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January 26, 2007

NYT investigates conservative hedge fund manager

Ed Lasky
In a front-page article that ran on Jan.25th regarding hedge fund managers becoming involved in politics, the New York Times gave prominent coverage to Paul Singer whom it describes as a "private reserved man."  Clearly that was chum for the NYT sleuths who featured him prominently in the article, despite his desire to remainprivate. The article itself was brief, but a large part of it was taken up with an analysis of Singer's activities.

What did the article have to say about Singer?

Mr. Singer, 62, is the founding partner of Elliott Associates, a $7 billion hedge fund with a conservative, risk-averse bias that has been in business since 1977, making it one of the oldest funds around. A reserved, private man who would answer questions only via e-mail, Mr. Singer is a self-described conservative libertarian who has given millions of dollars to Republican organizations that emphasize a strong military and support Israel.

They include Progress for America ($1.5 million in contributions), a political advocacy group set up to advance the policies of the Bush administration; Swift Vets and P.O.W.'s for Truth; and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, which includes Vice President Dick Cheney and Richard N. Perle, an adviser to the former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, among its past and current advisory directors.

Mr. Singer, 62, is the founding partner of Elliott Associates, a $7 billion hedge fund with a conservative, risk-averse bias that has been in business since 1977, making it one of the oldest funds around. A reserved, private man who would answer questions only via e-mail, Mr. Singer is a self-described conservative libertarian who has given millions of dollars to Republican organizations that emphasize a strong military and support Israel.

They include Progress for America ($1.5 million in contributions), a political advocacy group set up to advance the policies of the Bush administration; Swift Vets and P.O.W.'s for Truth; and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, which includes Vice President Dick Cheney and Richard N. Perle, an adviser to the former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, among its past and current advisory directors.

Simply put:

A Wall Street Jewish financier who engages in arcane investment strategies (as they may appear to those uninvolved in the industry) gives heavily to Republican groups and the Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs which includes.....Dick Cheney and Richard Perle ("Darth Vader" to anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists) among its past and current advisory directors.

Not only does the New York Times neglect to mention that these types of "advisory" positions tend to be handed out for prestige reasons having little to do with the formulating of policies or the management of organizations, the article neglects going into any depth regarding George Soros, also a hedge fund manager much more involved than Mr. Singer and for whom there is a raft of information available regarding his political contributions, which dwarf those of Singer (and everyone else). Soros is also a vehement critic of Israel.  Last year, Soros also gave Wes Clark the largest single contribution he gave to a "candidate" in 2006.

I guess that Wesley Clark's charge of NY money controlling US foreign policy in the Middle East is fine with the Times.

"All the news fit to print"?

Posted at 04:16 PM | Email |

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