Thread: Obama Nominates Penny Pritzker for Commerce Secretary

Obama Nominates Penny Pritzker for Commerce Secretary

Hyatt heiress raised more than $1.3 million for Obama's two campaigns

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
May 2, 2013 10:21 am

President Barack Obama rewarded one of his most prolific fundraisers Thursday, announcing his nomination of Hyatt heiress Penny Pritzker to become the secretary of commerce.

“Penny understands that just as great companies strengthen the communities around them, strong communities of skilled workers also help companies thrive,” Obama said Thursday.

Pritzker is the chairman and chief executive officer of PSP Capital Partners, an investment firm, and its affiliate, Pritzker Reality Group. She has an estimated personal wealth of $1.85 billion.

Pritzker chaired the president’s 2008 finance team and delivered a haul of more than $1.3 million for Obama’s two campaigns, according to Open Secrets. A long-time Obama champion, Pritzker donated $13,000 to Obama’s campaigns prior to his presidential efforts. Pritzker also personally wrote a $250,000 check for the president’s inauguration this year.

The nomination is not a surprise. Pritzker was considered for the position in 2008, and resigned her position on the Chicago Board of Education last month, fueling increased speculation she would be Obama’s commerce pick.

Notably, Pritzker has had a number of flare-ups with unions last year, and in the past, told Obama in 2009 that she opposed legislation for union-backed card check.

Despite a less prominent campaign role in 2012, Pritzker served as a co-chair of the president’s campaign and flew on Air Force One last summer–the same day the largest national hospitality workers union announced a global boycott of Hyatt Hotels.

As a Chicago school board member, Pritzker was also a target last year of striking teachers. Thousands of teachers protested outside a Hyatt hotel during last year’s strike.

“We know Penny Pritzker has a long and storied history as an anti-labor and anti-worker kind of boss,” Chicago Teachers Union financial secretary Kristine Mayle told the Chicago Tribune last month. “Her policies adversely affect working families.

She has worked to close schools and destabilize neighborhoods, and we hope she does a better job in her new position, if she gets it.”

The commerce position has been vacant since former Secretary John Bryson resigned last year, following a car
accident

.http://freebeacon.com/obama-nominate...rce-secretary/

Pritzker Likely to Face Questions Over Subprime Lending, Offshore Trusts

Pritzker in 2001: 'Our commitment to subprime has never been stronger'

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff

May 6, 2013 10:26 am

Commerce secretary nominee Penny Pritzker could be looking at a difficult confirmation process over her financial background and her family’s asset management that includes subprime lending, offshore trusts, and a pioneering approach to tax code loopholes.

For instance, the Hyatt heiress served as chairwoman of Superior Bank, a pioneer in bundling subprime loans into securities that collapsed in 2001,the New York Times notes:

In the 1990s, Superior focused on subprime lending — high-interest loans that are marketed to people with shaky finances. It was a pioneer in bundling them into securities — selling some portions, while retaining riskier ones — a practice that later spread and led to the 2008 financial crisis.

Outside accountants signed off, allowing the owners to take cash out of the bank as dividends. But in 2001, regulators said that Superior was undercapitalized because it had overstated the value of the toxic assets on its balance sheet.

In a sign of the closeness of her own role, Ms. Pritzker wrote a letter assuring employees that its owners would save the bank, adding, “Our commitment to subprime has never been stronger.” But the deal fell through, and the bank was declared insolvent two months later.

Worth an estimated $1.85 billion, Pritzker withdrew her name during the president’s first term, as the financial crisis put pressure on assets she managed and her family restructured their finances. The Pritzker family has a history of advancing the use of offshore trusts to dodge the U.S. financial system, a practice that Pritzker conceded she is a “beneficiary” of in a 2008 interview with the Times.

The finances of Republican nominee Mitt Romney were a notable campaign issue for many Democrats in 2012.

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