{"id":2019159,"date":"2023-09-01T10:12:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T14:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-germany-ambassador-again-raises-eyebrows-with-mega-payouts-from-penn\/"},"modified":"2023-09-01T10:13:54","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T14:13:54","slug":"bidens-germany-ambassador-again-raises-eyebrows-with-mega-payouts-from-penn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-germany-ambassador-again-raises-eyebrows-with-mega-payouts-from-penn\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden&#8217;s German ambassador sparks concern with hefty Penn payouts."},"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-germany-ambassador-again-raises-eyebrows-with-mega-payouts-from-penn%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=2019159&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 Payments Before Taking \u200cOffice<\/h2>\n<p>President Joe Biden&#8217;s ambassador to \u200bGermany, Amy Gutmann, is once again at the center of \u200bcontroversy. This time, it&#8217;s over the\u2063 payments she received before leaving her\u2064 previous\u200d position \u200bas \u200bpresident of the University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>Gutmann, who served as the university&#8217;s president for 18 years, received two substantial sums from the \u2063institution before\u200d assuming her role \u2062as ambassador. In October 2020, she obtained a $3.7 million home loan from\u2064 the university at an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-germany-ambassador-again-raises-eyebrows-with-mega-payouts-from-penn\/\" title=\"Biden's German ambassador sparks concern with hefty Penn payouts.\">incredibly low \u200cinterest rate<\/a> of 0.38%. This \u2063loan \u2062was secured \u2063as\u2063 she prepared to leave the\u200d on-campus president&#8217;s house.\u200d In addition, Gutmann \u2064received $23 \u2062million in deferred compensation in 2021, which she\u200d had earned over her tenure leading the university.<\/p>\n<p>While these payments were legally obtained\u200b and disclosed on\u2062 ethics\u2064 reports, \u2062they have raised concerns about priorities\u200c within higher education \u200band \u200cthe \u2063Biden administration.\u2063 Michael Chamberlain, director \u200bof the watchdog\u200d group Protect the Public&#8217;s \u2064Trust, commented, &#8220;Though this situation doesn&#8217;t appear to violate any \u2063<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 \u2063the Biden ethics pledge, it&#8217;s hard to ignore \u200dthe potential controversy\u2063 it could\u200d cause in a different administration. It certainly seems like another example of the lucrative\u200c benefits associated with Joe Biden.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Controversial Connections and Prior Instances<\/h3>\n<p>This is not the first time \u2064Gutmann has\u200b been \u200cinvolved in controversies. She has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-has-yet-to-call-israels-netanyahu\/\" title=\"Biden Has Yet To Call Israel\u2019s Netanyahu\">long-standing relationship<\/a>\u200d with Biden&#8217;s alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania.\u200d In \u200c2017, Gutmann appointed Biden as a professor at \u2062the school, despite him not \u2064teaching any \u200dclasses. He was paid $911,000 over the \u200bnext three years. After winning \u2062the election, Biden named Gutmann\u200b as ambassador\u2063 to Germany, along with former Penn Board of Trustees Chairman David \u200dCohen as\u2063 ambassador \u2063to Canada.<\/p>\n<p>Chamberlain remarked, &#8220;The American \u2062public might view this as\u2064 part\u200d of the Biden \u2063administration&#8217;s \u200dreturn to old norms, resembling the spoils system where plush\u200c jobs were distributed to those close to \u2063those in power.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Gutmann\u2064 was also involved in establishing \u200cthe Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement think tank \u2064in Washington D.C. This think tank faced controversy\u200d when classified documents were \u2062discovered there in January. During the think tank&#8217;s opening and up until \u200d2022, the University \u2062of Pennsylvania received\u200d at least $100 million in donations from China.<\/p>\n<h3>Concerns within \u2062Higher\u200d Education<\/h3>\n<p>Regarding \u2062the \u200drecent controversy, <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.