Wolfowitz

When Paul Wolfowitz was negotiating the terms of his employment with the World Bank in 2005, the fact of his relationship with Bank employee Shah Riza was known and was one of the issues negotiated, according to an AP story. Wolfowitz offered to refrain from dealings with her, but he also insisted that this did not mean a ban on “professional contact.” That seems reasonable. After all, you can’t expect a man and woman who are living together, or at least sleeping together, not to discuss their jobs.

But here’s the astonishing thing. Given that his personal relationship with Riza and the need for him to avoid a conflict of interest was an explicit matter of concern under the terms of his employment, how could he then have intervened to arrange Shah’s whopping pay increase when he arranged for her to work at the State Department? I guess he just didn’t care.

According to Alex Spillius writing in the April 16 New York Sun,

It has often been said that Mr. Wolfowitz is a brilliant thinker and a terrible manager. His defenders say the current crisis smacks not of nepotism but poor administration and trying too hard to ensure someone he cared for was properly compensated.

Got that? That’s like saying that John Dillinger’s behavior did not smack of bank robbery but of trying too hard to get his hands on some cash.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 17, 2007 05:28 PM | Send