Arch neo-con apologizes for giving top job at World Bank to his girlfriend http://www.ft.com/cms/s/875846d8-e9bc-11db-91c7-000b5df10621.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wolfowitz Here we go again
Are you a zionist too, ablaye? We covered the definition the other day and I thought for sure that going by the definition you would be a zionist also. Good grief, if giving someone a job is a crime, let's clear out the United Nations!
In the higher echelons of power, if you're secretly in a relationship with someone and use your influence to get them a high paying job at the place you work at, it's usually frowned upon. Sounds like you haven't educated yourself about what happened.
That's quite a big "if" considering it does not match with the facts: Sounds more like you have not taken the time to educate yourself about what happened. You contend a secret relationship, but the facts state it was not and that he actually brought this issue to the committee in good faith.
Not entirely true. As taken from the story appearing in today's USA Today: The bank's 24-member executive board issued a report Friday detailing the transfer of Shaha Ali Riza, a public relations employee in the bank's Middle East and Africa department and Wolfowitz's girlfriend, to a State Department foundation. The job shift, which came with a 31% pay hike over two years, came after Wolfowitz disclosed his relationship with Riza during negotiations over his five-year presidential term. Bank rules required that she be moved from her job to eliminate a potential conflict of interest. Last month, The Washington Post quoted Kevin Kellems, Wolfowitz's spokesman, saying that "all arrangements concerning Shaha Riza were made at the direction of the bank's board of directors." But after a review conducted by an ad hoc panel, the board concluded that Wolfowitz had dictated specific terms of Riza's employment in a memorandum to the bank's vice president for human resources without consulting the bank's ethics committee or general counsel. At her current tax-free salary of $193,590, Riza earns more than Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. And from the UPI: In order to avoid a conflict of interest after he was named the bank's president in 2005, Wolfowitz had asked the bank to second Riza to the U.S. Department of State. At the same time, he pushed the bank to give her a $60,000 pay increase, which far exceeds the regulated pay increases among bank staff members. Riza's current salary is estimated to be near $200,000 free of tax, which is still being paid by the World Bank. My understanding is that when Wolfowitz was nominated for the job at the World Bank, his relationship with Riza was not known at the time. It came out during the same time he asked for the World Bank to promote her and raise her pay, which lead to the initial controversy. Before Riza left the World Bank she got the promotion and a larger-than-average pay raise. The question then arises: why did Wolfowitz request for Riza's promotion at the same time he went public about their relationship? How long were they working together at the World Bank and were involved? And when it was known, why did Wolfowitz see no problem with asking for a pay raise and promotion at the World Bank when he was her boss as well as lover? The exact timescale of who knew when and at what time is still a little cloudy, but I stand by my original statement: if you're secretly in a relationship with someone and use your influence to get them a high paying job at the place you work at, it's usually frowned upon. Riza continues to draw a paycheck from the World Bank, one that is significantly higher than her equivalents. This is precisely what is coming back to haunt Wolfowitz now.
An "understanding" is one thing; what the facts say are another. I quoted directly from the sources provided above, which clearly show one of the very first things he did was address this issue with the board and that the board took their action.
With so much money and power at his disposal, it's going to be hard to find someone who won't be tempted to be corrupt.
Wolfowitz revealed his relationship with Riza to the World Bank panel around the same time he asked for her promotion and pay raise. That's stated in the media coverage of the story. So how could he have submitted his recommendation for Riza's promotion and raise if he wasn't already employed at the World Bank in some capacity? I haven't heard of any boss being able to ask for an employee's promotion and rise in their pay unless their weight already commanded some measure of power at the institution. Unless he a) was being considered for the job and b) at the same time specifically asked that she get a promotion and raise, which sounds very peculiar, don't you agree?
See post #7 in this thread. He revealed it when he first came to the world bank. The committee made the recommendation.