Poole's dinner plans conflicted with FOMC vote

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President William Poole did not participate in a vote by Federal Reserve officials on interest-rate policy out of concern that skipping a long-scheduled dinner could fuel speculation policy-makers were meeting, a Fed statement said on Friday.

"The schedule for the call was in direct conflict with a long-scheduled dinner meeting," the St. Louis Fed said in a statement. "President Poole was concerned that failure to appear at the dinner meeting might have been noted, which could have led to speculation about the possibility that the FOMC was holding an unscheduled meeting."

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher, in keeping with regular Fed rules, voted in Poole's place.

Poole, who had a dinner meeting on Thursday night at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, is among the regional Fed bank presidents who have a vote this year on the central bank's policy-setting committee under a regular rotation.

As such, he normally would have voted on the statement issued by the panel, which said downside risks to economic growth had increased "appreciably." The statement drew unanimous support from the 10 Fed officials voting.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday, Poole had said that barring a "calamity" there was no need for the Fed to consider cutting interest rates ahead of their regularly scheduled September 18 policy meeting.

On Friday, the Fed's Washington-based Board of Governors did approve a reduction in the discount rate that governs direct Fed lending to banks. However, it did not alter the overnight federal funds, the Fed's main monetary policy tool.