Brown decides against probing Schumer on IndyMac

California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown won’t be investigating Sen. Charles E. Schumer for damning comments the New York Democrat made about Pasadena-based IndyMac Bancorp days before its collapse.

Brown’s office on Thursday sent a thanks-but-no-thanks letter to former IndyMac employees who had requested a Schumer probe.

"While we deeply regret the circumstances surrounding IndyMac's failure, we believe that there is insufficient evidence for us to investigate Senator Schumer at this time," the letter says. Read it here.

A group of 51 ex-IndyMac workers wrote to Brown last month accusing Schumer of a "malicious, politically motivated act" aimed at bringing down IndyMac.

Schumer on June 26 made public a letter he had sent to the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., saying he was "concerned that IndyMac's financial deterioration poses significant risks to both taxpayers and borrowers."

When the OTS seized IndyMac on July 11 it specifically fingered Schumer in the bank’s demise, saying that "the immediate cause of the closing was a deposit run that began and continued" after Schumer went public with his concerns.

The letter from the IndyMac ex-employees asked Brown to prosecute Schumer under a state law making it a misdemeanor to spread false and damaging statements or rumors about a bank.

Schumer's critics said he was trying to push IndyMac over the brink to make trouble for the Bush administration; Schumer asserted that banking regulators were "asleep at the switch" on IndyMac and that he was trying to wake them up.

It's politics all around in this particular financial debacle. As my colleague E. Scott Reckard wrote on Aug. 16, the IndyMac employee group had a partisan ally in their efforts to have Schumer investigated by Brown: Their letter was publicized by Alexandria, Va.-based CRC Public Relations, a firm whose clients have included the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Photo: Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). Mark Wilson /Getty Images

Comments

[JenniferK]

I am not the least bit surprised by the Attorney General's conclusion. Only illiterate dipstick mor@ns or Republicans would even bother file a complaint like this.

The only people more disgustingly stupid than the complainers are the members of the press, internationally, who have repeated this story in articles which make it appear as if the complaint had some merit. Those stories show the power of a public relations firm and a b.s. story.

This morning, I was busy deleting Google Alerts which sent me internet stories from around the country, giving credence to the complaint against Schumer, when the story of the AG's letter popped up as a Google Alert. If any more stories about the complaint, without reference to the reply from the AG show up, I'll gladly post the publications' names here, as a further illustration of the stupidity of the American media.

Democrats, step up to the bar. Think up some ridiculous charges against Republicans, file complaints about them with public agencies, and hire a PR firm to publicize the complaints. In fact, Democrats you don't even have to make up ridiculous charges. Let's start with the current bank failures and John McCain's membership in the Keating 5. Let's make up some silly stories about John McCain failing to introduce legislation to reign in the current crop of bozos who are running America's banks, and claim that John McCain took money from the bozos. Let's all make complaints to the bank regulators about influence peddling. Oh, yeah, that wouldn't work. McCain taking money from bozo bankers post Keating 5 is real, not just a silly story.

[wpo]

Lets ask a simple question, 'Is it O.K. for individuals like JenniferK to fill the inbasket with purile, angry demonstrations of her bias' or should an adult be appointed to winnow the stuff which you recieve?.

[Tom Petruno]

WPO: My policy is that people are free to express their biases, and if they want to use angry language to make their point, they can. I don't publish comments that include obscenities that I believe would be objectionable to the majority of readers -- though I realize that what is "objectionable" is a subjective thing.
It would be a slippery slope if I started censoring comments for bias, angry or otherwise.
Regards,
Tom Petruno (your blogger)

[martscan]

In the current patois of the Olympics, which is itself a cesspool of chicanery, national narcissism and obscene commercialism, JenniferK nailed it. 6.5(wpo), 9.5, 9.5, 9.5, 9.5, 9.5, 9.5. Factoring egregious bias on either end of the spectrum, the low and the high are thrown out, rightfully so, since the low score in this case is obviously predicated on a purile, prejudiced, angry demonstration of infantilism normally manifest in immature Republicans. Moral: presumed 'adults' are rife with ignorance and stupidity, especially Republicans and so-called bankers.

