Penny Pritzker: Obama's Campaign Finance Chair and Pioneer in Subprime Loans

Well, well, well... Obama's subprime mortgage tenticles just keep growing.

Following taken from this site: http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/obamas-finance-chair-failed-bank-owner-penny-pritzker-and-wall-street-today/

Let's take a look at Ms. Pritzker:

We all know that Barack Obama hangs out with some interesting people and Penny Pritzker is no exception. I thought you might like to know more about Penny Pritzker and the closing of Superior Bank, which was owned by the Pritzker family.

The Pritzkers are one of the nation’s wealthiest families and heirs to the fortune created by the Hyatt hotels. Yes, Penny is a billionaire.

Among their other endeavors, the Pritzkers were the owners of Superior Bank in Hinsdale, Illinois when it was SEIZED.

Penny Pritzker, Barack Obama’s great Chicago (of course!) friend was a pioneer you might say! She was a failed subprime lender who set the tone all the way back to 2001. She did it before it was even in style.

At the time of this seizure, it was determined that Penny Pritzker and her family owed $460,000,000 to the Federal Government. Yes, that’s right folks. Nearly a half a billion dollars. Gee, i wonder if that’s all paid back yet, don’t you?

I posted about her yesterday, glad others are picking it up. She’s patient zero in the subprime mortgage business

Rush just mentioned that Penny Pritzker is hosting a reception at the Grand Hyatt in New York(she is an heir to the Hyatt empire) for Ackmiediwhackjob of Iran.

Nothing to see here, move along.

Hey, did you hear that McCain is in bed with Big [insert capitalist]?

O’Reilly had a very interesting segment on last night with a Chicago democrat, * Rautbord, forget first name. She named a lot of the monied women behind the scenes who support Obama. Bettylu Saltzman and Penny Pritzker were among them. This Ms. Rautbord introduced Soros to Obama. She also said that the most influential person in Obama’s campaign is Michelle. I wondered why she was going public. Apparently, she still supports Obama.

I’ve always maintained that the roaring 90’s was a boom to the lying, cheating super rich and not much to ordinary workers....but gee, the MSM keep telling us how WELL we are all doing.....

ping!

of course she is a Bama supporter.....and the piece was just another little time slot that BOR could fit in to mention his love interest Bama a few more times....sickening...

Let's take a closer look at the Pritzkers:

Penny Pritzker From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Penny Pritzker Born 1959 Chicago, Illinois Occupation Executive, fundraiser

Penny Sue Pritzker (b. 1959) is an American business executive, and a member of the Pritzker family of Chicago, one of America's wealthiest families. She is currently Chair of Classic Residence by Hyatt, a chain of luxury senior living communities spread throughout the United States, and the national finance chair of Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

Biography Born in 1959, Pritzker is a granddaughter of Abram Nicholas Pritzker (1896–1986), founder of the Hyatt hotel chain, which grew dramatically under his son, Jay Pritzker (1922-1999), who is also her uncle. She attended Castilleja School[1] until 1977.[2] In 1981 she received a BA in Economics from Harvard University later earning a JD/MBA from Stanford University in 1984.[3] Penny lives in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago with her two teenage children and her husband, Dr. Bryan Traubert.

Career highlights 1987 – founded Classic Residence by Hyatt, now the market leader[citation needed] in luxury living for older adults. 1991 – named as Chair of Superior Bank of Chicago. Pritzker stepped down in 1994, but remained on the board until the thrift's collapse in July of 2001.

1991 – CEO of Pritzker Realty Group, overseeing all of the family’s non-hotel real estate investments. In this capacity she developed the Hyatt Center in downtown Chicago, the headquarters for Global Hyatt Corporation. 1998 – founded The Parking Spot, the fastest growing company in off-site airport parking management,[citation needed] with CEO Martin Nesbitt. She continues as chair. 2005 – became chair of TransUnion, a credit reporting agency.

