More than four years after the financial crisis, one of the key figures behind the Bush administration’s sweeping rescue plan is weighing a return to government service.
Neel T. Kashkari, who was the initial overseer of the Treasury Department’s bank bailout program, told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that he was planning on leaving his current post at Pimco to consider running for office. In a statement, he confirmed those plans.
“As much as I have enjoyed my time at Pimco, I feel an obligation and a desire to serve my community through public service,†Mr. Kashkari said in the statement. “My time at the Department of the Treasury was the most rewarding professional experience of my life and I want to find ways to continue to serve my fellow citizens in some capacity.â€
Staying true to his roots, he would run as a Republican â€" even in overwhelmingly Democratic California.(Pimco’s headquarters, however, are in Newport Beach, Calif., an oasis of conservative politics in the largely liberal state.)
By Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Kashkari had created a Web page emphasizing his core concerns, including the state economy and education. He writes on his site:
California has so many strengths - a vibrant, diverse, hardworking population, world-class universities, unparalleled natural resources and beauty - it is up to us to unlock its potential and fulfill the dreams of all of our people. Our government must work for all Californians.
I am reaching out to leaders in communities across California to hear their ideas, share my own, and explore how I can best affect positive change in our state. After decades of benign neglect, I believe it is our duty to finally have an honest discussion about these issues and take bold action to help all Californians succeed.
Running for office would ! take Mr. Kashkari into perhaps his most public role since the financial crisis, when he gained attention for his role as the Treasury Department’s interim assistant secretary for financial stability. The young bureaucrat and former Goldman Sachs employee was only 35 at the time, with six years of experience in finance and government. He was put in charge of the taxpayer-financed lifeline known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, earning him the nickname the $700 Billion Man, after the size of the extensive bailout.
Mr. Kashkari left the Treasury Department in 2009 to join Pimco, formally the Pacific Investment Management Company, tasked with building out the bond investor’s nascent stock-fund offerings.
It was something of a return home, since Mr. Kashkari, an Ohio native, moved to California in 1997 to work as an engineer for TRW. He later attended business school and joined Goldman, where h worked as an investment banker in Silicon Valley, known for his bald head and steady demeanor. It was at that firm that Mr. Kashkari became acquainted with Henry M. Paulson Jr., then Goldman’s chief executive.
When Mr. Paulson became Treasury secretary in 2006, Mr. Kashkari reached out and asked about joining the government. He became a lieutenant to Mr. Paulson, and co-wrote a doomsday bank rescue proposal, entitled “Break the Glass,†that formed the basis of what became TARP.