[martscan]

wpo:

Your stuff got through.

[JenniferK]

At 7:45PM on Friday 8/22/08, more than 8 hours after Reuters, LA Times and AP ran their story about the Attorney General's letter saying they couldn't pursue the complaint against Schumer, guess which website posted a story about a California Attorney General's investigation of Schumer sans reference to the AG's letter?

www.policelink.com

Too funny.

[The Realist]

AG Jerry Brown can't investigate Sen. Schumer (though he should) because he is too busy wasting millions of taxpayers hard earned money on ridiculous lawsuits like the one against our insolvent auto manufacturers over CAFE standards. If Jerry Brown had it his way every state in the union would be free to set their own mileage standards. That's right, 50 different mileage standards.

Only Democrats can think of wasting taxpayer money so stupidly.

Vote for Ron Paul and go see the movie "IOUSA"!.

[rufus]

This whole complaint is moronic.....This is like blaming your smoke detector for alerting you of a fire in your house. my 2 cents

[david]

Brown has always been weak on investigations of the left wing progressives. Chuck destroyed lives with his letter and of course he gets away with it.

[Ken Oglesby]

Asking a democrat to investigate a democrat?
Please.
Never going to happen.

[wally]

too bad California doesn't have a real attorney general like NYC Como. iF we did we wouldn't have a budget problem we would have had millions as settlement from the stock brokerage companies. instead we have an old political hack that he cares about his own future dim as it is.

[martscan]

david:

Who has destroyed the lives connected with the following banks, and "gotten away with it"?

Columbian Bank & Trust, First Priority, First Natl of NV, First Heritage of Newport Beach, First Integrity, ANB Financial, Hume Bank, Douglas National.

Surely, someone as perspicacious as you regarding bank failures can name the dirty low down varmints that caused each of these travesties. Should they not be publicly crucified along with Schumer? Or are you simply a run-of-the-mill political partisan, without any real banking knowledge, blowing smoke?

[Chuck Cardiff]

Jerry Brown should have just said "I'm too lazy and stupid to investigate this. It might require work."

[Duane]

What do yoiu expect from Gov Moonbean and Senator Scheemer

[Al]

Well if it is no problem since he only wanted to protect borrowers and taxpayers, then he should have no problems sending public letters to other regulators. Let's see what happens if he did the same to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. If both go into bankruptcy, then I am sure that Mr. Schumer accelerated their downfall but not in a significant and material way. Taking it to a higher level, let him send letters to the U.S. Treasurer and foreign lenders that he is concerned and worried that the U.S. government is in trouble since it owes trillions of dollars in debt. I am sure that a letter from such a powerful politician serving on the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Banking will have little impact on the financial market. I wonder what would happen.

Face it, he wanted either to grandstand, to make a powerplay on banks, or to obtain some political gain with the Democrat Party or the public. Now that it has backfired, I am sure you will not see any public letters to any regulators regarding specific banks in crisis.

I feel sorry for those people who lost much of their life savings with IndyMac. It was wrong and irresponsible for Mr. Schumer as a legislator to make such inquiries public whether he were a Democrat or a Republican. I guess some people are above scrutiny and the law. Anybody else doing the same thing would have been investigated and tried in an actual court of law and in the court of public opinion. He or she would have become a poster child of what not to do when depositors are already jittery about the current banking environment. As it stands now, he will not even get a slap on the wrist and he can continue to climb the political ladder without a single speck on his perfect record on the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

[martscan]

Al:

Isn't it about time to stop beating a dead horse? And to disprove your nonsensical argument, is there anyone in the world having an interest in Freddie and Fannie, Frick & Frack, that is not aware of their financial situation, to wit: they are effectively insolvent? Frick & Frack are NOT going to fail, as they should, simply because they are too big to fail (a cliche now) and by dint of their having a legislated unlimited line of credit with the U.S. Treasury...which you and I, and all taxpayers, are going to pay for. Further, if you are "sure" that a letter from Schumer, to whomever, would have little impact on markets, why are you wondering what would happen if you already know it would have "little impact"? Like your entire premise, this convolution makes no sense whatsoever.

