Will You Take This One? No? How about That One?
This is starting to get really funny. The Center for Responsive Politics has been trying for months now to get a copy of former USDOT Secretary Norman Mineta's calendar year 2000 Public Financial Disclosure report. If you recall, that's the only one of the three disclosures he filed related to his 2000 finances where he was required to provide the details of his profit of up to $1 million in stock options in a company (Trimble Navigation) that has ties to Traffic.com.
I had earlier received this disclosure, and noticed that Mr. Mineta checked "none" in terms of any equity transactions that year on Schedule B, which doesn't make much sense when at the same time (on Schedule A) he disclosed up to a megabuck in capital gains profit from those options. I believe that he hid these details because he received a whole lot more stock options "under the table" than he should have received as a Board member of Trimble Navigation for just over a year before he became Commerce Secretary in the Clinton Administration in July, 2000. In effect, I believe that Trimble "bought themselves a Cabinet member" with this arrangement, and that Mr. Mineta paid them back by espousing federal policies as Commerce Secretary and later Transportation Secretary that would potentially benefit the company.
I have since received another copy of that disclosure, and POGO also received a copy of it in response to their FOIA appeal letter to the OGE.
Despite the fact that this report clearly exists, CRP has not been able to obtain it for many months. First, the OGE sent them the 2000 transportation "new entrant" disclosure that didn't require Mr. Mineta to provide those details. After stalling for literally months, the OGE recently sent CRP the calendar year 2002 report.
They're clearly doing everything they can not to send CRP the correct disclosure. Why? Because CRP is an independent and trusted archivist of such disclosures, and they don't have a six-year statute of limitations in terms of archiving these reports. OGE does have such a statute of limitations, however, and would destroy this disclosure through their normal process in April, 2008.
Clearly, Mr. Mineta would like this disclosure to just fade into the sunset, at which time he'll likely breath a big sigh of relief. I am more and more certain that someone in OGE is trying their best to help him out and to not send it to CRP, where it will live on indefinitely.
Dan at CRP, who manages the acquisition and archiving of these reports, is very frustrated at his inability to acquire the correct disclosure and I certainly understand his frustration. However, I still think that it's pretty funny how hard Mr. Mineta's friends are working not to send the correct disclosure to the CRP.
A message for the slimy bastards in the OGE: It won't work!
Jerry
I had earlier received this disclosure, and noticed that Mr. Mineta checked "none" in terms of any equity transactions that year on Schedule B, which doesn't make much sense when at the same time (on Schedule A) he disclosed up to a megabuck in capital gains profit from those options. I believe that he hid these details because he received a whole lot more stock options "under the table" than he should have received as a Board member of Trimble Navigation for just over a year before he became Commerce Secretary in the Clinton Administration in July, 2000. In effect, I believe that Trimble "bought themselves a Cabinet member" with this arrangement, and that Mr. Mineta paid them back by espousing federal policies as Commerce Secretary and later Transportation Secretary that would potentially benefit the company.
I have since received another copy of that disclosure, and POGO also received a copy of it in response to their FOIA appeal letter to the OGE.
Despite the fact that this report clearly exists, CRP has not been able to obtain it for many months. First, the OGE sent them the 2000 transportation "new entrant" disclosure that didn't require Mr. Mineta to provide those details. After stalling for literally months, the OGE recently sent CRP the calendar year 2002 report.
They're clearly doing everything they can not to send CRP the correct disclosure. Why? Because CRP is an independent and trusted archivist of such disclosures, and they don't have a six-year statute of limitations in terms of archiving these reports. OGE does have such a statute of limitations, however, and would destroy this disclosure through their normal process in April, 2008.
Clearly, Mr. Mineta would like this disclosure to just fade into the sunset, at which time he'll likely breath a big sigh of relief. I am more and more certain that someone in OGE is trying their best to help him out and to not send it to CRP, where it will live on indefinitely.
Dan at CRP, who manages the acquisition and archiving of these reports, is very frustrated at his inability to acquire the correct disclosure and I certainly understand his frustration. However, I still think that it's pretty funny how hard Mr. Mineta's friends are working not to send the correct disclosure to the CRP.
A message for the slimy bastards in the OGE: It won't work!
Jerry
posted by Jerry Werner | 12:07 PM
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