More on ethical bankruptcy of USOC leaders

Saturday's NY Times article by Richard Sandomir:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/25/sports/othersports/25OLYM.html

Kenneth W. Duberstein, the chairman of the United States Olympic Committee's ethics panel, which
exonerated the organization's chief executive, Lloyd Ward, of conflict of interest charges, has been
paid $516,000 since 1999 as a lobbyist for General Motors, on whose board Ward serves. Two
independent ethics experts said yesterday that Duberstein's work lobbying the United States Senate
for General Motors presented a clear conflict of interest in his role as chairman of the Olympic
committee's ethics panel. They said Duberstein's independence in the ethics panel's determinations
on Ward could readily be seen by people as compromised by his business interest with General Motors
and its board. Duberstein declined to comment yesterday. Advertisement

General Motors is also a sponsor of the Olympic committee and is one of many clients of the
Duberstein Group, a consulting and strategic planning concern in Washington. Duberstein's company
has been a lobbyist for G.M. since 1989 and generally has no contact with the G.M board, a person
familiar with the Duberstein Group said. Patrick Rodgers, the Olympic committee's former ethics
compliance officer, said last week that Duberstein had never filed a disclosure form that might have
listed his work for G.M.
W. Michael Hoffman, executive director of the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College in
Waltham, Mass., said of Duberstein, "One could say that he went about his responsibilities with
total independence, but part of what makes a conflict of interest is if a reasonable person
perceives that one's judgment can be influenced by a personal interest that interferes with his
judgment." Hoffman said that even though publicly available information details Duberstein's
lobbying activities, he should have declared his business relationship with G.M. to the Olympic
committee and to its ethics committee. He described Duberstein's position as a "disabling
conflict of interest," the worst possible kind. Jeffrey Kaplan, a lawyer in New York whose
practice deals mainly with business ethics and corporate compliance, said, "Whether one is on an
ethics committee or the head of any adjudicative body, one should disclose anything that gives
rise to the substance or appearance of a conflict of interest." The Duberstein Group's role as a
lobbyist for G.M. and how much it was paid by
W.A. last year were disclosed yesterday in The Gazette, a newspaper in Colorado Springs. The
disclosure of Duberstein's work for G.M. appears to further undercut the Olympic committee's
standing as its top officials prepare to testify Tuesday at a hearing of the Senate Commerce
Committee about the ethics panel's findings on Ward and on the overall management of the
organization. A meeting next week between Olympic officials and Senators Ted Stevens,
Republican of Alaska, and Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Republican of Colorado, was canceled because
they will attend the hearing. On Jan. 13, the ethics panel found that Ward had "created the
appearance of a conflict of interest" by directing a staff member to help advance a proposal by
a company run by his brother and a childhood friend to provide backup power for the Pan
American Games next summer. The panel also found that Ward should have disclosed what he had
done. The Olympic organization's executive committee accepted the findings and said any
punishment of Ward would be financial, most likely by reducing his bonus after his performance
review. In an e-mail message Ward sent late Thursday to the organization's board of directors,
he said he had asked the top officials of the organization "to direct the entire bonus, if any,
in which I am awarded for the 2002 calendar year, to athlete programs." He is eligible for a
bonus totaling several hundred thousand dollars in addition to his $550,000 annual salary. Ward
was elected to the G.M. board in 2000 when he was the chief executive of Maytag. He is paid an
annual director's retainer of $120,000 and serves on
W.B.'s public policy and audit committees. He declined to discuss whether he knew Duberstein was a
G.M. lobbyist. Records on file with the secretary of the Senate show that G.M. paid the
Duberstein Group $80,000 in 1999, $120,000 in 2000 and $196,000 in 2001. For the first half of
2002, G.M. paid another $120,000. Duberstein was chief of staff in the Reagan White House in
1988 and 1989, and his lobbying clients last year included AOL Time Warner, Arthur Andersen,
Fannie Mae, Goldman Sachs and United Airlines. United is an Olympic committee sponsor.
Duberstsein was also the co-chairman of an investigation into the Olympic committee after it was
revealed that the organizers of the Salt Lake Olympics had lavished International Olympic
Committee members with more than $1 million in cash and gifts. Although Ward kept his job at the
Olympic committee, he continues to deal with the messy aftermath of the inquiry, including a
call this week by seven of the organization's top officials for the resignation of its
president, Marty Mankamyer. In an e-mail message sent to the Olympic committee's 123 board
members on Thursday, Ward tried to clarify how much time he spends at the organization's
headquarters in Colorado Springs. "There have been misrepresentations and misunderstandings
concerning how and where I spend my time," Ward wrote in the message. He said that he lived in a
rented house in Colorado Springs and had purchased a lot on which a new house was being built.
Colorado property and mortgage records show that Ward and his wife, Estralita, paid $475,000 for
a lot in a resort community near the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs and have taken out a
$1.9 million construction loan. "We will pay 2002 state taxes as Colorado residents," he wrote.
"I spent five non-holiday weekends in our second home in Long Boat Key, Florida. I paid for all
my personal travel to and from Florida." Based on his 2002 calendar, Ward tried to break down
his work as chief executive, listing 19 separate activities and the number of occasions he was
involved in each of them. They included 641 general office meetings; 158 scheduled phone calls;
121 meetings of sponsors, suppliers and donors; 25 keynote addresses; 125 breakfast, lunch and
dinner meetings; 19 news interviews; 16 days at board meetings of other corporations; and 39
weekend days worked.

