Coming in 2012: Ken Lay International Airport
In this morning's Washington Post, we find this gem:
President Bush's top official on corporate crime and responsibility was a director of a credit card company that paid more than $400 million to settle allegations of consumer and securities fraud.
Larry D. Thompson, deputy attorney general and head of a new multi-agency corporate-crime task force, was a Providian Financial Corp. board member and chairman of its audit and compliance committee from June 1997 until his unanimous confirmation by the Senate on May 10, 2001.
His defense?
Thompson did not return calls for comment. "The deputy attorney general is proud of his service on the board of Providian. He only became aware of the [fraud] issues when regulators began to make inquiries," said his spokesman, Mark Corallo.
There's also this beauty of a sentence. Bet you can't guess what the reporter's thinking:
Thompson's service on the Providian board coincided with the time regulators said Providian engaged in fraudulent conduct. Providian settled all the complaints without admitting or denying wrongdoing.
I have two immediate reactions, one more mature than the other. The more mature of the two is: "Every time I think I couldn't possibly be more disgusted by the venal and incompetent clowns running the country right now, they take it to eleven..."
The other is: "See? Positively Reagan-esque. I told you so."
(I was going to bill this as part of my substitute Jim Henley act, but Unqualified Offerings has returned, so we'll just roll with the "shrine to the ego" aspect...)
Posted at 8:59 AM | link | follow-ups |