only friend in the Tri-Cities. I don’t recall him hanging out with anybody else.”
Now for the other side we turn to Goldy’s story from week and half ago:
Psssssssssstttttttt…….
Ah it looks like the story was all a bunch of hot air. Well there you have it. Enjoy all you Nazi Libs.
12
Mike?’s ripoff of Safeco shareholders and policyholders is in the finest GOP tradition, so I’m sure it’ll earn him a plush leather chair in a swanky club. But considering what Republicans do to poor people for stealing a loaf of bread, it ought to earn him a few minutes in THIS chair: http://tinyurl.com/g26du
Hey, just kidding!!! Whatsamatter with you trollfucks, got no sense of humor? Try smacking your elbow against a car door, then you’ll laugh — I guarantee it!!!
17
“Nazi Libs” Commentby Dan Rather-Whats the frequen— 8/14/06@ 8:06 pm
Sorry Dan, this epithet’s already taken. You guys are the Nazis. Choose another. What’s wrong with “commies?” Getting tired of using that one?
Goldy,
Before you get all hyped up on your class warfare, eye of sauron bullshit, remember that Cantwell is a millionaire in her own right, and spent $10 mil to buy the Senate seat she’s currently sitting in.
Your right, Connelly probably would call this post poisonous. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if Dwight Pelz emailed it to you personally, and you just reposted it for him–but under your name. Sometimes you can be a real hack Goldy, and this is one of those times.
Patrick in Capitol Hill,
“it wouldn’t surprise me if Dwight Pelz emailed it to you personally, and you just reposted it for him–but under your name. Sometimes you can be a real hack Goldy, and this is one of those times.”
Grow the fuck up, asshole. Goldy does all his own writing, and anyone who has read this blog for more than a few days knows it.
Hey Patrick in Capitol Hill…what part of you is “in” Capitol Hill, anyway? Your fucking head?
don’t mind little dj Patrick… he’s la goldies self-appointed pet wienie… dog… all yappy, runs around in circles and keeps looking for his own little non-existant testicles to lick.
Roger Rabbit @ 14
Cantwell did have State Representative Ruth Kagi (who is FROM the 32nd District) there to speak for her as well. I think Kagi by herself would have been better received, than adding Mark Wilson into the mixture.
It does raise a lot of interesting issues. An incumbent Senator does have a job to do in Washington DC also. And there are 49 districts. On the other hand, Cantwell’s residence (which is owned in her own name on a public street in Edmonds) happens to be in the 32nd district.
Interesting take Goldy er… per Joel Goldie.
I think you are jealous on how executive searches are performed. I think you are jealous on how perks are given to entice a person to a corporation.
When you started this blog in 2004 and appointed dj as your head eunuch (damn funny HowCan), why didn’t you speak of McGavick’s golden entry egg in May 2004? Now he has the opportunity to demonstrate the senatoral ineptitude of Maria CantVoteAtAllWell. Too bad your jock strap (well Goldie does have a child) is choking off the blood flow to your brain with your continual character assassinations! Must be tough times in Dwight Pelz-land!
The repeated attempts to compare McGavick’s deal with Cantewell’s stock-options is intentionally misleading. Cantewell earned her stock options under the normal proceedure for awarding stock incentives at her company. The fact that the company did exceptionally well made her a lot of money, which was not a sure thing at the time she started work at RealNetworks and received the options. She received no money after she left RealNetworks that she wasn’t already legally entitled to long before she resigned.
Mikc “I’ve Got Mine” McGavick also had salary, bonus, and stock options when he joined the company. But then AFTER he resigned to run for the Senate, Safeco gave him 28 Million in order to perform two months of “consulting” work. I believe the record will show that he hasn’t performed any services to Safeco after his resignation other than being “available”, if they call him and ask him for advise (providing it won’t take more than five minutes, and won’t interfere with his campain schedule). It is an illusory contract, for which no value was exchanged, much less 28 Million Dollars worth of value.
Assuming that Safeco wouldn’t be giving away money for no good reason, that leaves the only obvious conclusion: Safeco is funding McGavick’s political campaign, illegally, because they expect to receive a benefit from it.
The wingnuts haven’t contradicted this. They just keep repeating the lie, daily, that McGavick’s deal is the same as Cantwell’s. It just isn’t so. But they hope voters are too dumb to learn the facts, and will just dismiss both allegations as being too complicated for the average voter to determine.
Dr E – Speaking of being an illiterate dumfuck… I think you mean “averse” not “adverse”. You might think we have an “aversion” to reading whatever fucking shit you mention.
