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Vincent Bove Article

Published in:

The New Jersey Police Chief, March 2006

Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association, Summer Bulletin 2006

 
American Leadership Principles in an Age of Corruption
Part II

 
By Vincent J. Bove, CPP

On the Federal Bureau of Investigation's web site, is a compelling interview entitled Cracking Down on Public Corruption. The interview is with Supervisory Special Agent Dan O'Brien, Chief of the Bureau's Public Corruption and Government Fraud program at FBI headquarters.

SSA O'Brien states that public corruption strikes at the core of our country and has a direct impact on national security. For example, in a recent Arizona case, 26 current and former Department of Motor Vehicle employees were indicted for taking cash bribes for fake driver licenses, ID cards and even a hazmat license. If a terrorist is seeking a fake license this corruption can seriously jeopardize national security. According to the interview, public corruption crimes run the gamut and include embezzlement, voter fraud, subsidy fraud and illegal kickbacks.

In response to public corruption, the FBI has agents in place throughout the nation and uses cyber capabilities and surveillance skills to track financial dealings anywhere in the world. In 2005, the bureau opened over 900 cases which led to 650 convictions or guilty pleas.

The FBI web site is replete with examples of public corruption and with a click of the mouse, Department of Justice press releases can be downloaded which resonate with corruption stories including:

  • January 26, 2006
    Six current and former U. S. soldiers and law enforcement officials and two civilians agree to plead guilty to participating in bribery and extortion conspiracy. These individuals brazenly used their official positions to assist, protect and participate in the activities of an illegal narcotic trafficking organization engaged in the business of transporting and distributing cocaine from Arizona to other locations in the Southwestern United States. In order to protect the shipments of cocaine, the defendants wore official uniforms and carried official forms of identification, used official vehicles and used their color of authority where necessary to prevent police stops, searches and seizures of the narcotics as they drove the cocaine shipments on highways that passed through checkpoints manned by the U.S. Border Patrol, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Nevada law enforcement officers.
  • January 18, 2006
    Ninth defendant in multi-district public corruption probe pleads guilty to mail and wire fraud. Floyd Gary Thacker of Atlanta admitted that he established personal relationships with public officials in Atlanta and the former Director of Building Services in Houston by making secret cash payments, gifts and meals in exchange for favorable treatment for the award of city contracts to Thacker's business.
  • January 11, 2006
    Former Congressional Legislative Assistant Brett M. Pheffer pleads guilty in Alexandria, VA today to two-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to commit bribery and aiding and abetting the solicitation of bribes by a member of Congress.
  • January 4, 2006
    Gilbert Jackson of New Orleans pleads guilty to tax evasion in multi-district public corruption probe. This case is one of several stemming from a multi-district probe of public corruption by city officials relating to contracting services in Cleveland, East Cleveland, New Orleans and Houston being conducted by the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice; the U.S. Attorney's Offices in Cleveland, Atlanta and Houston: and agents of the FBI and IRS.
  • January 3, 2006
    Special agents of the FBI arrested Regina Joy Brown and Cynthia Annette Simmons of Jackson Mississippi as a result of an investigation by the bureau and the Jackson Police into allegations that both were employed as Deputy Court Clerks at the Jackson Municipal Court and were accepting bribes to destroy court records.

United States Attorney Corruption Cases

Aside from the cases presented by the FBI web site are cases on web sites of United States Attorney's from coast to coast. In a January 27, 2006 a press release from the Southern District of California, U. S. Attorney Carol C. Lam announced that Oscar Antonio Ortiz, a former Border Patrol agent assigned to the El Cajon Border Patrol Station, pled guilty in federal district court in San Diego before U.S. District Court Judge John A. Houston to conspiring to bring in illegal aliens, making a false claim to United States citizenship, making a false statement in the acquisition of a firearm and being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm.

According to Assistant U. S. Attorney Michelle Jennings, who prosecuted the case, agents from the North County Regional Gang Task Force and Immigration and Customs Enforcement began investigating Oscar Ortiz in connection with the drug distribution activities of a group identified as the Rodriguez Drug Trafficking Organization. Over the course of the investigation, agents intercepted phone conversations in which Oscar Ortiz was conspiring to bring in illegal aliens into the United States at the international border east of the Tecate Port of Entry. In connection with his guilty plea, Ortiz admitted that he conspired to bring over 100 illegal aliens into the U.S.

On the eastern coast of the U.S. is a continuous expose of public corruption on the web site of U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie of the District of New Jersey:

  • February 6, 2006
    A federal grand jury today returned a Superseding Indictment against Keyport Mayor John J. Merla, charging him with extorting the owner of a solid-waste disposal company that had a contract with the borough.
  • January 31, 2006
    A former federal Air Marshal surrendered today on an indictment charging two counts of making false statements on questionnaires that are utilized in background investigations for security clearance approval.
  • January 26, 2006
    A former U.S. Customs Service supervisory inspector and his brother were sentenced today to more then 24 years and more than 19 years in prison, respectively, for their roles in a drug importation conspiracy.
  • January 20, 2006
    A former Monmouth County under sheriff and highway department employee pleaded guilty today to money laundering, admitting that he accepted $15,000 for assisting in the laundering of large sums of cash from a cooperating government witness whom he believed was a corrupt demolition contractor.
  • November 21, 2005
    A Middletown committeeman arrested in February in a federal probe of corruption in Monmouth County was indicted on charges of attempted extortion under color of official right, conspiracy and other charges.
  • July 7, 2005
    Richard Vuola, a longtime commissioner of the Marlboro Township Municipal Utilities Authority and its chairman from 2002-2004 pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe officials in Marlboro and Manalapan Township, extorting a builder, illegal possession of a firearm and filing false federal income tax returns.
  • March 24, 2005
    Former Hudson County Executive Robert C. Janiszewski was sentenced to 41 months in prison for extortion and tax evasion in connection with more then $100,000 in cash bribes he admitted taking while in office.

