From Public Life to Private Business

[spindrifter]

By David S. Hilzenrath
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 28, 2006

After more than 30 years in politics, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen was saddled with credit card debt.

The baker's son from Bangor, Maine, was never wealthy, and his government salary went only so far. When the motorcades and military escorts ended in January 2001, his final financial disclosure form listed tens of thousands of dollars of charge-account debts at interest rates as high as about 25 percent.

Within weeks of leaving office, he was living in a $3.5 million McLean mansion with a swimming pool, a cabana and a carriage house.

Cohen's career had entered a classic final phase: the monetizing of the public man.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/27/AR2006052700919.html