Pritzker serves on the board of Global Hyatt Corporation. She was a board member and chair of the Governance Committee of the William Wrigley Jr. Co. from 1994 to 2005, a director of the Marmon Group from 2002 to 2008, and a director of LaSalle Bank Corporation, now a part of Bank of America, from 2004 to 2007.

With a net worth estimated at $2.8 billion[citation needed], Pritzker ranked 135th on the 2007 Forbes list of richest Americans.

Philanthropic activities Pritzker is very much involved in the reform of Chicago’s public education system. Currently she is vice chair[4][5] of the Chicago Public Education Fund, the successor organization to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.[6] She also chairs a Blue Ribbon Task Force for Chicago Public Schools entitled “Leading to Great Principals”, and is a founding member of the board of Young Women’s Leadership Charter School. Much of Pritzker’s philanthropy is directed to education as well. Through the Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation, Pritzker and her husband, Dr. Bryan Traubert, are funding three programs designed to create long term systemic changes that will benefit Chicago students but also can be extended nationally.

She has sat on Harvard's Board of Overseers since 2002, and currently co-chairs the President’s Advisory Committee on the Allston Initiative, the expansion of the Harvard campus. She also is a member of the Chicago 2016 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games and is chair of the Olympic Village subcommittee.

She is an honorary co-chair of the Children’s Memorial Hospital campaign to build a new $750 million facility. She is a member of the Real Estate Roundtable, and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. She is a life trustee and former Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, and is involved in other civic endeavors, including Chicago's Millennium Park.

Political involvements Pritzker contributed some $493,174[7] to numerous campaigns and political action committees since the 2000 election cycle. Among the recipients have been the presidential campaigns and exploratory committees, including those of George W. Bush, Joe Lieberman, Bill Bradley, Rudy Giulani, John McCain (2000), Al Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.[8]

She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[9]

Superior Bank involvement Pritzker became chairman of Hinsdale, Illinois-based Superior Bank of Chicagoin 1991. Her late uncle, Jay Pritzker, purchased a 50% stake in the bank in 1989 from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which had taken over the bank when it failed in the 1980s.[10] Under Pritzker's chairmanship, the bank "embarked on a business strategy of significant growth into subprime home mortgages," according to a 2002 report by the United States Treasury Department.[10] She stepped down from the chairmanship (a largely titular role) in 1994 but continued to serve on the board of the holding company, Coast to Coast. In the months leading up to the 2001 seizure, the Pritzker family tried to work out a major recapitalization plan to "once again restore Superior's leadership position in subprime lending."[10] In July 2001, FDIC seized the bank after the recapitalization could not be resolved. .[11][12] Subsequently, the Pritzker family reached an agreement with regulators to pay $460 million over 15 years toward the costs of the closure; these funds will go towards reducing the costs of the FDIC's losses and partially reimburse depositors with accounts in excess of FDIC insurance limits.[10] /archivesearch%3Fq%3Dracketeering%2Bpritzker%2Bsuperior%26btnG%3DSearch%26um%3D1 Primary Law - State & Federal Case Law and more at Loislaw][13][14][15]

Consumer advocates as well as government investigators have asserted Superior "engaged in unsound financial activities and predatory lending practices."[10] Responding to questions from the Wall Street Journal, Ms. Pritzker noted she had no ownership in the bank, either direct or indirect, and that the bank's reasons for failure "were complex. They include changes in accounting practices, auditing failures, reversals in regulatory positions and general economic conditions."[10] She said the bank complied with "fair lending laws" and ethical business practices.[10] Writing about the largest thrift failure in almost a decade, the FDIC in 2002 noted that the bank had paid out $200 million in dividends during a time of seemingly rising profits; in reality, these profits were a product of "flawed" accounting and masked operating losses.[10] Pritzker noted in turn that Superior's financial statements were found to be acceptable by regulators for many years before the failure.[10] A 2001 Business Week article described the bank's other half-owner, Alvin Dworman, as the more dominant partner in its operation as a result of agreements Jay Pritzker made early on.[11] Quoted in the New York Times about the failure of the bank, a Pritzker family friend observed Pritzker was trapped in a deal of her uncle's making: "Penny got sucked into this … This was really the legacy of Jay." [16]

http://www.penny-pritzker.com/

Side trivia for a Friday: Penny Pritzker has a relative (I think she’s a niece) who was born with the last name of Pritzker. She changed her last name and was a major teen star in Hollywood in the nineties. Who was it?

