WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers fired another volley of criticism this week at the Clinton administration on its nominees to run the Resolution Trust Corp.
The administration - already under fire from Senate Banking Committee Chairman Donald W. Riegle Jr., D-Mich., who accuses the RTC of mismanagement - was strongly criticized by 26 minority members of Congress for waffling over the appointment of the agency's general counsel.
Washington-area lawyer Celeste Moy was interviewed for the job three weeks ago by Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman, who is also the RTC's interim chief executive officer, said Treasury spokeswoman Joan Logue-Kinder. While Ms. Moy is still under consideration, Mr. Altman has not offered her the job, Ms. Logue-Kinder said.
Ms. Moy, assistant general counsel at Virginia-based Amresco-Institutional Inc., could not be reached.
But the lawmakers, led by Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Md.), wrote to Mr. Altman to complain that a job offer to Ms. Moy had been retracted.
"We were elated when we found out that Celeste Moy, Esq., was selected by Stanley Tate, Resolution Trust Corp.'s chief executive officer designee, approved by the President, and formally extended the offer to become the RTC's general counsel by you," said the congressional letter, dated Oct. 12 and signed by 26 lawmakers, 24 of whom belong to the Congressional Black Caucus.
"We find the withdrawal of the offer . . . another instance where the administration has held African-American women to a higher standard than other nominees for similar positions," the letter said.
After Mr. Altman interviewed Ms. Moy, she went to lunch with Mr. Tate. to discuss the job, Ms. Logue-Kinder said. She told Mr. Tate about some financial difficulties she had had in the past.
In the 1980s, "she had undergone bankruptcy proceedings and had two properties foreclosed on," Ms. Logue-Kinder said. "We thought it would be best that she prove that no lending institution had lost money" as a result of those proceedings.
Mr. Tate asked her to speak to the RTC's ethics office, and officials there said the foreclosures raised concerns. Ms. Moy told the RTC that because she had personal mortgage insurance, no lenders had lost money as a result of the foreclosures. But she has not been able to find documents that prove she had insurance.
