IP: more on Leader Views WorldCom as Security Issue for the Nation

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: "Dana Blankenhorn" <danablankenhorn () mindspring com>
Reply-To: "Dana Blankenhorn" <danablankenhorn () mindspring com>
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 09:57:26 -0400
To: <farber () cis upenn edu>
Subject: Re: Leader Views WorldCom as Security Issue for the Nation

In answer to your question, Dave, he was part of the team.
(http://www.surferess.com/CEO/html/john_sidgmore.html)

Before taking the CEO chair, Sidgmore was COO and vice chairman of Worldcom.
His statements yesterday were pure chutzpah. (For those unfamiliar with the
term, the working definition is the boy who kills his parents and then
pleads for the court's mercy because he's an orphan.)

I was absolutely and totally shocked that no one called him on it. No one
called him on it at the press conference. No one has called him on it in the
coverage of the event.

This is an indictment, not of Sidgmore (you've got to try to brazen it out,
I suppose) but of the media, the business media in particular and the media
in general.

How can we let this pass? This man was the chief operating officer and vice
chairman when billions of dollars were stolen directly (through accounting)
and hundreds of billions more were stolen (through stock bought under false
pretenses). Thousands of people are losing their jobs over this.

What in the world does "fiduciary responsibility" mean anyway? It's usually
applied to managers of pension funds. Doesn't it apply to corporate officers
as well?

Where is the outrage? Why are these people walking the streets? If anyone
else stole billions of dollars from individuals and institutions over the
course of several years, they would be in jail. Not a "Club Fed," either,
but a real jail. And their families would forfeit everything (I mean
everything). Shouldn't RICO apply to the conspirators at Enron, as well as
Worldcom, and all these other so-called "corporations" that turned out to be
shells?

The people who run giant companies are given huge responsibility, and we
should expect them to do more than just avoid (or evade) the law. They're
supposed to have ethics as well. They're taking our money, the peoples'
money, in a public market. It's not a casino. If it becomes a casino, and if
such double-dealing goes unpunished, then no business can expect to be able
to raise capital.

Why in the world didn't someone stand up to Sidgmore and ask, "Sir, you were
COO and vice chairman of this company. Why are you still walking the
streets?" How in the world can the vice chairman and COO walk away from
responsibility for this kind of fraud, and no one even call him on it?

I say this now as a business reporter of 25 years' standing. The scandals of
our time go far beyond the boardrooms where they were concocted. They go
right down to us, the reporters and editors who are supposed to be
responsible in covering them. So far, as far as I can see, we've been
nothing more than an audience. And until that changes, I can't expect anyone
to trust us.

Dana Blankenhorn   http://www.a-clue.com
@Have Modem, Will Travel  dana () a-clue com
Ph: 404-373-7634   fax: 404-378-0794

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