I know it's hard to believe. But it's true. You can file this under yet another thing that only Mitt Romney could dream of doing:Michele Davis, a former top aide to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, has told colleagues that she will join the Romney campaign to lead a vigorous effort to defend his career in the private sector, a source told BuzzFeed Wednesday.But she wasn't just a flack for crony capitalists, she was also a registered lobbyist for Fannie Mae:Davis is currently a partner at the Brunswick Group in Washington, D.C., a corporate public relations and strategy firm, where she was reportedly the firm's lead ' alongside her then partner Hilary Rosen ' in managing the oil company BP's public relations effort in the wake of a giant Gulf of Mexico oil spill. She served as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Director of Policy Planning at the Department of the Treasury from 2006 through the end of the Bush Administration, and is a veteran of the politics and P.R. of government and finance.
Davis will also bring some very high-profile baggage to Romney's campaign. She arrived at Treasury from Fannie Mae, the giant, government-backed firm that backs a large share of the nations mortgages. She was vice president for regulatory policy at Fannie Mae from 2002 to 2006, and is listed as a registered lobbyist for the troubled and controversial entity ' which made a practice of keeping a bipartisan squad of Washington insiders on payroll ' in 2004. (Indeed, Mitt Romney attacked rival Newt Gingrich for taking payments from Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae's sibling entity.)I don't think the Obama campaign has commented on Romney's new hire, but I'm sure that if they were speaking honestly, they'd only have one thing to say: "Thank you."In her role, Davis defended Fannie Mae's independence, despite substantial tax advantages: She was quoted in Newsday that year saying the entity "does not receive a penny of funding from the government" or any subsidy.
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