Obama Appoints Bain Capital Consultant Jeff Ziets to Top Post

[KoKo]

Published on Friday, September 13, 2013 by Common Dreams
Obama Appoints Bain Capital Consultant to Top Post
Zients' former employer was slammed by Obama campaign for outsourcing jobs, closing plants, devastating US communities


President Obama has appointed as chief White House economic adviser a former executive of Bain Capital—the management consulting company previously headed by former presidential candidate Mitt Romney that was heavily criticized by the Obama campaign as an 'outsourcing pioneer' responsible for closing plants, devastating U.S. communities, and even contributing to the deaths of disenfranchised workers.

Jeff Zients worked at Bain Capital from 1988 to 1990, one of many lucrative positions at corporate management and media firms that allowed him to build a multimillion dollar fortune. He has worked as a close aid to Obama since 2009, serving twice as the president's acting budget director, among other positions. He will now ascend to head of the National Economic Council, replacing Gene Sperling, who says he is departing for personal reasons.

The appointment was leaked to the New York Times and reported by the paper Friday morning and formally announced by the White House later in the day. The article failed to mention Zients' former tenure at Bain Capital.

Obama has already been slammed for ushering in corporate influence and pursuing policies that deepen poverty and unemployment for the vast majority, flipping on his campaign promises to stand up for the common person. Studies show that Obama has overseen the widest income gap between top 1 percent earners and everyone else since 1928—the year before markets crashed.

Obama heaped praise on the new appointee Friday, declaring, "Jeff has a sterling reputation as a business leader."

Yet, his glowing praise contrasts strongly with the picture he painted of Zients' former employer Bain Capital during his 2012 campaign, which he repeatedly slammed as an uncaring corporation that outsourced jobs to China while cutting jobs and suppressing wages at home, running roughshod over people's lives to increase bottom-lines.
In one video, the Obama campaign suggests that Bain's role in closing a GST Steel plant in Kansas City contributed to the death of a former worker's wife because of his lost health insurance.

This is not the first time Obama has contradicted his campaign criticisms of Bain Capital. Obama has received over $182,000 in donations from the company, while the Democratic Party has received millions.

The video can be viewed below.


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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/09/13-4

[Th1onein]

1. I thought this was the Onion at first.

Damn. This is not good.

[KoKo]

2. There's so much that looks like the Onion these days...it's hard to keep up.

[woo me with science]

3. It's a chess move. Definitely a chess move.

Welcome to the "more flexible" second term!

[Th1onein]

5. I was telling my friends and family, during his first term, that they only had to wait until his

second term, and then he'd get some liberal legislation through. How wrong I was. He's turned into a freaking Republican before our very eyes.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

30. You misspelled cheese.

[MNBrewer]

42. Definitely a chess move. Ever heard of sacrificing pawns?

Guess who the pawns are

[Fantastic Anarchist]

4. But, but, but ...

Obama is really a progressive and is looking out for the working class. Or so I've been told ad nauseam.

[Rex]

6. I hate it when he becomes Mr. Yes for Wall Street thugs.

They should be kissing his ass, not the other way around imo.

[Harmony Blue]

7. Lets see how this is defended

[Hydra]

10. Pass me some of that!

I vote "He's the best person for the job...and we don't hire professional leftists!"

[bluestate10]

20. The guy was there for two years and left. Maybe he didn't like what he saw.

The article seems to be a hit piece that mentioned NOTHING about how the guy earned his money after leaving his 2 year tenure at Bain Capital.

News flash, not all people that have money are evil bastards. There have been posts on DU mentioning a burger place that is paying employees well and is moving to provide those employees with medical insurance. No one of DU seemed to have noticed or cared that the people starting the burger joint up made their money via working in high finance, likely on mergers that cost people jobs. In their defense, they may have not been the people making the decisions and based upon their current path through life, I would guess that they not only didn't make final decisions but didn't like what they witnessed.

