The Washington Post has some, umh, negative news about Virginia Senator George Allen:
For the past five years, Sen. George Allen, has failed to tell Congress about stock options he got for his work as a director of a high-tech company. The Virginia Republican also asked the Army to help another business that gave him similar options.
Congressional rules require senators to disclose to the Senate all deferred compensation, such as stock options. The rules also urge senators to avoid taking any official action that could benefit them financially or appear to do so.
[…]
In interviews, Allen and his staff sought to play down his corporate dealings, saying they were a good learning experience but did not lead to extraordinary riches _ except for a quarter-million-dollar windfall from Com-Net Ericsson stock.
[…]
Allen’s office said he did not report his Commonwealth options on his past five Senate disclosure reports because their purchase price was higher than the current market value. Allen viewed them as worthless and believed in “good faith” he did not have to report them, aides said.
[…]
When AP showed Allen’s lawyer the Senate ethics manual requirement that such options must be reported each year regardless of value, the lawyer said he was unfamiliar with that provision. Allen has now asked the Senate ethics committee for an opinion on whether he should have disclosed them.
Heh. His lawyer did not know it. That’s because, you know, lawyers do not actually know about, quite, important provisions like that. Because, you know, it is not their job to know the law. Especially not when it might be inconvenient for their client.
Whether or not the committee concludes he should have reported them or not, we can be sure about one thing: (political) life is getting more and more difficult for George Allen. First the ‘macaca’ incident, now this.
Funny: he did not know what ‘macaca’ means and now… he did not know that he should have reported it.
Heh.
Sometimes the best option is to be, or at least act, stupid, so it seems.
PAST CONTRIBUTOR.