Don’t know. Who?

Penny Pritzker - Companies Below is a list of companies in which Penny Pritzker has a significant role:

Classic Residence by Hyatt: Ms. Pritzker is founder and chair of Classic Residence by Hyatt, the leader in luxury living for older adults. http://www.hyattclassic.com/

The Parking Spot: Ms. Pritzker is co-founder and chair of The Parking Spot, one of the fastest growing airport parking companies in the U.S. http://www.theparkingspot.com/

TransUnion: Ms. Pritzker is chair of TransUnion, a global leader in credit data information services. http://www.transunion.com/

Global Hyatt: Ms. Pritzker is a member of the board of Global Hyatt, one of the leading hoteliers in the world. http://www.hyatt.com/hyatt/index.jsp

Pritzker Realty Group: Ms. Pritzker is chair of Pritzker Realty. Hyatt Center, developed by Pritzker Realty, is an award-winning office building in Chicago's Loop. http://www.hyattcenterinfo.com/

Check out the list of politicians whose pockets she has lined:

http://www.newsmeat.com/billionaire_political_donations/Penny_Pritzker.php

I recall Obama saying (during the primaries) when he was asked some financial question that was above his pay grade, that he didn’t know everything and that he would hire people smarter than him on these issues.

Anyone have recall?

The Pritzkers Selling $1 billion Stake in Global Hyatt Corporation to Goldman Sachs
and Madrone Capital Partners, Affiliated with Wal-Mart Chairman Rob Walton

CHICAGO - August 29, 2007 - Tom Pritzker, Chairman of Global Hyatt Corporation, announced today that Madrone Capital Partners, a private investment firm affiliated with Rob Walton and his family, and entities affiliated with Goldman Sachs Capital Partners have agreed to invest a total of $1 billion to acquire equity securities in Global Hyatt Corporation. This investment represents a minority stake in the company and will be used primarily to provide liquidity to the Pritzker family interests that currently own Global Hyatt. Global Hyatt Corporation will be expanding the size of its Board of Directors to include the appointment of representatives from both investment groups. Greg Penner, a General Partner of Madrone Capital Partners, and Byron Trott, a Vice Chairman of Investment Banking, Goldman, Sachs & Co., will be joining the Board.
“In the three years since Global Hyatt was formed in 2005, we have been building our company into a broad based, world class participant in the hospitality industry,” said Tom Pritzker. “Consistent with previously announced plans, we are also in the process of restructuring our family’s holdings. As part of our strategic planning we considered opening up our shareholder base to an investor or investors who shared our vision and could facilitate the implementation of the company’s strategy. As we considered the criteria we would use, Rob Walton’s family interests and Goldman Sachs emerged as possessing the key attributes we sought: global awareness and presence, world-class reputation, long-term perspective and an ability to add value through ongoing engagement with the Board and management of the company.”

Pritzker continued, “The addition of these sophisticated investors with long-term horizons will allow us to further our restructuring efforts without affecting Global Hyatt’s financial capacity to grow and execute on our business plan. With this transaction, we believe we have served the interests of both the company and its shareholders. The addition of Greg and Byron to the Board provides us with individuals who bring relationships and know-how that fit squarely within our business model. While we have previously spoken about making Global Hyatt ‘public ready’ in all aspects of our reporting, controls, management and growth profile, we have no specific plans to access the public markets at this time.”

Specific details about the structure of the transaction are not being disclosed.

