I very much hope my legacy will be that I restored a great institution to an even greater position in the world

Despite $11 billion in losses and 30,000 lay-offs , Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain is reportedly seeking a $10 million bonus, prompting New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to reach out to the firm's board of directors urging them not to grant the "shocking" payment to Thain in light of the firm's "abysmal" performance.
Merrill CEO, John Thain, Faces Fight for $10 Million Bonus
Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain is reportedly seeking a $10 million bonus despite $11 billion in losses and 30,000 lay-offs.

Cuomo's office fired off a letter to Merrill's board this morning after the Wall Street Journal reported that Thain has suggested to the board of the financial giant that he should be awarded a bonus during a year in which 30,000 Merrill employees were laid off.

Cuomo reminded Merrill that it had informed his office on November 5th that any bonus would be based on performance and executive retention needs.

By that measure, Cuomo said, "utilizing Merrill's own criteria, a bonus of this size appears unjustified."

Thain joined Merrill as CEO in 2007 when the firm was already in trouble and received a $15 million signing bonus before he began a top-to-bottom review of the company. His salary is $750,000 a year.

Merrill has managed to stay afloat through the banking industry crisis in a large part because of the merger Thain engineered with Bank of America, according to attorneys who have examined the firm's financials. The merger was approved last week by shareholders for both institutions.

But a key underpinning of the deal is the $15 billion in public funds that the Treasury Department provided BofA and $10 billion offered to Merrill that it is expected to accept once the merger with BofA is completed. As such, any bonus to the firm's CEO would be "a thumb in the eye" of taxpayers, Cuomo said.

"In terms of performance, Merrill has reported losses for every quarter this year and has lost more than $11 billion for the year as a whole. Indeed, Merrill's decision to be taken over by Bank of America seems to have been the only thing that saved Merrill from collapse," Cuomo said. "Clearly, the performance of Merrill's top executives throughout Merrill's abysmal year in no way justifies significant bonuses for its top executives, including the CEO."

House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) issued a memo late Sunday insisting that the victory of Anh "Joseph" Cao over Jefferson is a sign that the tide is turning for Republicans.

"The Cao victory is a symbol of our future," wrote Boehner. "In the two years ahead, House Republicans will demonstrate our commitment to reform by holding ourselves to the highest possible ethical standard...[and] presenting principled, superior solutions to the challenges facing our country."

In that vein, the Boehner memo sought to highlight the ongoing ethics questions surrounding New York Rep. Charlie Rangel -- evidence that Republicans will seek to use Rangel's problems as a cudgel against House Democrats in the coming months.

The Louisiana Republican Party issued their own release in the wake of the Cao victory (in keeping with the idea that success has a thousand fathers but failure is an orphan), claiming that the wins on Saturday were a validation of the reform agenda of Louisiana Governor -- and potential 2012 presidential candidate -- Bobby Jindal.

"The voters spoke and their resounding choice for reforming government, ending corruption, and reining in spending -- all championed in Governor Jindal's own campaign -- won," said communications director Aaron Baer.

[...]

"While I don't think these victories mean that the GOP has miraculously fixed everything that is currently broken, I do think that they are really positive data points," said Alex Vogel, a prominent Republican strategist. "Just like the Democrats took advance comfort from the special elections they won leading up to the 2008 elections, we should certainly view these overtime wins as a sign that the sun is rising again."