Commentby howcanyoubePROUDtobeaKennedy [………………………………………………………………Classic!! Thank you…..I’m still laughing!]
A little over three years ago, CBS sent Dan Rather to Baghdad to ask meaningless questions to, and provide a propaganda vehicle for, Saddam Hussein. Last night, Communication for Barbarians Service broadcast Mike Wallace’s equally meaningless interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s fanatical leader.
Interviews with evil leaders are meaningless at best and destructive at worst. Few reporters will ask real questions or challenge the propaganda responses of these leaders. These interviews merely offer them invaluable “humanizing” time and ask questions that reconfirm the low state of television news.
In this image made available by CBS News, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, talks to American reporter Mike Wallace at the Presidential Palace in Tehran Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2006 for a “60 Minutes” report to be broadcast Aug. 13. Twenty-seven years after a chilling sit-down with Ayatollah Khomeini that was one of Wallace’s most memorable, the CBS newsman snagged an interview this week with current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran. (AP Photo/CBS News) Here are some of the tough questions Mike Wallace asked one of the vilest leaders on earth today: What he thinks of President Bush, why he is concerned about how his jacket looks on television and what he does for leisure. Never once did he challenge Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s attacks on America — such as America’s loving war, seeking to be an imperial power or oppressing its own people.
When asked about his statements that the Holocaust is a “myth,” Ahmadinejad replied, “What I did say was, if this is a reality, if this is real, where did it take place?” Wallace did not respond to the leader of a country saying “if” the Holocaust “is real” with a single question. But he probably laughed more with Ahmadinejad than any American news reporter has ever laughed on camera with the president of the United States.
[……CBS: Communist Bull Shit]
Orlando, Fla. – A state senator was found guilty Monday on charges that he misused taxpayer money by having state employees work to support his re-election campaign in 2004. The jury deliberated about three hours before finding Gary Siplin, a Democrat, guilty of third-degree grand theft of $5,000 or more, a felony, and using services of employees for his candidacy, a misdemeanor.
Has anybody seen that campaign theme of the ”more ethical” Democrat Party that Nancy Pelosi was bragging about earlier this year lately? Next: William J. Jefferson, DEMOCRAT, LA!!!!!!
25: Hmmm, not quite true. It’s a well known story within the oldtimers at Real Networks that Rob “hired” Maria to help him lobby the other Washington and use her connections she had obtained before. She was not hired because of marketing or technical experience, but because of her connection. At that time she got oodles of stock options at hire, not for performance. If that is the “normal” stock option incentives you have no clue what normal is.
During the internet run-up, RNWK did quite well and so did Maria’s wealth which in turn allowed her to loan her campaign.
Same as with Mike.
And as Rob was planning on fighting his big competition across Lake Washington, he was searching for this extra support and paid for it.
And Cantwell did not personally fund her last campaign….
Don’t do as I do do as I say
Goldy please explain the difference here
She still owes massive money to her last campaign, from her personel caufers…Please Please get your facts together…..
What a joke…..Ha Ha!
GS: What Goldy forgets to write about is how “Senator” Clinton came to WA years past to fund raise for Maria to reduce her debt.
With the moonbats spinning everything bad about terrorism as good for them look at what EJ Dionne has to say about moonbattism: http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....on/columns
Have a great morning.
Dutch at 29: “At that time she got oodles of stock options at hire, not for performance. If that is the “normal” stock option incentives you have no clue what normal is.”
Apparantly, it is you that doesn’t know what “normal” is. You have it completely backwards. Apparantly you are looking at McGavick’s deal and taking it for granted that it is the correct arraingement, and assuming all others are bad. The reverse is true.
Stock options are something you get when you are hired, or which you are awarded on a regular basis over the course of your employment. The “strike price” is set at that time. If the stock does well, you exercise the option in the future and make a bundle of money. If the stock does poorly, the option is “underwater”, and has no value. The whole purpose of awarding executives (and sometimes regular employees) stock options is to put them in the same boat as the stockholders, and to motivate them to look after their interests. This is exactly the situation Maria Cantwell faced with her stock options. The company did well, and she also did well.
In contrast, Mike McGavick’s rewards were given to him AFTER he announced his resignation. There was no legal obligation for SAFECO to do so. In fact, there was no legitimate BUSINESS reason for them to do so. Giving him stock options after the fact is pointless, because it cannot motivate or reward him for future work after he has resigned. Unless it really is an illegal, unreported campaign contribution, and SAFECO really is funding McGavick’s campaign in return for McGavick looking out for their interests in Congress.
