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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.
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.
