Overhaul (52 page)

Wagoner got wind of this before it happened, and used an earlier, Sunday afternoon session to head it off. On that call, he issued an ultimatum. Either the board must put out a statement of support for him or he would resign immediately. Every director except Phil Laskawy, a former chairman and CEO of the accounting firm Ernst & Young, instantly fell into line. The next day, GM issued a statement by Fisher: "While there is still much work to be done, the GM board has great confidence in Rick Wagoner, his management team and the plan they are implementing to restore the company to profitability." For all the grief that President Obama has taken for how Rick came to step aside—which I sincerely regret—I have no doubt that without a new CEO, GM would be in a far worse place than it is today.

In contrast with GM's boardroom laxity, Mulally insisted when he was hired that Bill Ford remain as executive chairman. Mulally fully expects Ford and the board to judge his performance independently and to fire him if he doesn't produce results. As I left Ford headquarters after spending a couple of hours with Bill Ford and Alan Mulally, I could not help but compare my impressions from this first visit to Dearborn with my first meeting with Rick Wagoner and Ray Young. Management matters.

***

We came to Team Auto as strangers and we left as friends. We were fourteen men and women who had shared an experience that would be indelibly seared in our memories. For Deese, Team Auto was reminiscent of the movie
Ocean's Eleven:
a team of professionals who come together to do a job, execute it seamlessly, and then just as quickly go their separate ways. While we would also go our separate ways, we would always be connected by our time together and the knowledge that we had made a significant contribution to President Obama's determined struggle to lift the economy out of recession. While I had tried to show (like the night at Rosa Mexicano) how grateful I was to my colleagues for their extraordinary effort and dedication, I decided on one final, tangible symbol of thanks. On Wall Street, when a large transaction is consummated, it is traditional to give "deal toys" to those who worked on them. With the help of a firm in New York that specialized in such commemorations, I designed a trophy: a wooden plaque with a Plexiglas windshield and brushed aluminum steering wheel mounted on it. On the steering wheel were the words "Team Auto 2009." Each person's name was etched on a small metal plaque at the bottom. And on the Plexiglas windshield, I had had the following words inscribed:

RARELY HAVE SUCH DEDICATED PROFESSIONALS HAD
THE OPPORTUNITY TO RENDER INVALUABLE SERVICE
TO THEIR COUNTRY AT A TIME OF CRISIS.

Some of our team members had come to Washington intending to put in several years of government service. In addition to overseeing the government's investment in the auto companies, Ron bravely took on the tough new assignment of trying to help American manufacturing—and Haley Stevens stayed on to help him. Diana Farrell continued as part of Larry's National Economic Council and played a key role in the passage of financial regulatory reform. Brian Deese also remained at his little desk outside Larry's office, pitching in on one economic policy challenge after another.

After considering a variety of options, Harry Wilson decided to run for the office of New York State comptroller, where he would help to salvage the state's disastrous finances. Although he ran as a Republican, I could think of no one who would be a better addition to our state's leadership than Harry. Matt Feldman elected to return to Willkie Farr & Gallagher as a senior partner, with a role in the firm's leadership.

Brian Stern went back to Wall Street and financial services investing by joining Blackrock. His capable helper, Rob Fraser, resumed his position at his private equity firm and then matriculated at Harvard Business School. David Markowitz moved to Cleveland and founded a hedge fund, and Brian Osias decided to saddle up with him. Sadiq Malik planned to join them too, but happily for me agreed first to spend six months helping with this book. My former Quadrangle colleagues Paul Nathanson and Clay Calhoon also continued the upward march of their careers. After a short stint in the Treasury general counsel's office, Paul joined the U.S. attorney's office in the eastern district of Virginia, while Clay began at Stanford Business School.

As for me, after taking time to recover from an operation to repair a detached retina, I turned my attention to this book and to working through the Quadrangle legal mess. During my thirty-five years in the working world, I had never been accused of so much as jaywalking, so it was painful for me and my family to have my honesty and integrity impugned, often by innuendo.

For example, back in April, one thoroughly irresponsible reporter, William Cohan (who had flunked out of investment banking), had written that one of my Quadrangle-related holdings presented a conflict with my auto responsibilities. He had been fed this misinformation by a disgruntled former colleague of mine, and nothing would dissuade him from publishing the allegations, including Jenni Engebretsen's unequivocal statement that I had fully complied with Treasury's rules.

