RETHINKING MARTHA
RETHINKING MARTHA
I always pause and think real hard before agreeing with the likes of Paul Gigot or Tucker Carlson.
Real hard.
But about Martha, they are right.
This case should never have gone to trial. She lied to the government, that’s it. So what? (Parents of little children, cover their precious eyes.)
The prosecutors held a press conference heralding the restoration of faith in the system. Now the “little guy’s” can invest with certainity that they are not going to lose their money in the market, said the media-whore juror who clamored to answer the press’ questions.
Not so. In reality, Martha could have sold immediately after Peter called to tell her about the Waksals selling. She could have done it and (to borrow a line from a bad Ashley Judd movie — is there another kind?) shouted the details of her sale from a New Orleans balcony in the middle of Mardi Gras and the Government couldn’t touch her.
But Martha’s not a lawyer and she didn’t know that. So, she lied. She altered records, then lied about whether those records existed.
But the fact remains that she was free to sell that stock and the little guy’s portfolio is not any safer because it turns out you’re not free to lie about selling your stock when your broker tells you to.
When Paul Gigot said that this case was terrible because essentially it is a cautionary tale, the moral of which is, never never never talk to the authorities. He’s right. If Martha had said nothing, maybe told them her lawyer’s phone number. She’d be sittin’ pretty in her Soho Loft right now. When Tucker commented that the case proves that the Government isn’t always your friend. That Government can hurt you, I kinda felt bad for the guy. It took the downfall of one of his own to demonstrate what the many poor, minority people learn early on. Watch out for the fuzz.
But what now, even the people who hated Martha are shocked at this verdict.
(I used to be one of those people, but I was shocked when the case went to trial.)
They are shocked, but like teenagers who have taken a prank too far, they are helpless to put things right.
“We were just trying to scare her…”
The judge could do it. She’s Martha’s last chance.
“Woman to woman, please judge, let me go home to my arts and crafts, my double boilers and 700 thread count sheets. I’ve lost my voting privileges, my ability to sit on corporate boards, don’t take my freedom.”
However she phrases it, Martha needs to do some serious begging. The time for silent stoicism is long past.
She’s proven to be a terrible liar, so maybe she’ll do better with the truth.
March 8th, 2004 at 4:43 pm
You’re absolutely right that the Martha Stewart trial has done nothing to make investors safer, but I disagree that it is a bad thing to punish people who lie, especially when they are or are lying to me or my representatives. I don’t want the government lying to me, and I don’t want people lying to the government.
March 8th, 2004 at 5:20 pm
Maybe they can be punished with a fine, but that I am now going to pay Martha Stewart’s housing costs. Not to mention unemployment benefits for all her employees should her company go belly up — just because she lied to an undoubtedly overzealous government attorney? nope, that don’t sit right with me.
March 8th, 2004 at 5:45 pm
This case should never have gone to trial. She lied to the government, that’s it. So what?
*scratching my head* You do know that people go to jail for lying to federal agents all the time, right? Except they don’t get a lot of sympathy because they’re not usually celebrities.
And about this:
But Martha’s not a lawyer and she didn’t know that. So, she lied.
What, is she too poor to get advice from a lawyer before lying? What did she do with the money I gave her for those sheets I got at K-Mart?
March 8th, 2004 at 6:11 pm
hahahahaha! Good point, she could have/should have/probably did have some legal counsel before speaking– but bottom line is that lying is her only crime here, so the whole trial/conviction/possible imprisonment strikes me as overkill here.
As for the unnamed other convicted of lying, I seriously doubt that the lying was the only crime in those cases. Usually there is also some kidn of fraud or evasion as well.