Yesterday the Treasury Department announced that Kenneth Feinberg would serve as a special master – czar, to many media outlets – supervising executive compesnation for those companies getting tons-o-bux from Uncle Samuel. As many people probably know, Feinberg was the special master who doled out the 9/11 victim compensation fund. Feinberg is a particularly interesting character, in part because he understood that his duties as 9/11 master included explaining exactly what he was doing. Thus, he toured the country telling colorful stories of how he navigated the process of compensating victims. He is one of the most dynamic lecturer/story tellers I've ever heard and his 9/11 narrative is absolutely riveting.
As I previously noted, there are a number of sites around the Internet that purport to offer copies of his 9/11 talk. I found a crappy mp3 version of his Northwestern talk downloadable here. He gave a great interview to Terry Gross on Fresh Air here. You can read a copy of his presentation at the University of Alabama at 56 Ala. L. Rev. 543. He has an essay in the Virgina Law Review outlining his thoughts about the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund (compensating victims of the Virginia Tech shooting) here.
I don't know how he'll deal with his new task. I only hope that he maintains the same commitment to transparency that he embraced in his prior government job.