Wolfowitz took Money From Dreyfus Funds

Wolfowitz Connection: "The Dreyfus Funds Support Hawks Too
By Max Rottersman

Dreyfus Funds Has Lions and Hawks. While Paul D. Wolfowitz was working on his “pre-emptive strike” position paper he was being paid by Dreyfus to sit on their board of directors for various mutual funds. In 1994 his compensation was $32,631 but by 2000 it was $47,000 a year. Today he is Secretary of Defense and that position paper, penned while he was a trustee, serves as the blueprint for the Iraq war (and you thought mutual fund trustees just play bridge and golf).

In 1997 Wolfowitz became a founding member of The Project for a New American Century (PNAC). Wolfowitz resigned as a trustee of the Dreyfus Funds on March 1st, 2000. Half a year later PNAC released a paper arguing for a stronger course of action against Iraq.

Interestingly, PNAC was led by William Kristol who was paid $38,750 a year by Sanford Bernstein to watch over their funds.

When it comes to foreign policy it’s likely many trustees on the Dreyfus board had Wolfowitz’ interests. Arthur Hartman was a United States Ambassador to the former Soviet Union. Lucy Wilson Benson was Vice Chairman of the Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs. At Seligman, Trustee John Merow was Director of the Foreign Policy Association.

One has to wonder what political or ideological conversations go on in the fund board rooms of America. If the heat is turned up on directors to do a better job on shareholder fees, the question may come to the fore: how much time are they spending on their funds and how much on political agendas?

Will Dreyfus shareholder one day add or subtract to their holdings because of Wolfowitz’ argument for an Iraq invasion. Time will tell. It could go either way."