Yikes! Twinkie maker execs gave themselves huge raises, then went bankrupt

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Thursday April 05, 2012 · 1:30 PM PDT

2012/04/05 · 13:30

The looting of Hostess brands by its top executives is an object lesson in how CEO pay harms the 99 percent and kills the U.S. economy.

Dow Jones had the scoop yesterday: The troubled Twinkie maker's executives gave themselves big raises before seeking bankruptcy protection. Reports the news service,

Unsecured creditors suspect that Hostess Brands Inc. may have "manipulated" its executives' pay--sending its former chief executive's salary, in particular, skyrocketing- in the months leading up to its Chapter 11 filing, in an effort to dodge the Bankruptcy Code's compensation requirements, according to a redacted court filing reviewed by Dow Jones.
The official committee representing Hostess's unsecured creditors wants to launch a formal investigation in the bankruptcy case, hoping to dig deeper into the bakery company's senior executive compensation. The information the group has already gathered suggests "the possibility" that the company converted a chunk of its top executives' pay from performance-based bonuses to guaranteed salary, "at least in part to sidestep" rules designed to ensure that companies in bankruptcy aren't enticing their employees to stay on board with the promise of cash.

The Teamsters are understandably furious. Hostess' top managers demanded 7,500 Teamster employees accept drastic wage and benefit cuts after they raised their own pay by as much as 300 percent. Read More

Teamsters Call Out Rick Scott for Paying To Play With Florida Prisons

LeslieLand

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Friday September 16, 2011 · 2:14 PM PDT

2011/09/16 · 14:14

Sometimes corruption can become so systemic that it's no longer viewed as corruption.

Take the lobbying group funded by Koch Industries and other predatory corporations. Called ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), it successfully masquerades as a "non-partisan, individual public-private membership association of state legislators." ALEC is really a wrecking ball trying to destroy whatever part of the government its members can't loot.

Only in a world of rampant corruption could a group like ALEC draft a resolution and call it a "model" when it enshrines corporations' pay-to-play rights -- rights to no-bid government contracts, political appointments, special access and influence over lawmaking. And only in a world where we've become oblivious to corruption would it even be possible to present such a "model resolution" as a "resolution in opposition to pay-to-play legislation."

LeslieLand

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday July 12, 2011 · 2:14 PM PDT

2011/07/12 · 14:14

(Reposted from TeamsterNation.)
This is rich. The woman who heads Wisconsin Right to Life told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the robocalls we've been hearing about in today's recall primary were aimed at informing "friends and supporters" of the organization. They were supposed to encourage people to vote in the upcoming recalls (not today's primary), Lyons said. She denies they were calls to suppress the vote.

We think she's lying. We also think the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is too dumb (or biased) to catch her in the lie.

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Yikes! Twinkie maker execs gave themselves huge raises, then went bankrupt

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