 

So by the ethical standards below, the Bushman and his Chickenhawk Cabinet, have clear ethical
problem in calling for war with Iraq and its concomitant military buildup.

Brian Lafferty
--
Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and
corporate power.--Benito Mussolini Together We Can End Violence, Exploitation and War Visit UU
PeaceWork, AFSC and True Majority http://www.uupeacework.org http://www.afsc.org
http://www.truemajority.org

"BikeAdman" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Saturday's NY Times article by Richard Sandomir:
> http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/25/sports/othersports/25OLYM.html
>
>
>
> Kenneth W. Duberstein, the chairman of the United States Olympic
Committee's
> ethics panel, which exonerated the organization's chief executive, Lloyd
Ward,
> of conflict of interest charges, has been paid $516,000 since 1999 as a lobbyist for General
> Motors, on whose board Ward serves. Two independent ethics experts said yesterday that
> Duberstein's work
lobbying
> the United States Senate for General Motors presented a clear conflict of interest in his role as
> chairman of the Olympic committee's ethics panel.
They
> said Duberstein's independence in the ethics panel's determinations on
Ward
> could readily be seen by people as compromised by his business interest
with
> General Motors and its board. Duberstein declined to comment yesterday. Advertisement
>
>
> General Motors is also a sponsor of the Olympic committee and is one of
many
> clients of the Duberstein Group, a consulting and strategic planning
concern in
> Washington. Duberstein's company has been a lobbyist for G.M. since 1989 and generally
has
> no contact with the G.M board, a person familiar with the Duberstein Group said. Patrick Rodgers,
> the Olympic committee's former ethics compliance officer,
said
> last week that Duberstein had never filed a disclosure form that might
have
> listed his work for G.M.
> W. Michael Hoffman, executive director of the Center for Business Ethics
at
> Bentley College in Waltham, Mass., said of Duberstein, "One could say that
he
> went about his responsibilities with total independence, but part of what
makes
> a conflict of interest is if a reasonable person perceives that one's
judgment
> can be influenced by a personal interest that interferes with his
judgment."
> Hoffman said that even though publicly available information details Duberstein's lobbying
> activities, he should have declared his business relationship with G.M. to the Olympic committee
> and to its ethics
committee. He
> described Duberstein's position as a "disabling conflict of interest," the worst possible kind.
> Jeffrey Kaplan, a lawyer in New York whose practice deals mainly with
business
> ethics and corporate compliance, said, "Whether one is on an ethics
committee
> or the head of any adjudicative body, one should disclose anything that
gives
> rise to the substance or appearance of a conflict of interest." The Duberstein Group's role as a
> lobbyist for G.M. and how much it was
paid by
> G.M. last year were disclosed yesterday in The Gazette, a newspaper in
Colorado
> Springs. The disclosure of Duberstein's work for G.M. appears to further undercut
the
> Olympic committee's standing as its top officials prepare to testify
Tuesday at
> a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee about the ethics panel's
findings on
> Ward and on the overall management of the organization. A meeting next
week
> between Olympic officials and Senators Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska,
and
> Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Republican of Colorado, was canceled because they
will
> attend the hearing. On Jan. 13, the ethics panel found that Ward had "created the appearance
of a
> conflict of interest" by directing a staff member to help advance a
proposal by
> a company run by his brother and a childhood friend to provide backup
power for
> the Pan American Games next summer. The panel also found that Ward should
have
> disclosed what he had done. The Olympic organization's executive committee accepted the
> findings and
said
> any punishment of Ward would be financial, most likely by reducing his
bonus
> after his performance review. In an e-mail message Ward sent late Thursday to the
> organization's board
of
> directors, he said he had asked the top officials of the organization "to direct the entire bonus,
> if any, in which I am awarded for the 2002
calendar
> year, to athlete programs." He is eligible for a bonus totaling several
hundred
> thousand dollars in addition to his $550,000 annual salary. Ward was elected to the G.M. board in
> 2000 when he was the chief executive
of
> Maytag. He is paid an annual director's retainer of $120,000 and serves on
> G.M.'s public policy and audit committees. He declined to discuss whether
he
> knew Duberstein was a G.M. lobbyist. Records on file with the secretary of the Senate show that
> G.M. paid the Duberstein Group $80,000 in 1999, $120,000 in 2000 and $196,000 in 2001.
For
> the first half of 2002, G.M. paid another $120,000. Duberstein was chief of staff in the Reagan
> White House in 1988 and 1989,
and
> his lobbying clients last year included AOL Time Warner, Arthur Andersen, Fannie Mae, Goldman
> Sachs and United Airlines. United is an Olympic
committee
> sponsor. Duberstsein was also the co-chairman of an investigation into the Olympic committee after
> it was revealed that the organizers of the Salt Lake
Olympics
> had lavished International Olympic Committee members with more than $1
million
> in cash and gifts. Although Ward kept his job at the Olympic committee, he continues to deal
with
> the messy aftermath of the inquiry, including a call this week by seven of
the
> organization's top officials for the resignation of its president, Marty Mankamyer. In an e-mail
> message sent to the Olympic committee's 123 board members on Thursday, Ward tried to clarify how
> much time he spends at the organization's headquarters in Colorado Springs. "There have been
> misrepresentations and misunderstandings concerning how
and
> where I spend my time," Ward wrote in the message. He said that he lived
in a
> rented house in Colorado Springs and had purchased a lot on which a new
house
> was being built. Colorado property and mortgage records show that Ward and his wife,
Estralita,
> paid $475,000 for a lot in a resort community near the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs and
> have taken out a $1.9 million construction loan. "We will pay 2002 state taxes as Colorado
> residents," he wrote. "I spent
five
> non-holiday weekends in our second home in Long Boat Key, Florida. I paid
for
> all my personal travel to and from Florida." Based on his 2002 calendar, Ward tried to break down
> his work as chief executive, listing 19 separate activities and the number of occasions he
was
> involved in each of them. They included 641 general office meetings; 158 scheduled phone calls;
> 121 meetings of sponsors, suppliers and donors; 25 keynote addresses; 125 breakfast, lunch and
> dinner meetings; 19 news interviews; 16 days at board meetings of other corporations; and 39
weekend
> days worked.