Rob Walton observed, “Global Hyatt has all of the ingredients necessary for long-term growth: a capable and dedicated group of associates, solid capital base, well-respected brands and a global footprint including a strong presence in the highest growth areas in the world.” Greg Penner, of Madrone Capital Partners, added, “Global Hyatt Corporation is an enduring business franchise with strong growth prospects. Our investment in Hyatt exemplifies our philosophy of investing with a long-term orientation and aligning with the very best people. The leadership team at Hyatt, led by Tom Pritzker and Mark Hoplamazian, embodies the high level of quality and integrity that we look for in our partners. We are pleased to embark on this relationship with the Global Hyatt team.”

“Global Hyatt is a premier global business that represents the best in what we look for in our prospective investments - an industry leading brand with global reach, superior growth prospects in its industry and a world class management team focused on building shareholder value,” said Richard A. Friedman, Chairman of Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. “Goldman Sachs has a long and successful history of partnering with families and management in closely-held enterprises to help achieve their strategic objectives. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Tom Pritzker, Mark Hoplamazian and the rest of the Hyatt team, and will commit the global resources of Goldman Sachs to support Hyatt in realizing its extraordinary growth prospects.”

Global Hyatt Corporation has announced a number of exciting changes in recent months, including a re-alignment of its organizational structure to be more customer-focused, strengthening the company’s senior management team with the appointment of new global leaders of Real Estate and Development and Human Resources, entrance into the select service segment with the launch of Hyatt Place™ and Hyatt Summerfield Suites™ and the introduction of a new full-service concept in casual luxury, Andaz™.

Global Hyatt has announced that it has more than 65 hotels in the full service pipeline opening over the next three years, including 16 in Greater China. Two Andaz brand properties are slated for New York and one for London, with others under discussion elsewhere in the world including Beijing. The company also continues to build on its reputation in North America with accelerated plans for both the Hyatt Summerfield Suites and Hyatt Place brands. Hyatt Summerfield Suites recently announced that it has ten new build hotels across the United States which will join the 30 Hyatt Summerfield Suites hotels that are and will be operating by year-end 2007. At the same time, Hyatt Place announced that, with the inclusion of 20 new build hotels, the total number of new build Hyatt Place projects under development is 50 hotels and its rapidly growing portfolio should reach 120 hotels nationwide by year-end 2007.

“These two new strong investors bring their own worldwide networks of contacts and business partners, which are a perfect complement to our existing global relationships. As Global Hyatt continues to take advantage of the growth of travel in new geographies while building on our strong brand reputation, we welcome the breadth of experience that our new partners bring to the organization,” added Mark Hoplamazian, President and CEO of Global Hyatt Corporation. “We are always looking for new ways to deliver more value to our associates, our guests and our owners, and other industries can provide us with best practices that are applicable to enhancing the Hyatt experience. Our new investors know what it takes to build strong successful businesses, and they can help us with our commitment to reinforce Hyatt’s reputation as the best in class throughout the world.”

About Madrone Capital Partners

Madrone Capital Partners, a private investment firm affiliated with Rob Walton and his family, invests with a concentrated, long-term philosophy. The firm is based in Menlo Park, California.

Greg Penner is a General Partner at Madrone Capital Partners. Prior to Madrone, Mr. Penner was a Senior Vice President at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Previously, he was a general partner of Peninsula Capital and financial analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Penner is a director of Baidu.com, 99Bill Corporation, and The Seiyu, Ltd. He received an M.B.A. from The Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.S. from Georgetown University.

About Goldman Sachs Capital Partners

Since 1986, Goldman Sachs has raised thirteen private equity and mezzanine investment funds aggregating $56 billion of capital commitments. GS Capital Partners is the private equity vehicle through which The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. conducts its privately negotiated corporate equity investment activities. GS Capital Partners is currently investing its GS Capital Partners VI fund. GS Capital Partners is a global private equity group with a focus on large, sophisticated business opportunities in which value can be created through leveraging the resources of Goldman Sachs.