Private Sector Corruption

Side by side with public corruption scandals are the headlines from the private sector depicting a massive and pervasive culture of corruption. On December 28, 2005, Richard A.Causey, their former chief accounting officer at Enron pleaded guilty to a charge of securities fraud. Causey admitted to conspiring with members of Enron's senior management to make false and misleading statements in Enron's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission – and in analyst calls – about the financial condition of Enron, which did not fairly and accurately reflect the company's actual financial performance as he knew it. Causey also admitted to participating with others in senior management in effort to use Enron's public filings and pubic statements to mislead the investing public by making false and misleading statements and omitting facts about the true nature of Enron's financial performance. Enron filed for bankruptcy protection on December 2, 2001 and its stock became virtually worthless.

Although Enron will now be forever immortalized as an icon of American greed, the pestilence of corruption is also deep within other American companies: HealthSouth Corporation is the largest operator of rehabilitation hospitals and came under scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the fall of 2002 for overstating earnings, calculated at $2.5 billion since 1999. Over the past three years, 15 HealthSouth employees, including all five former chief financial officers have pleaded guilty to criminal charges.

Tyco International Ltd. has operations in more than 100 countries and 240,000 employees. Tyco came under scrutiny from the SEC in 2002 after concerns about the accounting practices surfaced. Investigations revealed that Tyco's former CEO and other top executives had taken over $170 million in loans from the company without receiving appropriate authorization. Prosecutors charged former CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski and CFO Mark H. Swartz with conspiring to defraud TYCO of millions to fund their extravagant lifestyles.

Worldcom Inc. filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history in June 2002, less then a month after it disclosed that it hid $4 billion in expenses through deceptive accounting.

Principles of Leadership

As a response to the current culture of corruption, time tested leadership skills will transform America's public and private sectors to their rightful destiny.

Leadership must be open to the grassroots for authentic transformation. Thomas Paine, an obscure recent immigrant published a small pamphlet of 46 pages that would change the political complexion and alter American history. Common Sense was published on January 9, 1776 before radio, television or the internet but its simple approach for American freedom spread like wildfire among the ordinary people. In three short months, it sold 120,000 copies, making it proportionately, America's greatest best seller ever. There is a saying that

"Without the pen of Thomas Paine, the sword of George Washington would have been wielded in vain".1

Leadership must be open to silence, study and self containment. Although interpersonal skills as well as the ability to persuade through communication are hallmarks of leadership, so are the qualities of great reserve, quiet and study. Abraham Lincoln by temperament and early training grew up as a man of great reserve, so different from many politicians who attempted to be everyone's best friend. At times Lincoln was secretive, reticent and self contained but although a warm friend of very few, he was the true friend of the people. Lincoln was a very private man who handled and acted on his thoughts carefully as pieces on a chessboard.2

Leadership possesses extraordinary empathy and concern for others. According to historians, the crowning gift of Lincoln's political genius was due to his sympathy. He had a capacity to intuitively experience the feelings and intentions of others and he would manifest this perceptive ability throughout his career.3

Leadership must have an appreciation of its industrial capacity and the courage to ignite it. During the D-Day invasion and in the days afterward as the allies pressed to finish the war, American GI's were better equipped than their foe. American vehicles were superior in quality and quantity. Germany could not compete with America's two-and-a-half-ton truck or the jeep. American factories were across the ocean from Normandy while German factories were close at hand. Yet, America received more vehicles and better designed ones to the battlefield in less time.4

Leadership possesses courage that transcends trials, sufferings and hardships. When Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower, with the assembly of military leadership prepared for the D-Day Invasion, they were aware of the pending bloodshed of young American and British soldiers on the beaches of Normandy. Yet, they were also aware that these sacrifices would not be in vain but would lead to the saving of civilization from tyranny and dictatorship.5

Leadership is keenly aware that recognition and honor often come after misunderstandings and patience. The dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC on November 11, 1982 formalized national recognition of the Vietnam Veteran. It had taken the American public over 10 years to realize that these Americans deserved their honor and praise. For countless acts of heroism, Vietnam Veterans deserve a sacred place in American history and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial dynamically memorializes their sacrifices.6

Vincent J. Bove, CPP is a Board Certified Protection Professional, Board Certified Crime Prevention Specialist, Certified Law Enforcement Instructor and U.S. Department of Justice Certified Community Anti-Terrorism Awareness Trainer.

He is the 2007 New Jersey recipient of the prestigious FBI Director's Community Leadership Award and was hand-selected to serve as a facilitator and mentor for the 2007 National Conference on Ethics in America and speaker for the 2008 conference at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

"Vincent J. Bove is considered one of the foremost national experts on school and workplace violence prevention, specializing in facility protection, evacuations, terrorism prevention and leadership training." -- U.S. Senate

You can visit Mr. Bove's website at www.vincentbove.com or email him at vincent@vincentbove.com

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ipower

Recommended Reading and Endnotes

1. 46 Pages, Thomas Paine, Common Sense and
The Turning Point to Independence book jacket.
2. We Are Lincoln Men, Abraham Lincoln and his Friends, David Herbert Donald, p.28.
3. Team of Rivals, The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin, p. 104.
4. Citizen Soldiers, Stephen E. Ambrose, p. 52.
5. D-Day, Stephen E. Ambrose, p. 129.
6. Vietnam Medal Of Honor Heroes, Edward F. Murphy, p. xiii.