The Complete Scoop about Former Transportation Secretary Mineta's Violation of the Ethics in Government Act
In digging into the public financial disclosures of top USDOT officials I suspected were collaborating with former Cong. Bud Shuster in the Traffic.com monopoly/scam, I stumbled upon former Transportation Secretary Mineta's likely fraudulent failure to disclose the details of his capital gains income of up to $1 million in Trimble Navigation stock options back in 2000.
The reason for his failure to disclose this information? Because he very likely received a whole lot of extra stock options under the table from the company than he was otherwise entitled to, which may have influenced Mr. Mineta to later propose and support federal policies and programs designed to specifically benefit Trimble.
The combination of a willful failure to disclose required information about a financial windfall, combined with later action to favor the source of that windfall, is a clear violation of the federal Ethics in Government Act. This Act clearly has teeth, too, if those who are responsible for ensuring ethics and honesty in our government will use it. Just ask Ronald Blackley, former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espey's Chief of Staff, who in 1999 was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for "failing to disclose $22,000 from Mississippi agribusiness interests on his 1993 public financial disclosure report," according to press reports at the time.
Mr. Mineta's possible violation of the Ethics in Government Act is likely much more egregious, both because the amount of the income he failed to report is likely many times greater than Blackley's omission, and the fact that the U.S. Office of Government Ethics apparently tried to "lose" the one financial disclosure on which he was required by law to provide details of his Trimble Navigation stock options transactions.
While I've shared most of the facts in this matter earlier, I've posted those facts in bits and pieces. In order to provide a more complete account of what likely transpired to the authorities with whom I'm in frequent contact, I've now compiled that information into a much more coherent package. This matter is quite complex, so I encourage interested readers to review these documents in the following order:
1. Signficance of Mr. Mineta's Financial Disclosures in 1999-2002.
2. Further Insight from Mr. Mineta's Commerce 'New Entrant' Financial Disclosure in 2000.
3. The U.S. Office Of Government Ethics' Effort to Lose Former USDOT Secretary Mineta'a Calendar Year 2000 Public Financial Disclosure Report
4. Mr. Mineta's Support for GPS and Location Technology as Secretary of Commerce/Transportation
I hope you will find this information as eye-opening as I did when I first discovered it.
Jerry
The reason for his failure to disclose this information? Because he very likely received a whole lot of extra stock options under the table from the company than he was otherwise entitled to, which may have influenced Mr. Mineta to later propose and support federal policies and programs designed to specifically benefit Trimble.
The combination of a willful failure to disclose required information about a financial windfall, combined with later action to favor the source of that windfall, is a clear violation of the federal Ethics in Government Act. This Act clearly has teeth, too, if those who are responsible for ensuring ethics and honesty in our government will use it. Just ask Ronald Blackley, former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espey's Chief of Staff, who in 1999 was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for "failing to disclose $22,000 from Mississippi agribusiness interests on his 1993 public financial disclosure report," according to press reports at the time.
Mr. Mineta's possible violation of the Ethics in Government Act is likely much more egregious, both because the amount of the income he failed to report is likely many times greater than Blackley's omission, and the fact that the U.S. Office of Government Ethics apparently tried to "lose" the one financial disclosure on which he was required by law to provide details of his Trimble Navigation stock options transactions.
While I've shared most of the facts in this matter earlier, I've posted those facts in bits and pieces. In order to provide a more complete account of what likely transpired to the authorities with whom I'm in frequent contact, I've now compiled that information into a much more coherent package. This matter is quite complex, so I encourage interested readers to review these documents in the following order:
1. Signficance of Mr. Mineta's Financial Disclosures in 1999-2002.
2. Further Insight from Mr. Mineta's Commerce 'New Entrant' Financial Disclosure in 2000.
3. The U.S. Office Of Government Ethics' Effort to Lose Former USDOT Secretary Mineta'a Calendar Year 2000 Public Financial Disclosure Report
4. Mr. Mineta's Support for GPS and Location Technology as Secretary of Commerce/Transportation
I hope you will find this information as eye-opening as I did when I first discovered it.
Jerry
posted by Jerry Werner | 7:33 AM
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