Regarding Schumer "grandstanding", you are aware, are you not, that Schumer had previously notified regulatory authorities of his concerns about IMB..to no avail, and did intentionally make his correspondence public to pressure them to get off their a** and do their jobs. Had the regs been on the ball as little as 6 months prior to the letter they could, feasibly, have effected a lifesaving sale of IMB assets and at least brought them in reserve compliance. In short, regulators didn't regulate. Period. End of story.

Additionally, I take exception to your mawkish regrets of "people who lost much of their life savings with IndyMac." As a stockholder and depositor of IMB, I believe I have paid as much attention to the news and affairs concerning IMB as anyone could, and I cannot recall any horror stories of ANYONE losing most of their life savings. This type of hyperbole is endemic with people of your stripe and bias, and it is unfounded.

Also, your statement that "to make such INQUIRIES (my emphasis) public" belies any further contention of yours having to do with a criminal act, investigation, scrutiny, laws and blah, blah. Are you telling us that it is criminal to "ASK" regulatory agencies anything having to do with the solvency of a government insured firm, that comes under the purview of a Senatorial committee charged with the oversight of the agency..by the Chair of the committe...and by extension , those firms which are regulated? That, in a word, is a JOKE! And, if you think for one second that the totally Republican [politicized] Justice Department hasn't investigated Schumer, to the extent of knowing how many hairs are on his head, you are a damned fool.

[thealaskan]

Sen. Schumer:
Thank you for reminding the nation of the importance of schmoozing of all of the country's political children when it comes to politics.
Our dear Los Angles Mayor got a few bucks and a few plane rides from a sub-prime lender and not a word. Our dear former HUD scty and Mayor of San Antonio got a bit of some of the same and not a peep. I guess you were left out and viola turn on the megaphone and try to bring back '29 under the guise that you, a US SENATOR, was being ignored. OH MY Good job in turning the clock back.
Whose next on your hit list? Chrysler?, Fanniemae? The State of California? Let's check you guest list.

[martscan]

If I were an Alaskan, I wouldn't be making comments about the moral turpitude of other states' senators, politicians and crooks.

[Richard]

Do you think Fannie Mae gave all that money to Schumer, Dodd, Frank and the other condescending, hypocritical, elitists on the "hope" that it might help them?

The bad news is that a majority of Americans seem to actually think these sleeze bags are good for them. The good news is that those same Americans would wind up getting exactly what they deserve should they be elected and/or remain in office - higher taxes, more Islamic terrorist activity, and more domestic violence resulting from the new entitlement-heavy socialistic order.

The rest of us will do just fine because we actually WORK for a living and no how to minimize our tax burden under any system.

[martscan]

RICHARD:

Gdamit! If you're going to bring up the contributions of Frick & Frack to members of Congress...don't cherry pick items out of context to make your (specious) case. 354 members of Congress received dough from Freddy and Fannie...Sen. Bennett, REPUBLICAN from Utah...received over $100,000, right behind Obama...and Bennett is a minority member of those committees which most bear on F&F. The # 1 recipient of the entire House was none other than Representative Bachus, REPUBLICAN, from AL, over $100,000. And, Dr. Strangelove, McCain, received MORE money from F&F than Harry Reid, the Majority Leader! I was taught that a sin of omission was as serious as a sin of commission. You are on a deserved path to hell. I firmly believe you right wing-nuts have a genetic DNA which predisposes you to twist and malign facts that don't support your political agenda. Herr Goebbels had the same gene.