President Obama’s nominee for deputy secretary of state has earned more than $8 million in salary and bonuses since January 2009 as an executive at a Wall Street bank that received a federal bailout.
Thomas R. Nides, a six-figure fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton during her 2008 presidential run, disclosed his compensation from Morgan Stanley in a recent filing with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.
Mr. Nides, the company’s chief operating officer, also said he remains eligible for additional bonus money at Morgan Stanley, which repaid its share of the federal bailout last year.
As deputy secretary of state for management and resources, Mr. Nides would replace Jacob Lew, who is awaiting confirmation as Mr. Obama’s federal budget chief and whose own nearly $1 million bonus at bailed-out banking giant Citigroup last year came under scrutiny.
The powerful position is one of two deputy secretary slots at the State Department, a post described on the department’s website as chief operating officer and “alter ego” to Mrs. Clinton, the secretary of state.
Mr. Nides told ethics regulators that he could receive a prorated bonus from the company based on his work there this year. He will remain with the firm during the Senate confirmation process, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing. Morgan Stanley did not return telephone and e-mail messages seeking comment.
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said that like all nominees, Mr. Nides will be subject to ethics restrictions barring his participation for two years in particular matters involving his former employer.
Full Story: Wall Street mogul picked for State Department post – Washington Times
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