I saw all amen posts to this OP. I may be the only person with enough guts to point out some of the bullshit reasoning that brings one to a conclusion that any one that worked for a company like Bain is evil, that is bullshit because I know of at least two who are determined progressives.

[KoKo]

25. Article says it's where he made most of his fortune....so

how does one amass millions working for two years for a company...unless they are the CEO/CFO.

I'd like to see some more research on his background but this certainly seems to be another in a string of picks that Obama has made who have made fortunes working a few years for Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street Firms and then they come into the Government and then back out again to another lucrative Wall Street job.

This one really does smell bad given that Obama is already under pressure on the Left for little or no criminal prosecution of those who caused the Wall Street and Euro-Meltdown resulting in austerity for average citizens who then had to Bail Out the banks with their taxpayer dollars causing hardship the American savers by giving them FIVE YEARS of little or no return on their money in Savings Bonds/Treasuries or in their Local Bank Savings Account. This has hurt the Middle Class Savers and the Elderly terribly trying to force them
back into Wall Street Stocks or risky assets which have little oversight because there's not been enough regulation passed to undo the causes of the Financial Meltdown which wiped them out.

Home Values, Jobs, Wages have all declined and are not looking good for future growth. The kinds of picks Obama has made just continue the financial games being played with us by Wall Street.

[bluestate10]

26. Not so.

"Jeff Zients worked at Bain Capital from 1988 to 1990, one of many lucrative positions at corporate management and media firms that allowed him to build a multimillion dollar fortune"

Do you understand what one means?

[MuseRider]

8. Not at all surprised.

Disgusting.

[kentuck]

9. I wish he had more voices to listen to...

He keeps fucking himself.

[Hydra]

11. Echo chamber n/t

[FiveGoodMen]

31. The plan all along, I'd say.

[Hydra]

40. Of course

You hire advisers who agree with you and have the skills to help you get it done. The smoke and mirrors here was the earlier floated idea that the President would be taking any good ideas from all sources.

That worked SO well with single payer and everything else, right?

[KoKo]

46. He runs a pretty "tight ship" but it's been inbred in the First Administration

which most of us gave him a break on because he was new and had a Financial Crisis inherited from Bush II.

But, those days are over..and the first months of his Second Administration seems to be more of the same picks and carryovers from his first...where he shifts those from the First Around and then bring in their friends for the departing to fill in for his Second.

All the Ducks in a Row for Consistency? To keep the policies in place for continuity?

Who knows....?

[WillyT]

12. Change You Can Believe In... NOT !!!

[RedCappedBandit]

13. We're all being played.

[hlthe2b]

14. and yet, some are surprised at how badly he is pushing Summers to the FED

[loyalsister]

15. So, we assume that all of the appointees who have ever had relationships with republicans

have nefarious intentions and Obama is so dumb that they can take advantage of it? Or is Obama's presidency a sham to open doors for them to get closer to writing foreign policy? Is Kerry so stupid and vulnerable that he will come under a Kissenger spell and recommend carpet bombing then entire Middle East?


Then again, have you ever taken a job because the money was good? Have you loved every boss you have had? Is Chelsea Clinton evil for having rubbed shoulders with some of those folks when she worked for a hedge fund?Do you really think Hillary Clinton is evil for sitting on the board for walmart?

Guilt by association is irrational and petty as it implies that people who have conversations with people who disagree will be under some spell and follow orders of people who have bad ideas.

[bluestate10]

23. Bain is a complex mix. The company had/has liberal hardcore democrats working in it.

I know of one company that has influence from a former Bain executive that is providing online access and training to poor people, so those people get hooked in to the opportunities that more economically fortunate people take for granted. Jobs is one example of a activity that used to be available to the poor, but has gone almost exclusively online, so has access to more choices for insurance and home financing.

It is fucking idiocy to assume that a person is evil because that person worked two years at a complex company. Romney proved that he was an ass over a couple decades.

