One down, five to go

The Treasury Department finally acted on one of BailoutSleuth's Freedom of Information Act requests, nearly two months after the document in question had already been posted on its web site.

We received an unredacted copy this week of Treasury's contract with Bank of New York Mellon Corp., which was hired in October as master custodian of all the assets flowing in and out of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Treasury officials have yet to give us a decision on our request for unredacted copies of its contracts with five other TARP contractors. All of the contracts either blacked out or deleted details of those companies' compensation.

BailoutSleuth filed Freedom of Information Act requests for those documents more than six months ago.

We reported in March that we had found an unredacted copy of the Bank of New York Mellon contract on a web site that Treasury had set up to post TARP-related documents.

The original copy that Treasury issued with the contract announcement in October blacked out how much Bank of New York Mellon was to be paid. It also blacked out the formula used to determine that compensation, marking an inauspicious start to Treasury's pledge of transparency.

The letter we received from Treasury this week included a paper copy of the unobscured agreement, and gave us an Internet address where we could view the document online.

BailoutSleuth is still waiting for Treasury officials to decide whether to release unredacted contracts we are seeking with five other legal and financial advisors - EnnisKnupp and Associates Inc.; PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP; Ernst & Young; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP.

The copies of those contracts that Treasury has posted online at www.financialstability.gov still have blacked out or deleted sections where details of those firms' compensation should have been.

Without that information, such as the hourly rates the government is paying for lawyers, accountants and support workers, it is impossible to tell whether taxpayers are getting a good deal.