Pressure builds on Goldman director A New York institutional investor is urging shareholders of Goldman Sachs to vote against the re-election of James Johnson, the company's longest-serving director. Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb, a fund manager with about $15bn under management, released a letter on Wednesday urging other Goldman investors to vote against Mr Johnson, citing among its reasons his role in the 1990s as chairman and chief executive of Fannie Mae. The letter focuses renewed attention on corporate governance at Goldman, most recently under public scrutiny after a former mid-level executive complained about the company mistreating clients, while a union pension fund has sought the split of the roles of chairman and chief executive held by Lloyd Blankfein. Mr Johnson has "deep insight into governmental affairs and the regulatory process," Goldman said in its latest proxy filing. In 2008, the former Fannie Mae chairman led Barack Obama's search for a vice-presidential nominee before resigning during the presidential election campaign. Mr Johnson chairs the Goldman compensation committee and has served on the investment bank's board since 1999. The company paid Mr Johnson about $523,000 last year. The board has recommended shareholders re-elect Mr Johnson. He has served them well since 1999 and will continue to do so," a Goldman spokesman said. Ruane, Cunniff manages the $5.7bn Sequoia Fund. As of December 31, the investment firm held more than 1.4m shares in Goldman through the Sequoia Fund and on behalf of its other clients, according to David Poppe, the firm's president and co-manager of the fund. At Fannie Mae, Ruane, Cunniff alleges that Mr Johnson failed to protect taxpayers who at the time implicitly backed the now state-controlled mortgage group, led a company that suffered poor internal controls and created a management culture that saw numerous executives depart. "As a comment on the management culture [Mr] Johnson created, we can't think of a stronger indictment than this," Ruane, Cunniff said. As well as his role at Fannie Mae, Ruane, Cunniff pointed to Mr Johnson's service as a director on the boards of UnitedHealth and KB Home. At UnitedHealth, former chief executive William McGuire settled a case which claimed wrongdoing over the backdating of stock options. KB Home also faced claims over the backdating of stock options issued to executives, which required it to restate several years of earnings. Mr Johnson served as chair of the company's compensation committee for part of that time. Ruane, Cunniff said: "Mr Johnson's history should disqualify him from service on the board of any public company."