[loyalsister]

27. Thank you!

I have had conversations with people which ended in my disappointment to discover they were Republicans (because they seemed so sensible and compassionate!!). It didn't negate the good stuff they said, but alerted me as to what I should avoid in the future. When it comes to specific goals, it's worthwhile to keep an open mind about who might have some useful experience and knowledge.
In my advocacy, we have "no permanent enemies and no permanent friends."

[AikidoSoul]

38. Change your little blurb to" "Proud to be everything the right wing loves". NT

[loyalsister]

45. um no

The RW really hates open mindedness, flexibility and especially critical thinking.

[PowerToThePeople]

16. I thought Rmoney lost?

[deutsey]

17. Sigh

[cali]

18. Oddly enough, before I slam the President for this appointment

I'd like to know something about the guy other than that he worked at Bain for 2 years fifteen years ago.

[AverageJoe90]

19. Good point, cali. nt

[sufrommich]

21. He's been in the Obama administration since 2009. nt

[KoKo]

28. Here: It's always good to check out the company one keeps and associations

(I did find a curious deal he was involved in with Fred Malek and Colin Powell to buy the Washington Redskins... Here's Fred Malek from Source Watch.)

Nixon Administration

Fred Malek was President Richard Nixon's White House personnel chief during the Watergate scandal, "and helped dispense patronage for major Nixon donors as well as serving as deputy director of CREEP" (the Committee to Re-Elect the President). [1] CREEP employed money laundering in its political activities, and was directly and actively involved in the Watergate scandal.[2]

"Malek is perhaps most famous for his central role in responding to Nixon's request for a count of Jews employed in the Bureau of Labor Statistics."[3]

In 1971, the Washington Post reported that Malek had ordered the FBI to conduct an investigation of then-veteran CBS correspondent and Nixon critic Daniel Schorr. [4]

Malek was known as "the hatchet" in the Nixon administration "because of his alleged ruthlessness in paring the workforce and ousting those deemed disloyal to the Nixon administration."[4]

CREEP's Responsiveness Program and Backlash

Malek engineered Nixon's "Responsiveness Program," which aimed to politicize the executive branch and take advantage of the power of the incumbency to direct federal resources towards ensuring Nixon's re-election.[5] [2] This included replacing civil servants and nonpolitical government workers who refused to participate in the Nixon reelection campaign, and directing federal grants and loan money towards Nixon supporters. The "Responsiveness Program" was censured by the Senate Watergate Committee. The committee found that the program was aimed at influencing decisions concerning government "grants, contracts, loans, subsidies, procurement and construction projects," decisions regarding "legal and regulatory actions," and even personnel decisions that affected protected "career positions" -- all to advance Nixon's reelection.[4]

Malek took great care to keep the program secret so the White House would be protected in case of a leak. In a 1972 memo, Malek wrote "No written communications from the White House to the Departments -- all information about the program would be transmitted verbally . . . documents prepared would not indicate White House involvement in any way."


http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Frederic_V._Malek

-----------
WIKI on ZEITS:

Baseball

In 2005, he worked to bring Major League Baseball back to Washington with venture capitalist Fred Malek forming the Washington Baseball Club, one of eight[15] or nine groups vying to buy the Washington Nationals.[16] The club included Colin Powell, AOL founding CEO James Kinsey, attorney Vernon Jordan, Darrell Green formerly of the Washington Redskins, Fannie Mae chairman Franklin Raines[3][16] and others.[3] Malek was going to be the managing partner for the first three years when Zients would take over.[15] They came close to owning the team[15] but lost to another group led by the Lerner family.[6]

[bluestate10]

34. So. What is your point? Yes, Fred Malek is a bastard, but do you know anything at

all about the other people listed in that article? Do you know who Vernon Jordan, Franklin Raines and Darrell Green are? Are do you just assume that they are evil because they were involved in an effort to buy a sports team with Fred Malek? I do business with people that I don't like and don't have anything to do with them outside of business.

