PREMIUM SEARCH Search by job title, geography and build a list of executive contacts
The Justice Dept. has come up with a substitute for criminal investigations -- it's called the photo op. This is hardly a new phenomenon. For years, ambitious prosecutors paraded alleged bad guys before the cameras in what has become known as the perp walk. But the Bush Administration is turning the use of political props, in the form of alleged criminals, into an art form.
Take the White House's shamelessly political effort to show that it is cracking down on corporate crooks. Thus, we see the same dreary tableau every few days: A CEO suspect is handcuffed, paraded out the front door of an office building by a phalanx of nylon-jacketed cops, cameramen, and microphone booms, and shoved into a waiting government-issue sedan. The next step: the carefully orchestrated press conference where top Bush Administration officials vow they will not rest until the war on corporate corruption is won. This is the cable-TV version of the show trial.
TRIAL BY LEAK. Then, there's the curious story of Steven J. Hatfill, the subject of another government-driven media frenzy. Hatfill, the FBI would have you know, is not a suspect in its investigation of whoever sent the anthrax-laced envelopes that killed five people last year.
He's not a suspect just like Richard Jewell was not a suspect in the 1996 Olympic Park bombings in Atlanta. Jewell, you may remember, was never charged in that incident, but he was the subject of a months-long campaign of carefully orchestrated FBI leaks.
Hatfill seems to be a victim of the same game. Twice now, the FBI has searched his apartment. Nothing wrong with that, of course. What's wrong is that each time, the G-men tipped off reporters and TV crews, who happily tagged along. And on Aug. 11, when Hatfill called a press conference to deny any involvement in the anthrax episode, the FBI leaked a copy of a novel Hatfill allegedly wrote that included, as part of the plot, an anthrax attack. It was a clever way to step on Hatfill's account. But, it also confirmed his claims that he's the subject of a government slander campaign.
CLUELESS. So far, this has cost Hatfill two jobs. His girlfriend has had her apartment torn up. And, still, the FBI tells us he's not a suspect. So why the publicity stunts? Simple. Some of those anthrax letters were delivered to Capitol Hill. A year has passed, and the FBI seems to have no actual clue about who did it. And Congress is starting to grumble. So, in the absence of real action, the agency has decided to create the image of progress.
If Hatfill did send those letters, the government ought to get him locked up. But it has no business using him as a prop in its efforts to cover its butt on Capitol Hill.
The corporate-crook suspects are a tougher case. I can't exactly feel sorry for the guys who must suffer the humiliation of the perp walk. They have been accused of defrauding shareholders and using public companies as their personal piggy banks. Investors have lost billions of dollars, and thousands of workers are out of jobs thanks to what is -- at least -- the horrendous mismanagement perpetrated by some of these corporate execs.
Plus, there's the impact on other CEOs who might be contemplating the same thing. At least some among the starched-collar crowd feel that they're above the law. They believe that they'll never get caught, and even if they do, a sharp lawyer will get them off with little more than a fine. But what to say to the boys at the club after their latest humiliating TV appearance?
EQUAL JUSTICE FOR ALL. Still, the government is going over the line here. Normally, someone about to be charged with a crime is given the opportunity to surrender to the authorities. They would be booked, fingerprinted, get their bail hearing, and wait for the justice system to grind on. Corporate crooks don't deserve better than the guy who forges a couple of checks. But they don't deserve worse, either. They're not going to take hostages or engage in a shoot-out. And, after all, they're innocent until proved guilty.
The Justice Dept. has been an intensely political place for generations now. Just think back to the days of Robert Kennedy and John Mitchell. But even by those standards, the agency under John Ashcroft has gone way over the top. He needs a reminder: Criminal justice is not the same as politics.
Gleckman is a senior correspondent in BusinessWeek's Washington bureau. Follow his views every Tuesday in Washington
Watch, only on BusinessWeek Online Edited by Beth Belton
Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.
Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed.
Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video.
To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here.
Copyright 2002, Bloomberg L.P.
Printer-Friendly Version
