Lawsuit dogs Bowles' Senate bid:
As former White House Chief of Staff Erskine B. Bowles makes his second run for a North Carolina Senate seat, he faces a $120 million lawsuit from the state of Connecticut for bad investments made while a top official at the Forstmann Little investment firm.
Mr. Bowles, who had been general partner at the New York firm making $4 million per year, is among nine top officials at Forstmann Little who are named in the Connecticut court case, which begins with jury selection this week.
It seems that while ole Erskie was hauling down his $4M, the Connecticut pensioners were losing beaucoup bucks. But here's a puzzle:
Ever since the suit was filed in March 2002, politics has dominated the case.
When it was first filed by Connecticut's Democratic state treasurer and attorney general, one name from Forstmann Little's masthead was conspicuously absent: Mr. Bowles, who was busy down in North Carolina running for the Senate seat being vacated by former Sen. Jesse Helms. It was a crucial race in which the control of the Senate was at stake.
Only after complaints were raised in the media was Mr. Bowles' name added to the suit. Connecticut state officials said "other evidence" arose, requiring the inclusion of Mr. Bowles and another company official in the lawsuit.
Funny how that worked out!
