On Dealscape, Michael Rudnick reported that the news of WaMu’s pending recapitalization “fueled CtW Investment Group's fire against the company's board,” and that CtW “looks to be in good company, as proxy advisory firm Proxy Governance has jumped in on the fight to add some new blood to the ailing home lender's board, recommending Monday that its clients withhold votes for Mary Pugh, WaMu's finance committee chair, and its human resources committee chair James Stever at the company's April 15 annual meeting.”

Kevin Dobbs of American Banker [subscription] wrote a lengthy piece discussing the mounting concerns of WaMu shareholders in advance of the company’s annual meeting. Dobbs writes, “…some investors who have suffered through Wamu's descent into the subprime morass…are looking for the company to shake up its board.”

One of these shareholders Dobbs cites is Vincent Au:

“‘It would be very productive to have new, independent voices on the board,’ Vincent Au, a stockholder and the president of Avalon Partners Inc., a New York investment firm that represents Wamu shareholders, said in an interview last week. Mr. Au, who would not say how many shareholders his firm represents, said he supports a plan to oust two current directors in favor of yet-to-be-named nominees who do not have close ties to Wamu.”

Noting that TPG is also the owner of Harrah’s casinos, today on the WSJ’s Deal Journal blog Heidi Moore drew some interesting parallels between banks and gambling, quoting the CtW’s criticism of WaMu’s board for it’s failure to properly oversee mortgage related risk.

The Associated Press, Bloomberg News, and TheStreet also mentioned the CtW director accountability initiative in their reports on WaMu’s cash injection.

Posted by Anna Mumford on April 7, 2008 6:30 PM