Letter From Richard Mourdock Regarding Chrysler Outrage

This is a letter I found on Zero Hedge, written by the Indiana Treasurer of State after the loss of the Supreme Court appeal he brought on behalf of Indiana pension funds that had invested in what they thought was secured senior debt of the company.

The disgraceful thing is that neither the court or any of the commentators or critics of Mourdock could say he was not defending his historic and formerly absolute rights under the bankruptcy code. The law is now seen as a frivolous inconvenience and people who bring it up are held up as villains.

Dear Friends & Supporters:

Now that all of the media attention and inquires have lessened, I wanted to thank all of you for the supportive phone calls, kind notes, and encouraging e-mails regarding Indiana’s involvement in the Chrysler, LLC bankruptcy proceedings. I have tried to respond to each of you individually, but given the enormous number of letters, calls, and emails have made that impossible. Forgive me for this impersonal note, which may read like a form letter, but please know that I have been personally touched by the incredible response of kindness by all of you.

From the beginning, Indiana’s legal challenges to the Chrysler, LLC bankruptcy dealt with the federal government throwing away the rules of bankruptcy law to benefit a select few. Indiana’s retired state police officers, retired teachers, and Hoosier taxpayers were victimized by illegal acts of the federal government, which was wrong. Let me be very clear, we never once suggest that Chrysler, LLC had broken the law. In reality, Chrysler, LLC, like any other corporation, could not have ignored 150 years of bankruptcy law like the federal government did.

I hold as a point of pride -- despite all the attacks by a couple of newspaper editorials, Chrysler, LLC, Indiana Congressman Joe Donnelly, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, and some others -- no one EVER challenged us on the points of law. In the New York Bankruptcy Court, the New York District Court, the United States 2nd District Court of Appeals, and even the United States Supreme Court, no attorney for either the federal government or Chrysler, LLC, ever attempted to dispute our legal arguments. Even in the denial of our request to halt the bankruptcy proceedings by the Supreme Court of the United States, Madame Justice Ginsburg stated, “This denial of stay is not a decision on the merits on the underlying legal issues.” In essence, the Supreme Court prohibited our case from being heard on a technicality therefore deciding not to rule on the points of law that we raised.

The bankruptcy proceedings are finished and most of Chrysler, LLC is now the Chrysler Group. I hope to see them be productive, profitable, and prosperous.

Thank you again for your words of encouragement and for your support of my efforts to protect Indiana’s retirees and taxpayers.

Sincerely,

Richard E. Mourdock
Indiana Treasurer of State

Silence = Death No More: Pension Funds Speak Up About Chrysler Bankruptcy

I was too depressed and upset to air my feelings when the few remaining Chrysler creditors were threatened into giving in to Obama's illegal Chrysler "deal".

Thankfully, several major pension and retirement plans in the state of Indiana have filed to protect their legally binding contractual rights.

Obama and his administration have tried to paint this as a dispute between "greedy" investors most of whom must be "filthy rich" and poor, helpless union workers. But in fact, these investors were acting on behalf of a wide range of retires and investors whose assets they had a fiduciary duty to protect and who made investments based on what they thought were legally binding criteria.

"Funds representing Indiana teachers and police, as well as a construction infrastructure fund, are seeking the appointment of a trustee in the Chrysler case to protect their rights as holders of first-lien loans to the bankrupt carmaker. They are arguing that the federal government is violating their rights by giving more junior creditors, like the United Auto Workers union, greater recovery on their debt, and that the government is improperly using federal bailout money earmarked for banks to prop up Chrysler.

The pension funds are also seeking to move the Chrysler case to federal district court, a higher authority than the bankruptcy court, to deal with what they argue are constitutional issues.

“As fiduciaries, we can’t allow our retired police officers and teachers to be ripped off by the federal government,” Richard Mourdock, Indiana’s treasurer, said in a statement. “The Indiana state funds suffered losses when the Obama administration overturned more than 100 years of established law by redefining ‘secured creditors’ to mean something less.”"

Of course, the courts which many think are there to protect our rights and enforce the law are looking for excuses to let the law breakers operate at will. They have long since agreed that the executive branch is above the law since it's an emergency, Obama and his pals know better and shouldn't be restrained by the law.

And so it is that one of the last nation's of law has become just another lawless state ruled by imperial whim.