In an otherwise prosaic defense of banks that tries once more to blame the financial crisis on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Wall Street Journal's Holman Jenkins casually refers to the "supposedly nonpolitical Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission." (Keeping up with his paper's proud history of casual innuendos!) Jenkins implies that the Commission will be politically influenced, presumably away from his conservative interpretation of the crisis. But if you look at the FCIC's membership, you'll see only one commissioner who is involved in partisan activities right now: conservative economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who is busy playing politics with the budget, advising Republican political committees and starting a new think tank designed to funnel yet more corporate money into the political conversation.
Meanwhile, the rest of the appointees -- Democratic and Republican appointees alike -- aren't actively involved in any partisan politics of which I'm aware. Jenkins should be careful with his insinuations, since he's letting the cat out of the bag: If any politics infects the FCIC, it's likely to come from the conservative Holtz-Eakin, not some lefty conspiracy.
-- TIm Fernholz