Byron Trott is a Vice Chairman of Investment Banking for Goldman Sachs and is head of the company’s Chicago office and Midwest Region. He is also a member of the Investment Committee of the firm’s Principal Investment Area and Investment Banking Division’s Operating Committee. He is a Trustee of the University of Chicago and a Trustee of The Art Institute of Chicago, where he serves as the Chairman of the Investment Committee. Mr. Trott currently is an advisory director of Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company. He received an A.B. and M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

About Global Hyatt Corporation

Global Hyatt Corporation, one of the world’s premier hotel companies, offers today’s travelers over 735 hotels and resorts (over 136,000 rooms) in 44 countries. The company’s affiliates own, operate, manage and franchise Hyatt branded hotels and resorts under the Park Hyatt™, Grand Hyatt™, Hyatt Regency™, Hyatt Resorts™, Hyatt™, Hyatt Place™ and Hyatt Summerfield Suites™ brands. In April 2007, Hyatt launched its newest global brand, Andaz™. Global Hyatt Corporation is also the owner of Hyatt Vacation Ownership, Inc. operator of the Hyatt Vacation Club and fractional residential properties and U.S. Franchise Systems, Inc, which franchises Hawthorn Suites and Microtel Inns and Suites. From the U.S. and Canada, reservations for any Hyatt hotel worldwide may be obtained by calling 1-800-233-1234 or logging onto www.hyatt.com.

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Mr. Community Organizer did wonders with Federal money for low-cost housing.

Grim proving ground for Obama's housing policy
"About 99 of the units are vacant, many rendered uninhabitable by unfixed problems, such as collapsed roofs and fire damage. Mice scamper through the halls. Battered mailboxes hang open. Sewage backs up into kitchen sinks. In 2006, federal inspectors graded the condition of the complex an 11 on a 100-point scale - a score so bad the buildings now face demolition."

Explosive Video, Fannie Mae CEO calling Obama and the Dems the "Family" and "Conscience" of Fannie Mae

July 17, '08

Fannie, Freddie spent millions on lobbying
Raines, the company's former chief financial officer, Timothy Howard, and former controller Leanne Spencer were accused in a civil lawsuit of manipulating earnings over a six-year period at Fannie. Raines was appointed by Clinton, after serving as White House budget director under Clinton.
Raines' predecessor, former Fannie Mae chief James Johnson, is a prominent Democrat who was an adviser to 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and was selected by Obama to help vet his vice presidential prospects. But controversy over favorable loan deals he obtained with Countrywide Financial Corp., a bank seriously damaged by the mortgage meltdown decline, prompted him to abruptly resign that post in June.

From April '08

Former Fannie chief agrees to $24.7 million settlement
WASHINGTON — Former Fannie Mae chief Franklin Raines and two other top executives have agreed to a $31.4 million settlement with the government announced Friday over their roles in a 2004 accounting scandal.
Raines, former Fannie chief financial officer Timothy Howard and former controller Leanne Spencer were accused in a civil lawsuit in December 2006 with manipulating earnings over a six-year period at the company, the largest U.S. financer and guarantor of home mortgages.
Raines, a prominent Washington figure who was President Clinton's budget director, is relinquishing company stock options, proceeds from stock sales and other benefits. His part of the settlement is worth $24.7 million,
Tough Decision Coming August 28th '08
"Two members of Mr. Obama's political circle, James A. Johnson and Franklin D. Raines, are former chief executives of Fannie Mae."

