Recent Integrity Commentaries

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Sometimes the Good Guys Win
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ordered Wells Fargo, the third largest U.S. bank, to pay a former employee $5.4 million who was fired after he blew the whistle on supervisors regarding fraudulent behavior by the bank. According to the ruling, Wells Fargo must also reinstate a similar position previously held by the employee. NPR reports (Apr. 4), “The...
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April 7, 2017
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April 1 Breaking News: ‘Ethics Disorder’ a Disease
Washington, D.C. – In a stunning announcement on the steps of the Capitol today, scientists from four leading research centers believe they have found a direct link between the ethics scandals of the last five years – perhaps going back as far as five decades – and a chemical imbalance in the brain. The new disease, which scientists are calling...
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March 31, 2017
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The Cost of a “Judgment Call”
In 2005, I was invited to speak on ethics at a prominent university. I was escorted to a site on campus where the room was packed with students, teachers and administrators. I take my place at a table down in front near the podium for a luncheon that preceded my talk. An official in the room leans over and tells...
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March 27, 2017
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The Ethical Conscience of Rock Climbers
Climbing is a great game; great not in spite of the demands it makes, but because of them. Great because it will not let us give half of ourselves, it demands all of us. It demands our best. – Royal Robbins If the 60s and 70s are consider the Golden Age of rock climbing then Yosemite Valley was the place...
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March 20, 2017
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Not Going Away
While President-elect Donald Trump announced that his sons will run his company but make no new foreign deals, problems already exist. “At the Wednesday press conference where Mr. Trump described the company’s new structure,” The Wall Street Journal writes (Jan. 14), “he also said he had turned down $2 billion in property deals in Dubai to avoid any possible ethics...
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January 18, 2017
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Deal with the Devil
While there is no photographic evidence, Paul Ryan continues to suffer the results of his deal with the devil. Once the House Speaker walked onto the stage of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, his fate was sealed. “Democracy is a series of choices,” Ryan told the GOP faithful. “We Republicans have made our choice. Have we had our arguments...
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October 28, 2016
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The First Priority
“I won’t insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.”  — William F. Buckley, Jr. In Junior High, my mother announced that every day I would start reading at least two articles from our daily newspaper. The first was a news event of the day. Typically, I’d pick anything to do with the space program....
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October 3, 2016
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Between a Rock and a Trump Place
SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATES! Dear Mr. Speaker, Well, that didn’t take long. Last month you told CNN’s Jake Tapper: “I’m just not ready to [endorse Donald Trump].” You said you couldn’t support Trump unless he “advances the principles of our party and appeals to a wide, vast majority of Americans.” The only problem with that statement, Mr. Speaker is that...
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June 7, 2016
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Eat It!
October 2, 2015: a date… which will live… in infamy; at least for one journalist. That look of utter defeat on Washington Post Columnist Dana Milbank’s face comes as a consequence of a promise he made last year. “I’m so certain Trump won’t win the nomination,” Milbank wrote, “that I’ll eat my words if he does. Literally: The day Trump...
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May 16, 2016
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Trust and Confidence – Some Back Story
Last week’s story about former Secret Service Director Lewis Merletti’s 1998 battle with Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr is far from a complete account. I’ve been developing a more comprehensive narrative that includes what was going on inside the Office of Independent Counsel at the time. In preparing the story I studied “The Referral by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr”; “The Report...
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April 18, 2016