Wash. Times forwarded false GOP suggestion that Bush administration played no role in AIG bonus controversy

Summary: A Washington Times article reported GOP criticism of Democrats over the AIG bonus issue and quoted a Republican strategist asserting: "This is not something [Democrats] can point to George Bush. ... They own the issue of giving bonuses to the AIG executives." But the article did not note that $53 million in AIG bonuses that the article mentioned were reportedly paid out under the Bush administration, or that a Bush-appointed special inspector general for TARP has stated that the Bush Treasury Department knew about the AIG bonus contracts and did not insist on their abrogation as a condition of AIG's receiving bailout money.

In a March 23 article about the GOP's strategy to use "furor" over AIG bonuses to boost its congressional election chances in 2010, The Washington Times' Sean Lengell reported that "the Connecticut attorney general said AIG papers showed that the company paid out $218 million in bonuses -- $53 million more than had been disclosed previously." Lengell went on to report that "[t]he blame, Republicans say, rests squarely with the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress for including a provision in the $787 billion economic-stimulus package last month that allowed AIG executives to receive their bonus checks" and quoted Republican strategist Dave Winston asserting of Democrats: "This is their action. This is not something they can point to George Bush. ... They own the issue of giving bonuses to the AIG executives." At no point did Lengell note that the $53 million in bonuses to AIG that the article mentioned were reportedly paid out in December under the Bush administration, or that Neil Barofsky, a Bush-appointed special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), stated in March 19 congressional testimony that the Bush administration Treasury Department knew about the AIG bonus contracts and did not insist on their abrogation as a condition of AIG's receiving bailout money.

According to a Media Matters for America search*, the Times has yet to report Barofsky's statement that the issue of whether to disallow AIG executive bonuses was specifically considered by the Bush Treasury Department, which ultimately gave $40 billion to AIG pursuant to a November 2008 stock purchase agreement without requiring that AIG withhold those bonuses as a condition of receiving the federal aid. Many other media outlets have also ignored Barofsky's testimony.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200903230017?f=h_latest