The Pritzker family is one of America's wealthiest, and has been near the top of Forbes magazine's "America's Richest Families" list since the magazine began in 1982. The family is most famous for owning the Hyatt hotel chain, and the Marmon Group, a conglomerate of manufacturing and industrial service companies. Other holdings have included the Superior Bank of Chicago, the TransUnion Credit Bureau and the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. [edit] Members of the Pritzker Family Nicholas Pritzker (1871–1957), Jewish immigrant from Ukraine, father of the family of Pritzker Harry Pritzker (1893–1957), lawyer Abram Nicholas Pritzker (1896–1986) Jay Pritzker (1922–99), founder of Hyatt & philanthropist Nancy Pritzker (1948–72), suicide Thomas Pritzker (1950–), chief executive of Pritzker Organization holding company m. Margot Marshall 3 children John A. Pritzker (1953–) 3 children Daniel Pritzker (1959–), founder, guitarist and songwriter for the Chicago band Sonia Dada 5 children Jean (Gigi) Pritzker (1962–), filmmaker 3 children Robert Pritzker (1926–) James N. Pritzker (1950–), retired U.S. Army colonel, founder of the Pritzker Military Library 3 children Linda Pritzker (1953–), psychoanalyst, political activist 3 children Karen Pritzker (1958–) 4 children Matthew (1982–) Liesel Matthews (1984–), the stage name of actress Liesel Pritzker Donald Pritzker (1932–72) Penny Pritzker (1959–), current (2008) national finance chair of the Barack Obama presidential campaign. 2 children Anthony Pritzker (1961–) 6 children Jay Robert Pritzker (1965–), member of New World Ventures; national chairman for Citizens for Hillary in 2008. 2 children Jack Pritzker (1904–79), lawyer m. Rhoda Goldberg (1914–2007) Nicholas J. Pritzker (1944–), Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Hyatt Development Corporation 4 children Samuel Pritzker(1905-1990) Nathan Ptizker(1943-) Joshua Prizker(1986-) Michael Pritzker(1988-) Steven Pritzker Nicole Pritzker(1988-) Eleanor Ptitzker Legacy Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago Pritzker Architecture Prize Pritzker Military Library Pritzker Legal Research Center at Northwestern University School of Law Pritzker Institute of Biomedical Science and Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology Maybe this explains how Michelle O got her $300K/yr. gig at the U of Chicago...

http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2008/09/not-quite-ready-for-subprime-time.html

Thursday, September 18, 2008
Not Quite Ready for Subprime Time

by Baron Bodissey

As most of you know by now, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has been invited to speak at the UN in New York City later this month. Maybe we’ll get to see the famous halo this time! Keep your eye on the C-SPAN coverage during his oratory and see if you can make it out.

A certain select group of well-meaning progressives decided to take the opportunity of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s visit to host a gala event for him at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in NYC. The invitation list was supposed to be confidential and kept tightly-guarded, but word leaked out, alas, and copies of the invite have spread across the internet:

(snip)

Campaign advisers tied to lending crisis

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-04-02-subprime_N.htm

Campaign advisers tied to lending crisis
Updated 4/3/2008 12:20 AM

By Ken Dilanian, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — On the campaign trail, Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have proposed cracking down on the predatory lending that they say helped fuel the foreclosure crisis.
Both presidential candidates, however, rely on close advisers who had oversight roles at financial institutions that went bust because of subprime loans.

Clinton’s campaign manager, Maggie Williams, earned at least $175,000 serving from 2000-07 on the board of Long Island-based Delta Financial, which filed for bankruptcy last year after a history of high-cost loans to low-income borrowers, according to public records.

Obama’s national finance chairwoman, Penny Pritzker, was chairwoman of the board of a Chicago-area bank in 1993 when it adopted a subprime business strategy that regulators say ultimately led it to collapse in 2001.

Superior’s board and managers “ignored sound risk-management principles and failed to adequately oversee Superior’s operations,” the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) Inspector General concluded in 2002.

“Delta was one of the bad guys,” said Irv Ackelsberg, a legal aid lawyer in Philadelphia who represented subprime borrowers. A lawyer for Delta did not return calls.

“I joined the board because I ... understood that the subprime option, for all its challenges, was the only chance for many people to own a home,” Williams said.

Clinton told USA TODAY, “We all have friends, associates and staff members who have private sector involvement … I don’t see any connection at all between her prior employment and what I’m saying” about the loan debacle.

