Last October, in a stunning turn of events at the height of the Wall Street crisis, Wachovia backed out of a deal with Citigroup and agreed to a $15 billion merger with Wells Fargo — the biggest bank merger ever. The Charlotte-based Wachovia had recently collapsed under the weight of its own mortgage portfolio and Citi had come to the rescue, offering a rock bottom $1/share that Wachovia accepted in order to avoid bankruptcy. A few days later, Wells Fargo swooped down with an offer worth seven times as much, and Wachovia gladly accepted.

The Wells Fargo deal confused most observers, infuriated Citigroup, resulted in weeks of intense legal wrangling, and ultimately went through. It was an odd marriage, pairing a Charlotte-based bank that had financed the sun belt’s housing bubble with a San Francisco-based bank that had largely avoided it.

How did the two banks come together? What was the real story behind this deal?

As it turns out, a Birmingham, Alabama-based construction aggregate supply company appears to have played a key role in this merger. Last week, I blogged about this bizarre discovery (part of our Spot.us research project) without offering too much detail. Today I’ll make my case.

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Yesterday, using basic features of LittleSis, I discovered that the key matchmaker in the biggest, most complex bank merger in the history of Wall Street was a construction aggregate supply company based in Birmingham, Alabama.

Strange as it may seem, the evidence strongly suggests that individuals associated with this company leveraged their networks to bring the two banking giants together against all odds, with tremendous consequences for shareholders, homeowners, and taxpayers.

I turned this up as part of our Bay Area research project. It’s been one of the more gratifying research experiences I’ve had on LittleSis, because it demonstrates the power of the platform to expose hidden, surprising connections that bring significant depth and fresh life to news stories (this merger is still quite relevant today). And my findings should raise questions about whether the merger was an example of cronyist self-dealing at the expense of bank shareholders.

I am going to detail my findings in a Valdis Krebs-inspired blog post (including network graphs), but first:

Please consider making a $10 or $20 donation to our Spot.us pitch. This kind of work is being supported by that pitch, and we are very close to our fundraising goal!

Research for the “Who’s Behind the Bay Area’s Most Powerful Companies?” project is now in full swing.  last week, I sifted through hundreds of Chevron-related press releases, financial documents, and executive board summaries in order to pull together the profiles highlighted below.

Note: I have made a special effort to call attention to Chevron executives and affiliates with specific involvement in Bay Area organizations, corporations, committees, and educational systems.

Excited about this stuff?  Show your support by making a small donation at our Spot.us page.

Executive Team

David J O’Reilly: Appointed the chairman and CEO of Chevron in 2000, O’Reilly has been an employee of Chevron for nearly 40 years. Before becoming CEO, O’Reilley worked as Vice-Prsident of the Chevron Chemical Company, Director of Chevron-Texaco, and Director of Caltex. O’Reilly is a director of the American Petroleum Institute, a member of the San Francisco Symphony Board of Governors, and the Bay Area Council.

Charles A. James: Joined Chevron in 2002 after serving as assistant attorney general in charge of the antitrust division at the U.S. Department of Justice. Previously, he was an employee of the Federal Trade Commission and a partner with Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue in Washington.  James also serves as a Trustee on the board of the San Francisco Ballet.

John S Watson: elected Vice Chairman of Chevron’s board in April, Watson oversaw the Chevron-Texaco merger in 2000, becoming Chevron-Texaco’s CFO.  Watson is also director of the American Petroleum Institute.  He holds a degree in agriculural economics from the University of Calofirnia Davis and is a director of the San Diego Padres.

Peter J. Robertson: Recently retired from Chevron’s executive board, Robertson is also co-chairman of the US- Saudi Arabian Business Council. In terms of local involvement, Robertson is the director of the Bay Area division of United Way of America, an organization dedicated to improving childhood literacy and community improvement.

Patricia A Woertz: Despite recently retiring from Chevron, Woertz worked for Chevron and its subsidiaries for nearly 30 years, including Gulf Oil, Chevron International, Chevron Canada, and Chevron Texaco.  Previously, she worked as an accountant for Ernst & Young, a Big Four accounting firm.  Woertz is also a regular member of the Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women in America list.  She sits on the board of directors of the California Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Trustees of the University of San Diego, and has addressed the Women in Leadership Conference at the University of California, Berkeley.

Patricia E. Yarrington: became Vice-President and a Treasurer of Chevron on January 1st, 2009.  Yarrington is also a member of the San Francisco Economic Advisory Council, where she serves as a director and advisor to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.  Yarrington is also a Bay Area resident.

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In an era where the traditional means for funding journalism projects have all but evaporated, David Cohn has a sharp sense of where the future of journalism is heading. As the founder and ringleader of Spot.us, David’s ideas have materialized into an open source platform that has pioneered an innovative, original model of”community funded reporting”:

Through Spot.us the public can commission journalists to do investigations on important and perhaps overlooked stories. All donations are tax deductible and if a news organization buys exclusive rights to the content, your donation will be reimbursed. Otherwise, all content is made available to all through a Creative Commons license. It’s a marketplace where independent reporters, community members and news organizations can come together and collaborate.

We dig it so much that we have launched a LittleSis project on Spot.us.  Titled “Who’s Behind the Bay Area’s Most Powerful Companies?, we’re leveraging synergy between the Spot.us and LittleSis communities to investigate and articulate the networks of wealth and influence that sustain the most powerful companies in the Bay Area.  Specifically, here’s what we’re hoping to cook up:

1. A database containing in-depth profiles on at least 25 Bay Area organizations, 100+ executive board members, and 1,000+ inter-connections with affiliated organizations and personnel.
2. A visualization (map or interactive graph) depicting the most noteworthy connections
3. 2-3 news-style reports and informational press releases related to our findings.

We Need Your Support. Our ability to complete this project directly relies upon small donations from supporters of LittleSis fans, like-minded organizations, and individuals with a vested interest in the Bay Area Community.  Visit the pitch page on Spot.us for more information.