The American Spectator

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The Investor

(Page 2 of 2)

Every stool pigeon has an excuse. John Dean was going to be made the fall guy of the Nixon White House. Henry Hill was worried about Jimmy Burke. Sam Gravano was worried about John Gotti.

How will you ever be worthy of someone's trust -- that of a client, or a friend, or a colleague, or a boss, or an employee, or a spouse -- if your loyalty is negotiable?

When did we become a nation of free agents? Intimacy and friendship come from loyalty. Responsibility comes from loyalty. When you're cornered, you take the punishment. You don't make your responsibility disappear by fingering someone else. Regardless of politics or their belief in their innocence, I respect Gordon Liddy and Susan McDougal. Both turned down leniency when it was offered in exchange for implicating their friends.

I don't enjoy living in a world where every person is potentially an agent against you because they found a better deal. You can be the most understanding employer in the world, fair and caring to your employees in every way. If someone offers them 10% more money, they're off to work as the cleaning crew of a Tijuana whore house. Your business partner could empty the files and the bank account while you're on vacation. Someone offered him a better deal, and who is he to make his children attend a state college when he loves them enough to give them more?

If people like Joe Berardino and David Duncan exemplify Andersen's corporate culture, the firm probably belongs at the bottom of a dumpster. If I can get over what a shabby operation the whole place must be, I'll root for Andersen to fight the government. I like our government a lot more than I like Arthur Andersen, but I don't believe we should buy the testimony of admitted wrongdoers. I say that Andersen should go down swinging, and I even give them a decent chance of winning at trial. Then they can get their wish of making Duncan take the rap alone.

I hope the judge sentences him to a long term, at a place like our bathroom after we got back from Chicago.

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