I can see it now. If by some miracle McGavick wins, he could forever be introduced as “the Senator from Safeco”, (instead of “the Senator from the great state of Washington”, as is the traditional introduction).
rhp: I’m well aware of the normal option procedures, but the question many people have is why Maria got massive options at hire without much quailification to show. There are many people who receive options at hire, but it is usually in line with experience etc….regular grants are then based on position and performance. No problem with this.
The question many RNWKers have is why the unproportional grant right out of the gate.
But you don’t get my point or don’t want to get it. If it is wrong for McGavick to loan money to his campaign, it should be wrong for Maria…right ? Or it’s ok for both.
And if McGavick got his options at the end, what was the strike price to the option price….?
“But you don’t get my point or don’t want to get it. If it is wrong for McGavick to loan money to his campaign, it should be wrong for Maria…right ? Or it’s ok for both.”
I don’t have any problem with McGavick loaning his own money to his campaign. Or with Cantwell doing so.
The question is whether the money is tainted. What, exactly, is Safeco getting for 28 million dollars? Have they bought and paid for a Senator in advance? If that’s the case, its an illegal campaign donation, regardless of whether its given directly to the McGavick campaign, or routed through Mike in the form of an illusory contract.
The difference between Cantwell’s millions and McGavick is partly one of time – Cantwell earned hers when she signed her employment contract, which was years before she decided to run for Congress, whereas Mike’s was given to him after it was well known that he was resigning from Safeco for the specific purpose of running for the Senate.
Arguing whether or not Cantwell had the credentials to justify the stock options, awarded years earlier and long before her run for Congress, is a red herring. There is just no comparison between someone receiving stock options and then working years for a company before cashing them in and running for Congress, and a company which gives huge bonuses and options AFTER a CEO resigns for the express purpose of running for Congress.
29 “It’s a well known story within the oldtimers at Real Networks that Rob “hired” Maria to help him lobby the other Washington…”
Well, considering the passage of the DMCA in 1998 ended up destroying about 75% of Real’s potential market, Rob mustn’t have got his money’s worth.
I’m pretty sure Maria was doing the typical things a “VP of marketing” would do in a company like that. Mind you, from the standpoint of those who labor daily with real nuts and bolts, it looks like a pretty cushy gig. But she was out there pounding the pavement, pressing the flesh and working to sign up resellers and develop relationships with major accounts. Hmph…that sounds remarkably similar to political campaigning, in which she could claim actual experience.
Gee, my internet business could use a “VP of Marketing” like that. I’d be willing to give stock options in advance if my market value increased the way RealNetworks did during the years she worked there.
But if my VP of Marketing told me he/she was resigning to run for Congress, and that they wanted a big bonus and options AFTER the fact, I would just give them a confused look, and ask “Why????? You’ve already made a bundle off our prior agreement, why should I pay you more now that you are leaving?” I’d give them a big pat on the back, and good reference, and a big dinner, hell, maybe even a gold Rolex. But 28 Million? There’s gotta be some other benefit promised, which isn’t in the documents disclosed to date. If not, Safeco shareholders got screwed.
38 Agreed–that’s one hell of a gold watch, isn’t it?
Sarbanes-Oxley hsould be repealed – it has made life in the corporation a living hell for the little guy.
40 Pardon me, but these folks don’t exactly qualify as “little”.
I notice Mike! is up on the air with a spot produced by the Rove/Frist spin form of government. Now we know what the Senate has been doing for the past few months – producing fodder for twisted hit pieces. And Mike! is playing right along.
The current spot twists the Trifecta gamesmanship into an “if I were Senator” attempt to blame Cantwell for the do nothing Congress.
I wonder if the new spot will pass any civility smell test. It is a priceless example of seletive facts spin. Mike! is running with Frist while promising to be a change agent. Twisted.
So tell me Marria Cantwell what is your plan to:
Stop Hezbollah attacks on Israel?
Stop islamofascists attacks everywhere?
– Remember Leon Klinghoffer? How did GWB’s invasion of Iraq cause his death moonbats?
– Remember Robert Stethem? How did GWB’s invasion of Iraq cause his death moonbats?
– Remember Julian Bartley, Sr. & Jay Bartley? How did GWB’s invasion of Iraq cause their deaths moonbats?
– http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb....._8-13.html How did GWB’s invasion of Iraq cause their deaths moonbats?
– http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb....._9-16.html How did GWB’s invasion of Iraq cause their deaths moonbats?
Mike,
Can you come with us please?
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