[KoKo]

39. I've not said one word about anyone being "EVIL" it's you who have

put that word out there.

As I said...I think more about his connections will come out. And, certainly there are some questions raised about who he associates with that would give a clue as to how he will handle the job that Obama has appointed him to.

As a Democrat I think it's good that we do research on the appointments of our President (that we elected twice) so that we can feel assured they were the best pick for the job.

It's called being an "Informed Citizen" and active in our Democratic process. We Democrats are not mindless zombies who never question their Reps and Presidents as long as they have an "R" after their name.

[KoKo]

47. Vernon Jordan is Decades long Power Broker (behind the scenes) in DC..

Franklin Raines has baggage...as seen from quick Search if you want to check him out from the articles below from Grechen Morgenson...who was lead NYT reporter who did excellent work on the Financial Meltdown which cost us Taxpayers mucho dollars and jobs and security and I don't have time to search Darell Green but will eventually.

Franklin Raines:

Ex-Fannie Mae Chief Is Dismissed From Investors’ Suit
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON

A federal judge ruled that lawyers for the investors failed to prove that Franklin D. Raines knowingly misled shareholders about the company’s accounting and internal controls.
September 22, 2012, Saturday
MORE ON FRANKLIN D. RAINES AND: Leon, Richard J, Decisions and Verdicts, Raines, Franklin D, Federal National Mortgage Assn (Fannie Mae), Suits and Litigation

Legal Bills for Fannie and Freddie Abuses Cost Taxpayers $160 Million
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON

Since the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taxpayers have spent more than $160 million defending their former top executives in fraud lawsuits.
January 24, 2011, Monday
MORE ON FRANKLIN D. RAINES AND: SPENCER, LEANNE, FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY, FANNIE MAE, FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION FANNIE MAE, FEDERAL HOME LOAN MORTGAGE CORP, FREDDIE MAC, FRAUDS AND SWINDLING, UNITED STATES FINANCES AND BUDGET, MORTGAGES, SUITS AND LITIGATION

They Left Fannie Mae, but We Got the Legal Bills
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON

As a result of the Fannie takeover, taxpayers are paying millions in legal defense bills for three top former executives.
September 06, 2009, Sunday
MORE ON FRANKLIN D. RAINES AND: HOWARD, J TIMOTHY, UNITED STATES, TREASURY DEPARTMENT, FANNIE MAE, FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION, FREDDIE MAC, MORTGAGES, FINANCES, SUITS AND LITIGATION, ETHICS, BUDGETS AND BUDGETING, HOUSING AND REAL ESTATE

[Maedhros]

43. Agreed. A quick look at the Jeff Zientz wikipedia entry

doesn't show me a bunch of red flags (i.e. involvement with the Heritage Foundation or implication in scandals).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Zients

Apparently his wife's parents are friends with Nelson Mandela. Not that that really means anything.

There is also this:

Zients served as the Acting Director of OMB from July 2010 to November 2010 and again from January 2012 to April 2013. He led the Administration's preparations for dealing with the "fiscal cliff" in 2012, and "oversaw the administration's budget content and message, which are central to the president's argument that he has a balanced plan for the economy while Republicans would rip the country's social fabric and undermine the education and infrastructure needed to succeed economically....[Zients] is Obama's ambassador liaison with the CEOs on the President's Jobs Council. One CEO thought he was a Republican. Others have said they want him to run their companies one day."

[KoKo]

44. I did post his full WIKI above in this post..

I also feel that how Obama handled the financial crisis ignored the people who suffered what the Wall Street Bankers did that caused the 2007-08 Meltdown that we Taxpayers have suffered by bailing out the Bankers ever since. The Policies of Wall Street that we so hoped Obama would change in influence when we voted for him a second time...seem to be still there with new appointments in his Second Administration.