I understood that having held a position of public trust, I was fair game. But just as I found journalists' treatment of my financial disclosure form disproportionate to its relevance, so too did I find the media's treatment of the investigation sensationalistic. As of August 2010, my onetime employer, the
New York Times,
had put my travails on the front page five times (and not once for anything related to Team Auto).

All told, I found that serving in government was a tougher and more thankless role than I imagined, even after years of having my nose pressed to the glass. Certainly the actions of anyone who serves as a government official can and should be examined. But as I've tried to convey, the pettiness and misplaced priorities of some of the scrutiny is debilitating to those who serve, whether it's the incessant barrage of self-serving or ignorant requests from Capitol Hill or the newspaper stories that inevitably accentuate the negative and minimize the positive. Not to mention, of course, the blogosphere, which has put irresponsible "journalism" through an enlarger. It's tough stuff even for battle-hardened veterans to deal with; I can't imagine how Tim and Larry have endured so many years under such a distorted lens.

Yet for someone like myself who believes in public service, an assignment like Team Auto can be a dream come true—the chance to make a meaningful difference on a huge issue that requires only minimal interaction with Congress. As for the tribulations of public life, working in the world's largest bureaucracy brings an offsetting advantage—when you call saying that you are from the U.S. Treasury, it is astonishing how quickly people respond and react! For all the sacrifices that my family and I made so that I could serve, I would do it again, and without the fear and second thoughts. Unfortunately, there aren't many assignments like Team Auto. Most jobs involve trying to inch some initiative through an executive branch review and then through Congress, which can easily become a Sisyphean task. Taking on one of those would be a much tougher decision.

Three years to the day after my chance encounter with candidate Barack Obama at the Vineyard Golf Club in 2007, I saw him there again. My extraordinary friend Mike Bloomberg was on Martha's Vineyard to play golf with the President and invited me to join him beforehand to hit some balls and catch up. When the President arrived at the driving range, he greeted me with a smile so big it seemed to make his prominent ears protrude even more.

"I was just telling Mike that I was bragging about you," he said, and described a recent meeting in which he'd gotten
New York Times
columnist David Brooks to admit that his March 2009 column criticizing Obama's intervention in the auto crisis had been wrong. We exchanged laughs about how Brooks, whose pieces are generally exceptional, had been far off target in this case. After a few more pleasantries, the President stepped into position on the range and began hitting. As I struggled with my shots a few yards away, I felt that a fulfilling coda had just been attached to my government service. I had helped a man whom I greatly admire achieve an important success of his young administration.

This book is primarily derived from my experiences and recollections. However, as a former journalist who always wanted to write a book but never found the subject matter or the stamina, I was intrigued by the opportunity to go beyond my memory and opinions. Among other things, I was curious to know the story of the auto crisis during the Bush period—I had no time while I was in the Obama administration to find out. I also thought this book would benefit from having the story continue through to the truly monumental event of GM's filing of its initial public offering prospectus.

The result was more than 150 interviews, mostly conducted by me but some by my able colleagues Jeffrey McCracken, Peter Petre, and Sadiq Malik. In addition to the formal interviews, there were countless—I'm sure hundreds of—shorter conversations or e-mails to try to nail down every detail. To protect the anonymity of those who wished to speak confidentially, I have chosen not to list any of my interviewees. But I was gratified that nearly every player of consequence in this drama was willing to share his or her recollections, in some cases on multiple occasions. I am deeply grateful to all who helped us; I am certain the book is better for their collective contributions.

Like other works of its genre, this account includes direct, contemporaneous quotations from participants in the many meetings and conversations. While some of these come from my memory, I have attempted to verify all quotations with as many participants as possible. (The handful of descriptions of other people's thoughts are based on later interviews with those people.) Having said that, I've now learned from direct experience that no book of this sort can honestly warrant that every quotation is precisely accurate in every detail.

Finally, Sadiq—a worker of Harry Wilson intensity and stamina—attempted to verify every single fact in these pages. If any errors remain, the fault is mine alone.

First and foremost, I want to extend my deepest appreciation to the dedicated members of Team Auto, whose names are listed in the front of the book. They deserve the thanks of the entire nation for their selfless dedication to a seemingly impossible task. Working with such a talented and collegial group of extraordinary individuals has been the high point of my career.

