I’d really doubt he’s going down, but, well, if Senator Feinstein wants to show some strength … there’s this:
Leon Panetta, the president’s nominee to lead the Central Intelligence Agency and a former chief of staff to President Clinton, has made hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting and speaking fees.
His clients included a defense contracting firm, the Carlyle Group, and troubled financial firms – Merrill Lynch and Wachovia.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is set to consider Panetta’s nomination on Thursday.
Some of the senators may be asking about disclosures that Panetta has filed with the Office of Government Ethics detailing his paid posts on a number of corporate boards, including BP Corp., and money made in speeches for Merrill Lynch and Wachovia – part of the $1.2 million he made from clients, firms and investments last year. Panetta, a former California congressman, reports assets of up to $3.7 million.
He has reported $831,500 in speaking and director’s fees last year, $251,500 for speaking and $580,000 from boards.
He collected $120,000 in director’s fees from BP and also from Fleishman- Hillard Inc., a St. Louis-based public relations firm that registered to lobby for about 40 clients last year. The firm, whose advisory board includes former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, provides “counsel to clients — in person, via video or through calls to decision- makers.” But Bill Black, senior partner in the Washington office, told Bloomberg News that the board members aren’t asked to do any of that. “I don’t know of any instance he was asked to make a call on behalf of a client,” Black said of Panetta. He said Panetta is “just kind of available to us for advisory purposes. He does a lot of kind of internal stuff.”





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