This is important for us Democrats to know. And, WHY in his Second Administration it's even more important to scrutinize who he appoints. The Financial Crisis of 2008 is still with us with low employment, elderly and other savers not getting any return on money they SAVE..while the Stock Market for the Wealthy Roars Back.

We were led to believe from our most Progressive Organizations that Obama "had to do what he had to do" after the MESS Bush II left us. We spent four years watching lack of prosecutions for the Wall Street Crowd under Eric Holder...while drug offenders went to jail and much else was ignored.

He has over three years left to Govern. We need to be checking and rechecking where he is taking us in the Second Term where we told he would concentrate on the American Public....for Jobs, Environment, Infrastructure and appointing people aligned with the Democratic party who weren't the "same old crowd" he relied on as a Young President in his first term...during a terrible crisis that was not his fault but the fault of Presidents before him going back to Deregulation started under Reagan (with a big under Carter)..

WE WANTED CHANGE...WE COULD BELIEVE IN.

Presidential Appointments should and need to be scrutinized by politically aware voters.

[liberal_at_heart]

22. Business as usual. Disgusting.

[cali]

24. sorry, but many of the responses in this thread just look like

mindless kneejerking.

do you know anything about this guy?

[KoKo]

29. Here's his WIKI.... An interesting read.

WIKIPEDIA:

Jeffrey "Jeff" D. Zients (born November 12, 1966) is an American CEO, management consultant and entrepreneur. On January 17, 2012, he was named acting director of the Office of Management and Budget and assumed office on January 27, 2012, his second turn as acting director, a position he held until April 24, 2013. In 2009, President Obama appointed him to the new position of United States Chief Performance Officer and was Zients was confirmed by the Senate to be Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget in the federal government of the United States.[1] Zients left the Office of Managment in Budget in April 2013.

Early years

Zients was raised in an Jewish family[2] and is a native of Kensington, Maryland,[3] and lives in the Washington, D.C. area.[4] He graduated in 1984 from St. Albans School and earned a Bachelor of Science degree, summa cum laude[5] from Duke University. Zients worked in management consulting for Mercer Management Consulting and Bain & Company until his appointment as chief operating officer of DGB Enterprises, a holding company for the Advisory Board Company, Corporate Executive Board and Atlantic Media Company.[5]

Zients was the chairman (2001–2004), chief executive officer (1998–2000), and chief operating officer (1996–1998) of the Advisory Board Company and former chairman (2000–2001) of the Corporate Executive Board.[6] Both companies were founded by David G. Bradley and provide research and advice to corporations around the globe on best practices in management, strategy and operations. Zients and Bradley took each of the companies public through successful initial public offerings that made both men multimillionaires.[4][7] At age 35, Zients was named to Fortune Magazine's "40 under 40" with an estimated wealth of $149 million.[8]

Zients also cofounded the Urban Alliance Foundation.

Later years

Zients founded[9] and was the managing partner of privately held Portfolio Logic LLC, an investment firm primarily focused on business services companies,[10] that included Best Practices (Emergency Services management), Timbuk2 Designs (a retailer of backpacks, apparel and messenger bags) and Pediatrics Services of America. He was a member of the board of directors of XM Satellite Radio until its 2008 merger, and[6][11] a board member at Sirius XM Radio until his Senate confirmation. [12] [13] Zients had also served on the boards of Revolution Health Group, Best Practices and Timbuk2 Designs.[7][9][11][14]

Baseball

In 2005, he worked to bring Major League Baseball back to Washington with venture capitalist Fred Malek forming the Washington Baseball Club, one of eight[15] or nine groups vying to buy the Washington Nationals.[16] The club included Colin Powell, AOL founding CEO James Kinsey, attorney Vernon Jordan, Darrell Green formerly of the Washington Redskins, Fannie Mae chairman Franklin Raines[3][16] and others.[3] Malek was going to be the managing partner for the first three years when Zients would take over.[15] They came close to owning the team[15] but lost to another group led by the Lerner family.[6]
Chief Performance Officer and Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget (DDM)

