Treasury Blacks Out Key Parts of Private Bailout Contracts

Remember how Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson promised full transparency in spending the $700 billion bailout money? And remember how bailout opponents predicted that the failure to mandate such transparency would allow all sorts of Halliburton-style shenanigans? From the looks of the first private contracts issued by the Treasury Department, it looks like the bailout opponents were correct.

As flagged by BailoutSleuth.com, Paulson is blacking out the sections of government contracts that spell out how much private firms will be paid for their services in administering taxpayer money. Here's a page from the compensation part of a contract with Bank of New York, which has been hired to do some of the bookkeeping (because, of course, the Bush administration is happy to privatize that function):

And here's a page from the compensation part of a Treasury contract with law firm Simpson Thatcher Bartlett - a firm being hired to provide "legal advice" to the government:

Think these are doctored images? Check them out yourself on Treasury's website - the first contract is here (blacked out section on page 25 of the PDF) and the second contract is here (blacked out section on page 5 of the PDF).

So, just to review - within just a few weeks of the bailout passing, our government is blacking out the parts of public contracts that explain how much taxpayer cash private contractors are going to be paid. Perhaps this is what Paulson meant when he promised transparency - by posting these blacked out contracts on the Treasury website, the government is being transparent about exactly where it is being secretive. But I don't think that definition of transparency really flies, do you?

Of course, I wish I was surprised about this - but one of the major reasons I was opposed to this bailout from the beginning was because (as I and others repeatedly wrote) there is no real transparency at all. Now we know what "no transparency at all" really means.

Comments

[DrPaulProteus]

UNACCEPTABLE

[TRYKER]

Thanks again David.

[brewsedornge]

And when do they come out with the truth?

[brewsedornge]

The concepts that are flying across the room are IMPOSSIBLE to comprehend. The private markets thought they were undergoing private reporting. The constant peering into the lives of top officials was and perhaps remains a great remedy for those working on main street USA. The people don't know how to approach Senators with the issues since the deep seated emotions regarding the economy fluctuate drastically moment to moment. Is it better for the average household of america to avoid tapping into what inspires them most?

[reunionpi]

Henry Paulson and Goldman Sachs:

Scattered from California to New York: The judgments from the Department of Labor, tax liens against 401-K plans, state tax liens, mechanics lien, judgments from other companies

webofdeception.com

[sunny123]

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I am furious, I am angry and I am sending this to everyone on my e-mail list. This is just wrong. Someone needs to step in and end this now, before it gets too far.

Who should we call or e-mail to let them know that this is unacceptable? Any ideas?

Again, thanks for bringing this to our attention. Thank you Huffington Post and please lets get this out to everyone.