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The Denver Post Al Lewis column

September 30, 2006
The Denver Post Al Lewis column. Check it out:
(Denver Post, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Sep. 29--After losing her job and getting dragged into a congressional inquiry, Hewlett-Packard's deposed chairwoman Patricia Dunn can't make up her mind.

Is it OK to impersonate people and steal their phone records -- or not?

"I still do not understand whether it is legal or not, as opinions vary," Dunn told Congress on Thursday.

Even Silicon Valley lawyer Larry Sonsini's opinions vary. Acting as HP's outside counsel, Sonsini had advised that this practice, known as pretexting, is "not generally unlawful." On Thursday before Congress, though, Sonsini said pretexting is probably illegal but that there ought to be a new law to make this clear.



Wouldn't disbarment or a legal-malpractice lawsuit also make this clear?

And what about existing laws against deceptive trade practices, criminal impersonation, identity theft or wire fraud?

Don't they provide clarity?

Could Dunn and Sonsini really be this dumb? Do they really think the people watching their charades are dumb, too?

What's not ostensibly clear to Dunn and Sonsini seemed abundantly clear to HP general counsel Ann Baskins.

Hours before Baskins was scheduled to testify, she resigned from her 24-year career at HP and invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self- incrimination.

Also taking the Fifth were a host of others involved in HP's cloak-and-dagger investigation of boardroom leaks to reporters. They included Ronald DeLia, who runs the detective firm that HP used; Anthony R. Gentilucci, who managed HP's global investigations unit in Boston; and Kevin T. Hunsaker, HP's former chief ethics officer, who was fired apparently for a lack of ethics in this matter.

Then there's HP chief executive Mark Hurd, who did not take the Fifth. Congress cut Hurd way too much slack Thursday, allowing him to testify alone, without his suspicious-looking colleagues at his side.

Everybody seems to love Hurd because HP stock has soared since he became CEO last year. And at least Hurd was apologetic about HP's misadventure, describing it as a "rogue investigation that violated HP's own principles and values." But Hurd also did a fine job of playing dumb. He told Congress he had had discussions about the investigation but was not involved in it and did not know the details. Maybe he didn't know because he didn't want to know.

"I understand there is also a written report of the investigation addressed to me and others, but unfortunately I did not read it," Hurd said in prepared testimony. "I could have, and I should have." But somehow, he just didn't.

How dumb is that?

So everyone involved in HP's investigation either took the Fifth, said they didn't know or said they were assured that what went on was legal.

Dunn, I think, explained it most eloquently: "Reliance on representations from trusted sources is a bedrock concept in board governance." Here's another "bedrock concept" if you ever want to run a complex enterprise like HP: Question everything. But don't try to look smart when prosecutors are watching your every facial twitch on C-SPAN. Better to play dumb.

Like Bryan Wagner of Littleton, who once worked for Action Research Group.

Wagner, 29, is the nephew of private investigator James Rapp, who pleaded guilty in 1999 after selling information about Los Angeles organized-crime detectives to the Israeli mafia.

Denver Post reporter Kimberly Johnson approached Wagner on Wednesday outside his apartment as he waited for a shuttle to take him to the airport for his flight to Washington. "Action (Research Group) has lawyers to make sure that we're doing everything legally," he told Johnson. "I never thought I was doing anything wrong." Wagner, however, took the Fifth on Thursday before Congress. And well before that, he reportedly took a hammer to his computer.

"I'm not going to say any more about the computer," he said. "I'm afraid I'll be charged with destruction of evidence."

OK, so I'll take it back. Wagner may be the one guy in the HP affair who is not playing dumb. Everyone else -- please!

Al Lewis' column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Respond to him at denverpostbloghouse.com/lewis, 303-954-1967 or [email protected].

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