Expect "heck of a time" filling Liddy's shoes at AIG

By Jonathan Spicer - Analysis

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Who would apply for a job that requires regular coach flights to Washington to be abused by Congress on international television, to run a company that in many ways symbolizes the financial crisis?

And oh by the way, the person who formerly held this job earned $1 a year.

American International Group (AIG.N), the once-proud insurance giant that now owes taxpayers $85 billion, is about to find out who, if anyone, wants to fill the shoes of Edward Liddy.

The 63-year-old Liddy on Thursday announced plans to step down after a short, tumultuous reign as chairman and chief executive.

"They're going to have a heck of a time getting somebody," said Alan Johnson, managing director of New York-based compensation consultant Johnson Associates.

"It's one thing to be looking out from the parapets of the castle and have them shooting at you, but it's another thing to be shot in the back."

Consultants and experts said someone with political savvy, even an outright politician, might be best-suited for the job, given that the U.S. government owns nearly 80 percent of the giant insurer, and that billions in public funds are on the line.

The government named Liddy CEO of AIG in September, just after it rescued the crippled insurer. It has since made some $180 billion available to keep it afloat and, with Liddy heading for the door, now needs a replacement for a job that now pays a $1 salary.