 

Brian Lafferty wrote:

> So by the ethical standards below, the Bushman and his Chickenhawk Cabinet, have clear ethical
> problem in calling for war with Iraq and its concomitant military buildup.
>
> Brian Lafferty
> --

Oh, I would say they have had ethical problems long before the current concomitant military buildup.
Oh dicky cheney's company Haliburton is just seeing the dollars signs once the oil-fields get set
afire and 'they' have to go in and put them out.

Then again, it is not about the oil... right?

Joe
--

Pursuant to U.S. code,title 47, Chapter 5, Subchapter II, Section 227, and consistent with Oregon
State Law, any and all unsolicited commercial E-mail sent to this address is subject to a consulting
fee of $500.00 U.S. E-Mailing denotes acceptance of these terms. Consult
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/47/227.html> for details.

 

"Brian Lafferty" <[email protected]
> So by the ethical standards below, the Bushman and his Chickenhawk
Cabinet,
> have clear ethical problem in calling for war with Iraq and its
concomitant
> military buildup.
>
> Brian Lafferty

Yet another thread gone to crap...
(off-topic... yada-yada-yada...
(hint - grow up already Brian!))

> --
> Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and
> corporate power.--Benito Mussolini Together We Can End Violence, Exploitation and War Visit UU
> PeaceWork, AFSC and True > the
> > organization's top officials for the resignation of its president, Marty Mankamyer. In an e-mail
> > message sent to the Olympic committee's 123
board
> > members on Thursday, Ward tried to clarify39
> weekend
> > days worked.
>