Secretive Cerberus keeps a high profile on K Street

Cerberus Capital Management, once touted for its daring investments in Chrysler and GMAC, is now struggling to avoid tremendous losses, according to The New York Times.

Yesterday, Chrysler announced that U.S. sales fell by a third last month. In a one-two punch, GMAC said yesterday that its home loan division would dismiss 60 percent of its employees - 5,000 people - in an effort to minimize losses caused by the mortgage crisis.

As the Times notes, company CEO Stephen A. Feinberg, who founded the hedge fund with $10 million in 1992, keeps a low profile.

But in Washington, Cerberus maintains a major presence, paying seven lobbying firms and former U.S. Sen. Jake Garn to represent its interests before Congress.

Former Treasury counsel Arnold I. Havens, now a partner with Jones Walker, represents the firm on banking and transportation issues.

Former U.S. senator and ambassador to Germany Dan Coats, now senior counsel at King & Spalding, represents Cerberus on banking regulation.

Patton Boggs argues for the company on auto emissions legislation. Stanley B. Parrish, former chief of staff to Sen. Orrin Hatch, represents it on auto-related matters.

Cerberus itself has registered as a lobbyist. The company reported spending $2.5 million on lobbying activities last year.

The company has worked against hedge fund regulation and has supported members of Congress who feel the same way. When Sen. Richard Shelby, then chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, criticized hege funds in 2003, Cerberus threw a fundraiser for Shelby’s leadership PAC. Ine a single day, The Hill reported, company executives and colleagues contributed $99,500.

Thus far in 2008, company execs are among the top contributors to Republican congressmen Tom Reynolds, Joe Knollenberg and Fred Upton. They have also given to two Michigan Democrats who hold sway on auto legislation: Sen. Carl Levin and Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Detroit.

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