In our 17th Annual Humbugs & Heroes awards, we pass out kudos to folks we like and sling mud at those other people. In 2002, there were the good … and there were the downright ugly.
Sure, there were others who probably made your list. So we say, raise your glass and toast them all.
HUMBUGS
A WHOLE LOTTA TROUBLE
Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott
The loose-lipped Mississippi Republican called it a “mistake of the head, not the heart.” Perhaps next time he should listen to another part of his anatomy: his gut.
Lott got himself in a heap of trouble back in December when he uttered what he later called “a poor choice of words” at a 100th birthday celebration for the retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C.:
“I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years either.”
Lott’s endorsement of Thurmond’s openly racist campaign ripped a hole in the compassionate conservative blanket of the Republican party and got him tossed out as majority leader in the senate.
It’s time for the ghosts of Mississippi to disappear for good.
WAR ON WORKERS
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Last summer, after Verette Richardson finished her shift at the Kansas City
Wal-Mart, she punched out and headed to her car. A manager ordered her to
come back and straighten up the store’s apparel department — unpaid.
It wasn’t the only time.
These accusations are part of a legal battle between the retailer and Wal-Mart workers in 29 states. “They wanted us to do a lot of work for no pay,” said Richardson.
Free labor helped Wal-Mart make $220 billion in profits in 2000, while maintaining a tough anti-union stance.
So the next time you’re looking for low prices and convenience and you think of Wal-Mart, think again — and shop with a conscience.
BEHIND THE MASKS
Some scary CEOs
Last October, Forbes magazine offered CEO Halloween masks
that inspired some real fear — enough to chill workers
to their bones.
Among them, Kenneth Lay of Enron, Bernard Ebbers of WorldCom and Sam Waksal of ImClone Systems.
Lay’s off-the-books partnerships were backed by nothing but a lot of hot air in deflated Enron stock. Lay faces criminal charges and civil suits, while workers at the bankrupt company face retirement insecurity.
Ebbers overstated WorldCom’s income by some $9 billion over several years. So far, Ebbers has escaped legal justice although WorldCom investors have been well punished.
Guilty inside trader Waksal, Martha Stewart’s buddy, dumped shares in his own biotech company before the release of bad news about a new cancer drug. Don’t trust this guy with your health.
