McCain wants to shine light on huge CEO pay: aide

By Caren Bohan

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain has spoken out about lavish pay packages for corporate chiefs, but his top adviser said on Monday the senator wants to shine a light on the issue and is not offering specific new proposals to rein it in.

"Job No. 1 of the president is to use the bully pulpit to shine a light on behavior that is less-than-exemplary," McCain's top economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"That's certainly the case here," Holtz-Eakin said, referring to the issue of huge chief executive officer pay packages.

Holtz-Eakin said McCain would like to see shareholders and boards of directors take the initiative to ensure that pay packages for CEOs are reasonable and in line with performance. "We'll see what the response is," he said.

Lawmakers have expressed outrage over huge pay for executives at firms that were leading players in the subprime mortgage lending crisis, such as Bear Stearns Cos Inc and Countrywide Financial Corp.

McCain added his voice to those expressing concern about the vast compensation earned by the executives of those companies at a time when their firms performed disastrously and most shareholders lost millions of dollars.

The disparity comes at a time when the ripple effects of the home mortgage crisis are leading to financial ruin for some middle and lower-income families unable to pay their mortgages.

"I think it is outrageous when someone who is the head of Bear Stearns cashes in millions and millions of dollars in stocks," McCain told reporters in Arizona on Saturday. "I think it is unconscionable when the guy who is the head of Countrywide and his co-conspirators make huge amounts of money when Americans face the threat of losing their homes.