Superior, co-owned by Pritzker family trusts, began focusing on subprime loans in 1993, according to the FDIC Inspector General’s report. At the time, Pritzker was the board’s chair. She left the board in 1994 and continued as a director of the bank’s holding company. In 2002, the Pritzkers agreed to pay, through trusts, $460 million in a settlement with the government relieving them of liability.

“I regret that Superior Bank failed,” Pritzker told USA TODAY. “My family voluntarily agreed to pay the FDIC $460 million … without litigation or any allegation by federal regulators of wrongdoing. I am proud of how my family responded to this situation.”

Pritzker, a key player in Obama’s fundraising network since his 2004 Senate run, has helped him raise more than $190 million for the presidential race.

In a statement, the Obama campaign noted that Pritzker was not accused of wrongdoing, and said: “Sen. Obama believes that the current housing crisis was caused by lax regulation and a system that put the interests of corporations before the interests of homeowners and investors.”

A top economic adviser to Republican candidate John McCain, former senator Phil Gramm, also has ties to the subprime problems.

Gramm is vice chairman of UBS, which recently disclosed $19 billion in losses on investments in subprime mortgages. UBS, however, did not make subprime loans, UBS spokesman Doug Morris said.

Gramm, McCain’s general co-chairman, was traveling and unavailable for comment, Morris said.

Delta ‘never changed’

Williams, Clinton’s chief of staff when she was first lady, went into public relations after she left the White House in the 1997. In April 2000, she joined the Delta board.

In 1999, Delta paid $12 million to settle predatory lending allegations with New York state and the U.S. Justice Department, court records show. Consumer advocates say it continued to peddle high-interest loans. “Their practices never changed,” said Matthew Lee of Inner City Press, a New York watchdog group. “They continued to compensate brokers for making overly expensive loans.”

In 2006, Delta originated $4 billion in loans and earned a profit of nearly $30 million on revenue of $467 million, according to securities records. The average interest rate ranged from 10% to 12%, compared with a typical mortgage rate of 6%, federal bank records show.

In 2002, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission levied a $910,000 fine against a brokerage firm it found had been selling exploitative loans, some through Delta, in predominantly black Philadelphia neighborhoods. Four of the Delta loans had originated while Williams was on the board.

‘High-risk’ strategy

Superior started in 1988 when the Pritzkers and a partner purchased a failed savings and loan from the government. They received “cash, tax incentives and promissory notes” worth $645 million, according to federal documents reported by Crain’s Chicago Business.

In 2000 letter, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a watchdog group, raised concerns with federal bank regulators about certain subprime lenders, including Superior. The letter also raised concerns the bank may have been targeting minorities with unfavorable loans, noting that Superior made 16% of its mostly subprime loans to African-Americans in 1998, compared to a national average of 2.5%, according to federal data.

In 2001, regulators concluded Superior had undervalued its assets. The Pritzkers opted not to put up more capital, a decision that led to the bank’s collapse.

“Superior Bank suffered as a result of its former high-risk business strategy, which was focused on the generation of significant volumes of subprime mortgage and automobile loans for securitization and sale in the secondary market,” the Office of Thrift Supervision later said.

Government investigators found that the owners had been paid around $200 million in dividends. The bank’s 1,400 uninsured depositors, who had accounts larger than the $100,000 backed by the federal government, will have lost $10 million when the settlement is paid, said their lawyer, Clint Krislov. He argues that because of the dividends and tax benefits, the Pritzkers made millions. Pritzker lawyer Kevin Poorman disputes that: “We lost a large amount of money.”

Contributing: David J. Lynch in Pennsylvania

She has been backing Obama since AT LEAST 1999 http://www.newsmeat.com/billionaire_political_donations/Penny_Pritzker.php

SUGAR RAUTBORD ...she looks like she weighs 80 pounds, but it is 290 pounds of condensed plastic ... there is a whole click of social do-gooders that are Chicago’s Limosuine Liberals.