Out with Godwin, In with the new sycophant Options Rating

[thekohser]

This seems very, very, very, very, very fishy to me.

How does a non-profit 501-c-3 that files a Form 990 intend to keep secret, forever, a severance package for one of the top paid employees of the organization?

What rotten thing is going on here?

(Original and official announcement is here.)

This post has been edited by thekohser: Tue 19th October 2010, 7:53pm

[Text]

Hmmmmm....

Do you disagree on something that has been said, or are you skeptic of the fact that F bemolle is equivalent to E?

[Minor4th]

Hmmmmm....

Do you disagree on something that has been said, or are you skeptic of the fact that F bemolle is equivalent to E?

Well, I don't have my glasses on so I'm not sure what your post says but I do see that there is a question mark at the end.

I am just reading over the thread again. It's a strange way to fire someone, and there's no question that's what it is. It's hard to put a severance package together in 3 days. My initial thought is that Sue really wants him gone immediately but the Foundation needs Godwin to turn over all of his messes to the new guy so the Foundation's 12MM bank account isnt up for grabs. Sounds to me like they 're paying him to be a consultant, and I bet they're paying him a nice amount because he's probabably pissed enough to walk off and let them drown in their own feces. Maybe a non-disclosure agreement about the circumstances of the termination -- everything else would pretty much be covered by the attorney-client privilege, and he can't disclose it anyway unless it's some sort of whistleblower scenario. I'm interested to see how this one turns out.

I was intrigued by the way Godwin handled the FBI seal inquiry and thought it was incredibly foolish and risky to taunt the Feds with a letter that read like an ANI argument. I mean, doesnt everyone know the Feds are vindictive and they'll find a reason to make life miserable if you get their attention? I don't know if that has anything to do with this termination, but reading between the lines, the comment about Godwin doing what he thought was in WMF's best interest (read, Godwin's judgment sucks) -- that could apply to the way he handled the FBI sitch. There are probably others if that is the way Godwin goes about practicing law..

[SB_Johnny]

I was intrigued by the way Godwin handled the FBI seal inquiry and thought it was incredibly foolish and risky to taunt the Feds with a letter that read like an ANI argument. I mean, doesnt everyone know the Feds are vindictive and they'll find a reason to make life miserable if you get their attention? I don't know if that has anything to do with this termination, but reading between the lines, the comment about Godwin doing what he thought was in WMF's best interest (read, Godwin's judgment sucks) -- that could apply to the way he handled the FBI sitch. There are probably others if that is the way Godwin goes about practicing law..

Indeed. When a lawyer starts sounding like a wikilawyer in "#real_life" situations, he should probably stay away from the bar and/or any keyboard that's connected to a modem.

I hope our resident lawyers won't be tempted to say yes to an inside hire, because that way lies a dead end.

[Milton Roe]

I was intrigued by the way Godwin handled the FBI seal inquiry and thought it was incredibly foolish and risky to taunt the Feds with a letter that read like an ANI argument. I mean, doesnt everyone know the Feds are vindictive and they'll find a reason to make life miserable if you get their attention? I don't know if that has anything to do with this termination, but reading between the lines, the comment about Godwin doing what he thought was in WMF's best interest (read, Godwin's judgment sucks) -- that could apply to the way he handled the FBI sitch. There are probably others if that is the way Godwin goes about practicing law..

Indeed. When a lawyer starts sounding like a wikilawyer in "#real_life" situations, he should probably stay away from the bar and/or any keyboard that's connected to a modem.

I hope our resident lawyers won't be tempted to say yes to an inside hire, because that way lies a dead end.

Our resident lawyers are plenty smart enough to know that.

If the FBI matter was part of it, Godwin was ill-used, since I doubt he did anything without consulting Sue. She probably asked him if the law was on WMF's side and he told her it was, and she then said: "Good, because we don't take down anything we don't absolutely have to." So he asked what he should do, and she probably told him to point out the law to the FBI. Which he did. If there were any repercussions, I imagine them sort of like this:

Sue: "Mike, I hear the FBI is really mad at us, now!"

Godwin: "Well, I don't know why. I just pointed out that the law is aimed at reproducing I.D. cards and such.."

Sue: "But you didn't have to be so condescending while doing it. I know I laughed at the letter before you sent it, but I'm not a lawyer. You're supposed to be wiser in these matters. Now they'll think that being snide, is insulting to them personally."

Godwin: "It's not. Lawyers do this all the time and don't take it personally. At the FBI they're big boys and can tell the difference between making fun of an idea and making fun of the people who believe the idea..."

Sue: "You don't know your history! Do you know Galileo attacked the ideas of some high-up Roman Catholic Church people, and they held that he was attacking the church itself?"

Godwin: "What do I care what the Catholic Church did?"

Sue: "The Catholic Church speaks for the views of God Almighty. So obviously God thinks this way, too."

Godwin: "Er, you know I'm Jewish, don't you?"

Sue: "Speaking of which! If your people weren't always making snarky and legalistic arguments to put people down, maybe a lot fewer of them would have wound up in prison camps. Ever thought of that?"

Godwin. "Oy, I saw this coming..."

[Minor4th]

[
Our resident lawyers are plenty smart enough to know that.

If the FBI matter was part of it, Godwin was ill-used, since I doubt he did anything without consulting Sue. She probably asked him if the law was on WMF's side and he told her it was, and she then said: "Good, because we don't take down anything we don't absolutely have to." So he asked what he should do, and she probably told him to point out the law to the FBI. Which he did. If there were any repercussions, I imagine them sort of like this:
<snip>

But the thing is Godwin got the law wrong, and he was wrong in such an unprofessional, arrogant, ridiculous sounding piece of bravado -- so that makes his wrong-ness monumental and spectacular

If Sue has the bad judgment to think Godwin can school the FBI on the law, then she deserves to reap whatever Godwin has sown.