Politics

Former Senator Evan Bayh Joins Equity Firm

By Paul Blumenthal

Former Senator Evan Bayh is joining Apollo Global Management as a senior adviser with a role in public policy. Bayh joins a number of government officials who have moved on to jobs on Wall Street including former Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag, who recently joined Citigroup.

Apollo Global is a private equity firm with tens of billions in assets. The firm owns a stake in a number of major businesses including Harrah's Entertainment, AMC Entertainment, and Linen n Things. Apollo has also invested in the debt of major banks including purchasing, along with The Blackstone Group and TRG Capital, $12.5 billion in secured loans from Citigroup.

It is unknown whether Bayh, who will likely remain in Washington in his Apollo Global role, will register as a lobbyist. His job, a public policy adviser, is little different than a lobbying job. The former senator will likely provide strategic advice on policy decisions including leveraging his contacts in Congress and in the financial regulatory agencies that he oversaw in his role on the Senate Banking Committee, which including a chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Trade and Finance.

The finance, insurance, and real estate sector was by far the biggest contributing sector to former Sen. Bayh's campaigns. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the sector gave $4,338,047 to Bayh's campaigns since 1998.

The biggest donor to his campaign came from the finance sector as well. Since 1998, Bayh received $161,850 from employees and political committees affiliated with Goldman Sachs.

The New York Times suggests that the allure of Wall Street salaries may have helped bring Bayh to Apollo Global, "For a lifelong public servant like Mr. Bayh, a private-equity shop holds great appeal. U.S. senators earn a salary of $174,000 per year. Private-equity deal makers are among the most highly compensated executives on Wall Street."

While this may be the case, Bayh is by no means poor. In his most recent financial disclosure to Congress Bayh reported a net worth ranging between $1,299,022 to $3,039,000.

Full post as published by Sunlight Foundation on January 24, 2011 (boomark / email).