Second, I am grateful to my bosses, Tim Geithner and Larry Summers, for having the confidence in me to ask me to take on this important role. Throughout our many months of work, they were available, supportive, and decisive. They are public servants of the highest order and integrity.

During my time in Washington, I was fortunate to interact with many other government employees. Contrary to what some Americans may think, the Treasury is blessed with a large array of talented and dedicated staff members, both those who came as part of the Obama administration and those who have made it their careers to serve their country. In particular, I would like to thank Mark Patterson, Lee Sachs, Matt Kabaker, Michael Tae, Duane Morse, Mara McNeill, Lindsay Simmons, Alan Krueger, Stephanie Cutter, Jenni Engebretsen LeCompte, Meg Reilly, Jake Siewert, Herb Allison, Jim Lambright, Bernie Knight, Shira Minton, Ken Feinberg, and Gene Sperling.

Throughout this tumultuous period of my life, I was fortified by the friendship and support of many. I pay particular tribute to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who truly knows the meaning of loyalty and standing up for people you believe in. But there are many others to whom I am equally grateful:

Ali Wambold, Margaret Carlson, Henry Hubschman, Michi Kakutani, Richard Cohen, David Westin, Louise Grunwald, Diana Taylor, Richard Holbrooke, Kim Fennebresque, Marc Nathanson, Ron Rappaport, Barry Diller, Paul Goldberger, Vernon Jordan, Tom Lee,Jes Staley, Amos Hostetter, Michael Kramer, Orin Kramer, Leon Black, Chuck Schumer, Josh Gotbaum, David Rubenstein, Harvey Weinstein, Warren Spector, Patti Harris, Glenn Dubin, John White, Judy Miller, Richard Haass, Jerry Speyer, Alice Ruth, Tim White, Mort Zuckerman, John Hess, Susan Rattner, Steve Shepard, Jeff Greenberg, David Bonderman, Eliot Spitzer, Paula Kerger, Tina Brown, Arthur Segel, Mitch Driesman, Ken Jacobs, Bob Rubin, Mickey Drexler, Bill Clinton, Henry Kravis, Charlie Rose, Dick DeScherer, Matt Mallow, Jamie Dimon, Bob Pittman, Susan McCaw, Charles Kaiser, Brian Roberts, Meryl Tisch, Jeff Nordhaus, David Stockman, David Ignatius, Mark Gallogly, Barbara Walters, Adam Miller, Walter Shapiro, Dan Lewis, Richard Plepler, Gordon Holmes, Roger Altman, Dan Rosensweig, Jim Tisch, Chris White, Joel Klein, Dick Fuld, Bill and Pat White, Sherrie Westin, Mark White, Norm Pearlstine, Tom White, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Steve Weisman, Lynn Povich, Craig McCaw, Mort Janklow, Blair Effron, Nicole Seligman, Fred Wilpon, Skip Gates, Walter Isaacson, Ken Auletta, Francesca Stanfill, Greg Feldman, and Andrew Ross Sorkin.

At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, I was the fortunate beneficiary of superb editing by George Hodgman, whose enthusiasm, dedication, and gentle lash kept me going when I flagged. I also appreciate the great attention and professionalism that I received from Gary Gentel, Bruce Nichols, Andrea Schulz, Laurie Brown, Bridget Marmion, Lori Glazer, Taryn Roeder, Becky Saikia-Wilson, Larry Cooper, Michaela Sullivan, and Melissa Lotfy.

My agent, Amanda "Binky" Urban, has been a close friend for more than twenty years, and I now understand why she has been so successful in her profession.

I've enjoyed working as part of teams for the past twenty-seven years of my career, so just as we had Team Auto, we had Team Book. At the forefront was Peter Petre, a distinguished former
Fortune
editor and experienced book hand. Peter was my patient guide through this new land, offering expert editing, great instruction in developing the narrative, and the all-important positive reinforcement. Sadiq Malik, a devoted member of Team Auto, generously signed up for Team Book and worked countless hours helping to re-create this complex story. I am also grateful to Jeff McCracken, a crackerjack financial journalist, who took time between jobs to bring to bear his reporting, financial, and auto expertise. Last, we had a terrific supporting cast of Maris Kreizman, Catherine Talese, Julie Sloane, Cynthia Colonna, and Hajera Dehqanzada. I am amazed at how much work it takes to produce a book!