Why is the Catholic Church STILL covering up predator priests?

One of the first big stories I broke as a young reporter was a clergy sex abuse scandal at Saint Anthony's Seminary in Santa Barbara (which is a all-boys Catholic boarding school, not a university for priests). That was in 1992. What was more shocking than the crimes, which were horrifying, was the open and obvious stonewalling by the Church as the victims sought recourse against their abusers. Almost 20-years later, it seems little has changed.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles settled a huge number of sex abuse claims in 2006 for a reported $600 million dollars, a severe financial blow. And reportedly the total payouts from other Archdioceses around the world are approaching $2 billion, so it's not like this isn't costing the church dearly. So why the ongoing problem? If IBM or Exxon Mobil had to pay out $2 billion in judgements for the sexual misconduct of its employees, you can bet the organization would have swiftly and ruthlessly reformed itself and held the guilty accountable. Yet the church has not.

When I counsel clients in cases of serious employee misconduct, it's almost a universal reaction to try to make the problem go away by covering it up or sweeping it under the rug. But serious problems are usually systemic and unless an organization is willing to address its own failures, the problems are almost certain to repeat.

If Pope Benedict is serious and sincere about reform he will need to take bold and sweeping action.

First, he needs to order the entire global church structure to immediately report all sexual abuse cases to law enforcement. And to institute severe consequences for those who fail to comply.

Second, he needs to organize a church-wide policy for providing restitution the victims to date. This is going to be hugely difficult and expensive, but it is necessary.

Finally, he and the rest of the Church leadership need to undertake a sincere and searching analysis of why, in the first place, the Church is such a haven for sexual predators. And then they need to set about changing those reasons.

Polanski's Lawyers Open Up Even More Misconduct Allegations

From AP 50 minutes ago: "Roman Polanski's attorneys have filed an appeal asking that a special counsel investigate alleged judicial misconduct in the director's 32-year-old sex case."

I think Polanski's lawyers are doing a great job.

My experience in numerous high-profile criminal trials is that defense attorney's rarely want to be seen as trying their cases in the press. But if a case is ALREADY being tried in the press by the prosecution, I think the defense owes it to their client to fight back. In Polanski's case, they're doing a great job, both legally and on the PR front. 

With every new filing Polanski's legal team does two things for their client: First, they vastly reduce the chance that the Swiss will actually extradite him, given the allegations of serious judicial misconduct in the original case and the ongoing failure of the LA District Attorney's office to properly address said misconduct head-on. More importantly, though, with their continual and layered rollout of each new piece of evidence showing improper conduct by the judge, they have turned the media spectacle into a trial by public opinion not of Polanski but of the long-dead judge. 

Even better, they've done this not through Polanski's statements but by citing objections and concerns raised by the original prosecutor, Roger Gunson.  Gunson, who is still alive, gave secret testimony in the case this year, and he's been an outspoken critic of the judge's conduct in the original case. This puts current Los Angeles DA Steve Cooley in the awkward position of siding with a dead and pretty well disgraced former judge against a well-respected former prosecutor from Cooley's own office.

Los Angeles County Sheriff too "Radical" for Republican Congressman

Thanks to Kevin at LAObserved for catching this piece. LA County Sheriff Baca, who is about as widely respected of a law-enforcement officer as you'll ever find, was testifying in front of the Homeland Security Committee when he was attacked by Rep. Mark Souder of Indiana for attending fundraisers for CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Baca, bless his heart, shot back saying, "And you'll see me there 10 more times."

Very nice to see a serious guy like Baca taking a stand for decency and common sense.

Congress, in general, knows know shame when it comes to scoring political points through jingoism and race-baiting and neither party has a corner on the market for it.

I'll never forget sitting with my clients from Dubai during the DP World Crisis as they were being grilled by a congressional committee. Member after member lined up to insinuate or outright declare that Dubai was a severe threat to US security, despite the fact they ALL knew the USS Ronald Reagan was in port in Dubai at that very moment and that none other than General John Abizaid, US CENTCOM
Commander, had called Dubai and the UAE one of the most important allies in the war on terror.

Toyota, takes off the glove, finally!

After weeks of letting themselves be flogged in public, Toyota finally fights back by questioning the account of one of the "Runaway Prius" driver.

It'll be interesting to see how it plays, because it's always dicey calling a customer a liar, but at this point Toyota really needs to show that it's going to confront both true and false allegations swiftly and head-on.

John Edwards' mistress Rielle Hunter in GQ

I'm fascinated with this. Is she gaming him? Is he gaming us through her?

Tiger, shanks it again.

Tiger Woods has hired Ari Fleisher to rehabilitate. It's hard to imagine a billionaire celebrity handling a PR crisis any worse that Tiger Woods has. It's been 4 months since his bimbo explosion went nuclear and he basically took the ostrich approach with the result that the tabloids and a dozen paramours have been allowed to write the entire narrative. Now for his next big move, he hires a guy whose big credits are flacking for Presdient George W. Bush and "rehabilitating" Mark McGuire.

Did I miss Mark McGuire's rehabilitation? Last I heard he was disgraced in the public eye for basically taking the 5th and refusing to testify in front of Congress about the subject. And how are people feeling about George W. Bush's legacy right now?

The sad irony, though, is that this whole thing could have been behind Tiger by now. He should have walked out in front of the cameras within a few days of the original event, eaten some humble pie and then gone golfing. When you're loved for something, DO NOT STOP DOING IT. David Letterman didn't stop hosting his show. President Clinton didn't stop being the leader of the free world.  But bunkering up like this has done nothing but heighten the interest in his transgressions and his personal life.

A Fixer Looks At Forty

I never meant to become a fixer. As a boy, I wanted to be an astronaut, but that would have been a poor career choice for me, given a proclivity to airsickness.

For other things, though, I've proved to have a strong stomach. In the last 10 years, since I switched careers from being a journalist writing about things to a guy who gets called on to fix things, I've been involved in dozens crises ranging from product malfunctions to political turf battles and on to the kinds of wars fought with guns and bombs. I'm the guy who gets the call when the bombs fall on the wrong house, killing innocents, and the guy who gets the call when the CEO is  caught with his hand in the till, FAR from innocent.

I started to say that I've had a front-row seat on the unfolding of history but then I caught myself. The truth is that my clients call me because they expect me to step into the ring with them, not to spectate. Sometimes it's been my nose bloodied, other times I've delivered the knock out punch. I've seen the best and worst of human nature play out in close proximity.

What all of this has given me is a different way of looking at the news. I used to read the front page of the New York Times and think that what was written there was what HAD HAPPENED. Now, I see the same front page and see a web of interests and agendas. I see the invisible hands of those manipulating the news for their own purposes. I see those hands because, very often they're mine.

Just like a film director watches a movie and sees the techniques, the failures and the brilliance of the person who made that film, a good fixer can look at current events, at history being made, and see the the work of his colleagues and competitors.

That's what this blog is about.