Last-minute advice for AIG's Ed Liddy
He should push congressmen to decide whether he should stay or go as chief of the government-controlled financial giant.
The FixersNEW YORK (Fortune) -- Here's a last-minute suggestion for American International Group chief Ed Liddy as he prepares to be berated this afternoon by the House Financial Services Committee for having decided to pay the employees at AIG Financial Products the payments they were contractually owed: At the end of this afternoon's hearing, he should walk up to each representative still there and hand over a letter of resignation.
His message in the letter should be that he is perfectly willing for the representatives to make the decision as to whether he should stay or go. The letter could say, "This is not a decision for AIG's (AIG, Fortune 500) board of directors to make. You are the people who represent the public and should determine whether I leave or stay. If you think I'm not the right person for this job, you should pick your own guy."
Believe me, the representatives would be nonplussed: They don't want to deal with decisions like this; they just want to complain.
I'm pretty sure, too, that none of them will ask the question that matters most: How are you progressing with your plan to wind down this extreme trouble-spot, AIG Financial Products?
That won't be what's on the committee's mind. It will be much less interested in learning about something that truly matters than it will be at excoriating Liddy for having made the decision to pay.
By the way, I don't think he made the right decision. But the issues are very difficult, and I am not prepared to nail him to the wall for deciding as he did. 
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