Cash For Cronies
Sen. Daniel Inouye, whose suits don’t normally come complete with green vine attached, deserves some recognition for one or two things.
One being his status as Senator-for-Life for Hawaii, having represented HI in Congress without interruption since it achieved statehood in 1959 (!) and two being his decades long history as a sex pest.
He’s now finally achieved his third noteworthy accomplishment: extremely shady dealings involving bailout money and a Hawaii bank.
The bank in question, to be a little more specific, is Central Pacific Financial. And here’s where it gets good: its primary regulator, the FDIC, had already decided that it didn’t meet the criteria for receiving Treasury Department assistance, before Dan’s staff stepped it, contacting federal regulators about Central Pacific’s application for funds.
Two weeks after the inquiry from Inouye’s office, Central Pacific announced that the Treasury would inject $135 million into its coffers.
Maybe Dan did this for entirely altruistic reasons. And maybe he did it because he was one of the bank’s founders and had invested the bulk of his personal wealth there.
Ladies and gentlemen, the choice is yours.
on 
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July 1st, 2009 at 12:15
The only thing that could ameliorate this feeling of resentment I get when I see this crap is that Inouye was a member of the 442 Regimental Combat Team and served his country heroically during the ETO in WWII, winning a purple heart, bronze star, and a DSC (later upgraded to a CMH)..
..but that is about to run out.
Maybe ol’ Dan should retire and enjoy his Pau Hana years.
July 1st, 2009 at 12:19
Войска ПВО, I’m with you (kinda). I do have respect for someone with such a courageous war record.
But, then again, that just means – in my eyes – that he should be engaging in this type of behavior all the less…
July 1st, 2009 at 15:23
..absolutely correct.
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:16
That’s no excuse for big spending.
And why is he not more on the record for protecting our Constitution? Or lowering taxes? A balanced budget? “Drill here, Drill now, Pay less”… to make America energy indepenndent?
With 50 years in the Senate, more leadership, statesmanhip and solid example setting would be another great gift and demonstration to the younger members who lack the knowledge, experience and love for country to be there in the first place!
Yeah, I love him. But don’t take up space if you can’t or won’t give your best and do what is right for the nation and “We the People”.
That’s what produced the mess we are in today.
In short, be an American first, and a proud one, an extraordinary one! That’s better than being an everyday, ordinary politician.
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:28
Bill, I’m with you all the way. If he’d put his mind to it, half a century is time enough to achieve anything.
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:29
Actually, having thought about it a little more, it’s probably better that he didn’t concentrate his efforts. Lord only know what might’ve happened then…
January 29th, 2010 at 12:00
This is exactly the problem with our government. They are a soft touch. THe banking system needs a complete reform, the reason we are in this mess is because of the bonus based culture that insititutions operated. What changes do we see? Well the B of A recently recruited their CEO internally (not much reform here then.) andbonuses are still being paid but now WE are paying for them through our taxes. Now we have to deal with bent congressman too.