\">higher education observers note<\/a> that major \u200cpayments to university\u2062 administrators, like Gutmann&#8217;s, are \u200bproblematic, although not\u2064 uncommon. \u200dJoni\u200b E. Finney, retired director of\u2064 the Institute \u200dfor Research on Higher Education at Penn, expressed\u200b her opinion, stating, &#8220;Do I think it&#8217;s\u2063 unethical? Yes. But I think a lot of compensation packages\u2064 for presidents at elite\u2064 institutions\u2064 are unethical. The practice of having \u2064these \u2064 [home] loans even as \u200byou&#8217;re leaving is fairly common at elite \u200bprivate universities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Finney \u2062also raised\u2063 concerns about Gutmann and Cohen&#8217;s ambassadorships, \u200cstating, &#8220;It&#8217;s not a good look. It&#8217;s not as if she had any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nikki-haley-at-rjc-biden-admin-cant-be-trusted-to-stop-iran-nuclear-threat\/\" title=\"Nikki Haley at RJC: Biden Admin Can\u2019t Be Trusted to Stop Iran Nuclear Threat\">foreign policy experience<\/a>, \u200bbut she&#8217;s not the first ambassador to lack foreign policy experience.\u200c I just think the practice is not a good sign for higher \u200beducation because I think it undermines \u200bpublic trust.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Scrutiny Amidst Biden Administration&#8217;s Education Plans<\/h3>\n<p>These reports about \u200cGutmann&#8217;s significant payout \u200cand near-zero interest home\u2063 loan come at a\u2063 time when \u200bthe Biden\u200d administration \u2062is \u200dattempting to transfer billions of dollars in student\u200d loans to taxpayers and \u2062implementing\u2062 plans to\u2062 lower the\u2063 cost of college. However, \u200cthese \u2062plans have faced scrutiny as they \u2062primarily reduce the amount students need to repay rather than addressing the actual costs \u200bof attending college.<\/p>\n<p>Adam Looney from the Brookings Institution\u200c criticized \u200bthe approach, stating, &#8220;It&#8217;s a plan to\u2063 reduce the cost of college, not by reducing tuition paid, but by offering\u200c students\u2063 loans and\u2063 then allowing them not to pay them back.&#8221; Any\u2063 unpaid loans would ultimately contribute\u2064 to the national debt.<\/p>\n<p>The State Department referred inquiries to \u2064Penn \u200band the Education Department, while the Education Department redirected questions to the White\u2062 House, which did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the controversy, former \u200dPenn Board of Trustees Chairman\u2063 Scott Bok defended Gutmann&#8217;s\u2064 $23 million payment, attributing it to \u200cher \u2063exceptional performance and \u200bthe substantial \u2064growth of the university&#8217;s endowment \u2064during her tenure.\u2063 Bok\u2063 stated, &#8220;Amy was an extraordinary president for \u200dPenn. When you have a really extraordinary\u2064 performer\u2063 for a very long period of time, in a period of strong investment \u2062returns, yes, it adds up to quite a substantial \u2062number.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Gutmann&#8217;s presidency at\u2063 the University of Pennsylvania was widely regarded as successful, with the school&#8217;s endowment increasing\u200c from $4.1 billion to $20.5 billion during her tenure. Additionally, Gutmann \u200cclaimed that 80% \u2063of undergraduates left Penn\u200c debt-free by the end of her term.<\/p>\n<p>However, former White House chief ethics lawyer Richard Painter raised \u2063further questions about the payments,\u2062 particularly regarding \u200bthe amounts and the timeline. He questioned the necessity \u2064of \u200da $3.7 million loan for a house in Philadelphia when Gutmann\u2062 already received $23 \u2063million in \u200cdeferred compensation \u200band had \u200da residence provided by the U.S. government as the ambassador to Germany.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">Click\u2064 here<\/a> to read more from\u2062 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":2019160,"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-2019159","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\/2019159","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=2019159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2019160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2019159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2019159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2019159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}