Change you can believe in -- if you're an investment bank

The accursed power which stands on Privilege
(And goes with Women, and Champagne, and Bridge)
Broke -- and Democracy resumed her reign
(Which goes with Bridge, and Women, and Champagne).

-- Hilaire Belloc, "On a General Election."

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Goldman Sachs Hires Former Frank Aide to Run Washington Office

By Chris Frates
Politico.com, Arlington, Virginia
Thursday, April 23, 2009

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21602.html

Goldman Sachs is finalizing a deal to hire Michael Paese to head its Washington office, according to lobbying and company insiders.

Paese, now the executive vice president of global advocacy for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, is viewed as "the capstone in an effort to reformulate the Washington office," said a company insider.

Paese is a big-name Democrat with deep industry ties and an inside Washington game who had worked for House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass.

Paese would replace Ann Costello, a Republican who recently announced she's leaving Goldman to run Bank of New York Mellon Corp.'s global government relations. Mark Patterson, who partnered with Costello to run the office before leaving last year to advise Barack Obama's presidential campaign, is now Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's chief of staff.

Paese would join Goldman after a career that has spanned government and the financial services industry. He was executive vice president of Mercantile Bankshares Corp. and worked in various roles at ­JPMorgan Chase and the House Financial Services Committee.

"Michael, in a very short time frame, has significantly increased the profile of SIFMA in Washington, made them incredibly effective in a very tough time in the industry," said the Goldman insider.

A Goldman spokeswoman declined comment, and Paese did not respond to requests for comment.

He'll join a Washington office filled with recent additions. Last summer Goldman picked up Republican Todd Malan, who was president of a trade association representing foreign companies' U.S. subsidiaries, and Democrat Ken Connolly, a veteran of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee who was at the law firm Mintz Levin.

"This is a very conscious, long-term effort that is very deliberate and is intended to address this two-pronged need of understanding the political process and understanding our business," said the Goldman insider.

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