Ethics in Government

Just another oxymoron, I guess, reading Army Official Kept Options on Enron Stock Until January. Thomas White retired from distinguished (so they say) service in the Army as a general and went to work at Enron for over a decade, finishing his tenure there as vice chairman of one of the major subsidiaries and earning many millions in salary and stock options. Last Spring he was tabbed by the Bush Administration to serve as Secretary of the Army and the Senate confirmed his nomination.

Here is the troubling part. White “signed an ethics agreement promising to sell his shares in Enron, as well as his options and his stakes in several Enron retirement plans, within 90 days of joining the government.” But he didn’t do this. In fact, he held on to options in Enron which he didn’t get rid of until they were permanently and obviously worthless in mid-January. White knew they should have been disposed of earlier, as he kept asking for extensions in the deadline which in the end were denied. So he ignored them and acted in his own best interest.

Is Secretary White going to be punished for his rules violation? Apparently not: “The Armed Services Committee will probably not hold hearings into Mr. White’s conduct, one Congressional staff member said, who added that Mr. White’s behavior does not seem to have generated a ‘critical mass’ of opposition.” Sure, just another crumb of distaste and arrogance falling off the Enron table.