{"id":2019027,"date":"2023-09-01T05:25:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T09:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-german-ambassador-again-raises-eyebrows-with-mega-payouts-from-upenn\/"},"modified":"2023-09-01T05:28:18","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T09:28:18","slug":"bidens-german-ambassador-again-raises-eyebrows-with-mega-payouts-from-upenn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-german-ambassador-again-raises-eyebrows-with-mega-payouts-from-upenn\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden&#8217;s German envoy raises concerns with hefty UPenn payments."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbidens-german-ambassador-again-raises-eyebrows-with-mega-payouts-from-upenn%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2019027&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Controversy Surrounds Ambassador Gutmann&#8217;s\u200c Payments Before Taking Office<\/h2>\n<p>President Joe Biden&#8217;s ambassador to Germany, Amy Gutmann, is once again \u2062at\u2062 the center of controversy. This time, it&#8217;s over the payments \u2064she \u200breceived\u2062 before leaving \u2064her previous\u2064 position as president of\u200b the University of\u2062 Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>Gutmann, who served as president \u200bfor 18 years, received two substantial sums from the university before assuming her role as ambassador. In October 2020, \u200dshe obtained a $3.7 million home \u200dloan from the Ivy League school with\u2062 an interest\u2062 rate \u200cof 0.38%. Additionally, in 2021, Gutmann received $23 million in\u2064 deferred compensation earned during her tenure.<\/p>\n<p>While \u200bthese payments are legal\u2062 and were disclosed on \u200cethics reports, they raise concerns \u2062about priorities within higher education \u2062and the Biden \u200dadministration. Critics argue that it highlights the \u200blucrative nature of associations with President Biden.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Though\u2063 this situation \u2062doesn\u2019t appear to run afoul of any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/john-kerry-financial-disclosures-show-millions-in-income-from-stocks-including-oil-companies\/\" title=\"John Kerry Financial Disclosures Show Millions in Income From Stocks, Including Oil Companies\">federal ethics laws<\/a> or the Biden ethics pledge, it\u2019s hard to \u2062see it not stirring up quite a tempest in \u200da\u2063 different administration,&#8221; said Michael \u200bChamberlain, director of the right-leaning \u200bwatchdog group Protect the Public&#8217;s Trust. &#8220;For one, it certainly looks\u200b like another example of how lucrative it is to be associated with Joe Biden.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Gutmann&#8217;s ties to UPenn and controversies surrounding \u200bher have drawn attention in \u2062recent years.\u200b In\u2063 2017,\u200c she named Biden a professor at the university, despite\u200d him not teaching any classes, and \u2062he was paid\u200d $911,000 over \u2062three years.\u200c After winning the election, Biden appointed Gutmann as\u200d ambassador to Germany, \u2062along with former UPenn Board \u200cof Trustees chair David Cohen as ambassador to Canada.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;The American \u200dpublic could be forgiven for thinking this could be part of the fulfillment of the \u200bBiden administration\u2019s vow to return\u2064 to old norms,&#8221; Chamberlain \u200csaid, &#8220;like the spoils system in which \u2064plush jobs were distributed to those close to those in power.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Gutmann&#8217;s involvement in establishing the Penn Biden Center think tank has\u2064 also attracted \u200ccontroversy. The \u200dcenter received significant donations from China, raising concerns \u2062about foreign influence.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding the recent controversy, higher education observers note \u2063that\u2063 major payments to university administrators like Gutmann \u200care problematic,\u200d though not uncommon.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Do I \u2062think it&#8217;s unethical? Yes. \u200bBut I think a lot of compensation packages for presidents at elite institutions are unethical,&#8221; \u200csaid Joni E. Finney, retired director of the Institute for Research on Higher Education at UPenn. \u2063&#8221;The practice of having \u200dthese [home] loans even as you&#8217;re leaving is fairly common at elite private \u2062universities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Furthermore, the timing of Gutmann&#8217;s payments and the need \u2062for a \u200bsubstantial \u2062loan\u200d while serving as ambassador raise additional questions. Critics argue\u200c that it \u200d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-omar-act-seeks-to-stop-lawmakers-from-enriching-spouses\/\" title=\"Republicans\u2019 \u2018OMAR Act\u2019 Seeks To Stop Lawmakers From Enriching Spouses\">undermines public trust<\/a> and raises concerns about the\u200c Biden administration&#8217;s priorities.<\/p>\n<p>As the Biden administration tackles student loan issues and college affordability, these reports\u200b add to the scrutiny. Critics argue that\u2062 the administration&#8217;s\u2064 plans \u2064primarily focus on reducing the amount students need\u200c to repay rather than addressing the actual costs of\u2062 attending college.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the controversy, Gutmann&#8217;s supporters highlight her successful tenure at UPenn, during which the \u2062school&#8217;s endowment quintupled and a significant percentage of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-german-ambassador-again-raises-eyebrows-with-mega-payouts-from-upenn\/\" title=\"Biden's German envoy raises concerns with hefty UPenn payments.\">undergraduates graduated debt-free<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When questioned about \u200bthe payments, the State Department referred\u2064 inquiries to\u200b UPenn and \u200bthe Education \u2063Department, \u2062while the Education Department directed questions to the White House, which did not respond.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Amy\u2063 was an \u200dextraordinary president for Penn,&#8221; said former UPenn \u200bBoard of Trustees chair Scott Bok. &#8220;When you have a really extraordinary performer for a very\u200d long period of time, in a period of \u2062strong investment returns, yes, it adds\u2062 up to quite\u2064 a substantial number.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>While the controversy surrounding Gutmann&#8217;s payments continues, it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alabama-ag-ketanji-brown-jackson-wants-fundamental-redesign-of-criminal-justice-system\/\" title=\"Alabama AG: Ketanji Brown Jackson Wants 'Fundamental Redesign' of Criminal Justice System\">raises important questions<\/a> about \u200dethics, priorities, and \u200dpublic\u2064 trust.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">Click here<\/a> to read more from the Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Joe Biden&#8217;s ambassador to Germany, Amy Gutmann, is facing criticism for receiving significant payments from the University of Pennsylvania before assuming her new role. Gutmann, who served as the university&#8217;s president for 18 years, received two substantial sums before leaving her position. The Senate is now scrutinizing these payments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2019028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2019027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2019027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2019028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2019027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2019027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2019027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}