I received this via e-mail from a friend. I could not, as a fair and balanced (and relatively unbiased reporter), let this go un-answered. The following is and excerpt from that e-mail.

3 Men who brought down Wall Street....................

Here is a quick look into 3 former Fannie Mae executives who have brought down Wall Street.

1. Franklin Raines: Was a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Fannie Mae. Raines was forced to retire from his position with Fannie Mae when auditing discovered that there were severe irregularities in Fannie Mae's accounting activities. At the time of his departure The Wall Street Journal noted, 'Raines, who long defended the company's accounting despite mounting evidence that it wasn't proper, issued a statement late Tuesday conceding that 'mistakes were made' and stating he would assume responsibility as he had earlier promised. News reports indicate the company was under growing pressure from regulators to shake up its management in the wake of findings that the company's books ran afoul of generally accepted accounting principles for four years.' Fannie Mae had to reduce its surplus by $9 billion. Raines left with a 'golden parachute valued at $240 Million in benefits. The Government filed suit against Raines when the depth of the accounting scandal became clear. The Government noted, 'The 101 charges reveal how the individuals improperly manipulated earnings to maximize their bonuses, while knowingly neglecting accounting systems and internal controls, misapplying over twenty accounting principles and misleading the regulator and the public. The Notice explains how they submitted six years of misleading and inaccurate accounting statements and inaccurate capital reports that enabled them to grow Fannie Mae in an unsafe and unsound manner.' These charges were made in 2006. The Court ordered Raines to return $50 Million Dollars he received in bonuses based on the mis-stated Fannie Mae profits.

2. Tim Howard: Was the Chief Financial Officer of Fannie Mae. Howard 'was a strong internal proponent of using accounting strategies that would ensure a 'stable pattern of earnings' at Fannie Mae.' In layman's terms, he was the one cooking the books for the company. The Government Investigation determined that,'Chief Financial Officer, Tim Howard, failed to provide adequate oversight to key control and reporting functions within Fannie Mae.' On June 16, 2006, Rep. Richard Baker, R-La ., asked the Justice Department to investigate his allegations that two former Fannie Mae executives lied to Congress in October 2004 when they denied manipulating the mortgage-finance giant's income statement to achieve management pay bonuses. Investigations by federal regulators and the company's board of directors since concluded that management did manipulate 1998 earnings to trigger bonuses. Raines and Howard resigned under pressure in late 2004. Howard's Golden Parachute was estimated at $20 Million!

3. Jim Johnson: A former executive at Lehman Brothers who was later forced from his position as CEO of Fannie Mae. If you were to look at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's May 2006 report on mismanagement and corruption inside Fannie Mae, you'll see some interesting things about Johnson. Investigators found that Fannie Mae had hidden a substantial amount of Johnson's 1998 compensation from the public. They reported that it was somewhere between $6 million and $7 million when it fact it was around $21 million. Johnson is currently under investigation for taking illegal loans from Countrywide while serving as CEO of Fannie Mae. Johnson's Golden Parachute was estimated around $28 Million.

SO, WHERE ARE THEY NOW... This is the part that is fair and balanced. It took some research to actually get any information regarding the current work, positions and connections that any of these three may have had with Sen. Barack Obama, if they had any connection at all.

FRANKLIN RAINES: It has been widely reported that Raines works for the Obama Campaign as Chief Economic Adviser. Though Raines and Obama's campaign have gone to great lengths to dispute this, Raines reported to the Washington Post that he had "taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters." The quote comes from Washington Post reporter Anita Huslin. FactCheck.org author, Michael Dobbs states the article written by Huslin in the Washington Post "exaggerates the the relationship."

TIM HOWARD: Howard, reportedly a Chief Economic Adviser to Obama's presidential campaign, has never worked in any capacity for Sen. Obama.

JIM JOHNSON: Johnson hired as a Senior Obama Finance Advisor and was selected to "run" Obama's Vice Presidential Search Committee. Obama campaign spokesperson, Tommy Vietor quickly points out when questioned on this subject that, Howard did sit on the search commitee, though he did not "run" it. He further states that Howard resigned almost a week after he was appointed to the committee amid concerns for his relationship with CountryWide surfaced. Howard was never appointed to a financial adviser position with Obama's campaign in any capacity.

Although the statements concerning these three knuckleheads is true when it comes to how they screwed the US economy, none of them had any connection to Obama. I don't think Obama is the best presidential candidate, nor do I think that he has the neccessary experience to run this country, but I do believe that the bias of this country's media is a big concern. As citizens we can question the relationshipships that Obama has with others, Ayers, Alinsky and Wright. We don't have to go and fabricate new stories, when there are more than enough true ones out there to investigate. Obama just has to come clean and quit dodging the questions.

Jordan Fleck