Zients has twenty years business experience[1] and specializes in advising companies on business practices.[9] According to Obama, his assignment was to help “streamline processes, cut costs, and find best practices throughout" the U.S. government.[1] Zients replaced Nancy Killefer who withdrew from her nomination to this position in February 2009 to avoid controversy about her personal income taxes.[17] His nomination was approved by the full Senate after a hearing on June 10, 2009, by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee who voted unanimously to approve him.[18][19]

As the Chief Performance Officer, Zients leads the Obama Administration's "Accountable Government Initiative". Zients outlined the Initiative in a memo to the government's Senior Executive Service in the fall of 2010.[20] One primary area of focus is reforming how the government buys and manages information technology. To bring outside expertise into government, Zients organized a Forum on Modernizing Government at the White House in January 2010 that brought 50 private sector CEOs together with senior government managers and CIOs to discuss best practices in large-scale IT project management.[21] This session informed subsequent actions, including ordering a halt on all major government financial system projects until a review was completed to eliminate long-standing problems, reduce costs and accelerate the delivery of functionality to end users.[22] In November 2010, Zients announced an execution plan for overcoming the long-standing structural challenges that plague government IT.[23]

In his role as DDM, Zients established and chaired the President’s Management Council [24] and oversaw the "Management" side of the Office of Management and Budget.
Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget

Zients served as the Acting Director of OMB from July 2010 to November 2010 and again from January 2012 to April 2013. He led the Administration's preparations for dealing with the "fiscal cliff" in 2012, and "oversaw the administration's budget content and message, which are central to the president's argument that he has a balanced plan for the economy while Republicans would rip the country's social fabric and undermine the education and infrastructure needed to succeed economically....[Zients] is Obama's ambassador liaison with the CEOs on thePresident's Jobs Council. One CEO thought he was a Republican. Others have said they want him to run their companies one day."[12]
Personal life

While working at Bain, Zients reported to South African Mary Menell, four years his senior. They later were married in South Africa with Menell’s parents’ friend Nelson Mandela in attendance.[25] They have four children Sasha, Matt, Josh and Jonny.[26] The Zients are members of the Washington Hebrew Congregation.[27][28][29]

[Enrique]

32. he is the best person for the job

Because Obama.

[treestar]

33. So everyone who ever worked at Bain is evil?

Really?

Why limit it to Bain? Why not include just about every major corporation we know of? We could eliminate just about everyone with an economics degree for public employment.

[whistler162]

36. or lives within 1 mile of a Republican

or went to school, any grade, with a Republican!

Ve must have purity!

[lark]

35. Think I'm just about done.

I can't take it anymore when Hope and Change morphs into hiring Romney Jr. Obama, you are the biggest disappointment of my lifetime. You are not a Dem, you are a Trojan Horse foisted on us by the MIC/Wall St./big oil conglomerates. The TPP just proves how anti-American worker you truly are. Disgusting!!!

[karynnj]

37. He was born in November 1966 - meaning that he likely graduated college in 1988

This was his first job out of college - and he stayed no more than 2 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Zients

Here is his biography - he sounds like an interesting guy.

[lastlib]

41. I'm beginning to think that maybe we elected Romney after all.....

(...the black Romney without quite so much money................)

. .

[Owl]

48. FFS!

[woo me with science]

49. kick

[woo me with science]

50. kick

[indepat]

51. Closing the huge divide between the 1% and the 99% one appointment at a time.

Tempering burgeoning income inequality one appointment at a time. Ripping apart the tentacles of corporate welfare and welfare for the uber-wealthy one appointment at a time. Restoring a government of the people, by the people, and for the people one appointment at a time. Returning to the promote the general welfare doctrine one appointment at a time.