OMB Nominee's Change Of Date OK For Bonus

President Obama's nominee to oversee the federal budget is amending his latest government ethics filing after misreporting the date he left his job at Citigroup Inc. - addressing questions about his eligibility for a nearly $1 million bonus weeks after the company was bailed out by taxpayers.

The timing of Jacob Lews departure from the Wall Street heavyweight last year and whether his bonus falls under the $1.6 billion of ill-advised payouts uncovered by former federal pay czar Kenneth Feinberg is likely to be a topic of his pending confirmation hearing by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Lawmakers from both parties have called for unsavory bonuses to be returned to federal coffers.

Mr. Lew, a deputy secretary at the Department of State, reported leaving his job as managing director at Citigroup on Jan. 5, 2009, according to a recent ethics filing. Ten days later, Citigroup, propped up by a massive federal bailout, paid Mr. Lew a bonus of $940,000.

Such a timeline, with Mr. Lew getting a bonus after he left the company, could have posed troublesome questions for Citigroup and Mr. Lew, who is Mr. Obama's nominee to replace Peter Orszag atop the White House Office of Management and Budget. Under Citigroup policy, only current employees are entitled to bonuses.

When questioned by The Washington Times about whether Mr. Lew received an exemption from the company's policy, administration officials said Mr. Lew left Citigroup on Jan. 16, 2009 - not 11 days earlier as he recently reported on his ethics form.

Kenneth Baer, a spokesman for the OMB, called the mistake a typographical error and said it is being corrected. He said Mr. Lew has fully disclosed his income to the Senate and to the public. He also said administration officials, while aware of his bonus, are focused on Mr. Lew's two decades of public service, including his work as OMB director for President Clinton.

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