WASHINGTON PEOPLE: Thrift Fund Repairs on Hold; Leach Coinage Gains

The Clinton administration is taking a bit of a breather from work on the thrift insurance fund's problems.

Treasury Deputy Secretary Frank Newman - who is leading the administration's efforts - got married Saturday and will be out of the office for two weeks.

With Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Ricki Helfer, Office of Thrift Supervision acting Director Jonathan Fiechter, and Senate Banking Committee staff director Howard Menell, Mr. Newman is trying to craft a fix for the Savings Association Insurance Fund and find the money needed to pay off the Financing Corp. bonds.

Sources expect the Senate committee to hold hearings on SAIF soon, although no date has been set.

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House Banking Committee Chairman Jim Leach is expanding his vocabulary. At a hearing last Tuesday of the committee's oversight subcommittee, the erudite Rep. Leach talked about the "financiopaths" who had looted savings and loans in the 1980s.

The term left his colleagues scratching their heads. "We're still trying to figure out what a 'financiopath' is," said Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md.

The next day, at the Social Compact's annual awards ceremony, Rep. Leach again talked of "financiopaths." Then he said that lawmakers who take credit for community-initiated successes have "legislative chutzpah."

That phrase may catch on.

"I'm going to quote him frequently on it," said an amused Federal Reserve Board Governor Lawrence B. Lindsey.

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Also in the category of "Members-of-Congress-Say-the Darnedest-Things" was Rep. Richard Baker's assessment of congressional math skills.

During a hearing of the House banking panel's capital markets, securities and government sponsored enterprises subcommittee Thursday, the Louisiana Republican took issue with Rep. Paul Kanjorski's criticism of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.

Rep. Baker did some quick calculating of dividends paid to members of various Federal Home Loan banks. He read out his numbers, then quickly added, "My math may not be correct. I am a congressman."

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File this one under: "Open mouth, insert foot."

Gary R. Allen, senior executive vice president and chief banking officer at Cleveland's Keycorp, said during the Chicago Fed's annual conference that the bank's new branch in Columbus, Ohio, "will be like going into a casino."

The comment caused some nervous laughter among Fed officials in the audience, but it won the admiration of fellow panelists, who praised his willingness to compare a bank to a gambling hall.

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The American Bankers Association has added a tax specialist. Mark Baran, a former Resolution Trust Corp. senior attorney, joined the trade group as senior counsel in the tax and accounting section of its government relations division.

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Marise Rene Stewart is joining the staff of Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., as his legislative director. The former health care consultant to House and Senate Republicans is replacing Don Morrissey, who recently joined the Investment Company Institute as a legislative representative.

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Finally, Sen. Phil Gramm, the banking committee member who would be President, had a bad couple of days last week.

It started when The New Republic reported - in a story that was widely picked up - that the Texas Republican had invested $7,500 in 1974 to produce a soft-porn movie called "Beauty Queens."

That's bad because Sen. Gramm is trying to appeal to the religious right, a group not exactly known for watching sex flicks. But it gets worse. "Beauty Queens" was shelved, and in its place, an anti-Nixon movie called "White House Madness" was made, partially financed with Sen. Gramm's money.

Sen. Gramm issued a statement saying he had thought the money would be used to make an R-rated spoof of beauty contests.

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