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Weekly Updates"You're one of those environmental lawyers? ... They're evildoers. Yesterday, it's a tree. Today, it's a salmon. Tomorrow it's, 'Let's not dig up Alaska for oil because it's too pretty." Let me tell you something, I came out here to enjoy nature. Don't talk to me about the environment."
--Denny Crane
No, this isn't an obsession. If a third column, say next month, started with a quote from the senior partner of Crane Poole and Schmidt from Boston Legal, now that would be an obsession. But right now we are talking about the American Red Cross. And, who better than Denny Crane to argue the Red Cross's convoluted case.
After all, this was the organization that screamed for board accountability during reorganization and now is running a $200-million deficit. That tab didn't run up during the just six months Mark Everson, the former IRS commissioner, was running the shop. OK, so his attention might have been diverted slightly while having an affair with a subordinate that got him fired.
It must have been run up at least partly during the 18 months the board was looking for Everson to fill the chair and when they were assuring Congress that a reorganized board would be more accountable.
The organization now is poised to layoff about 1,000 workers at headquarters and other areas because fundraising is down. Yes, it's a $3.45-billion operation and $200 million is just 5.7 percent of budget and the organization has an $800-million endowment. But, it's still $200 million.
It's not as if you didn't get change back from your dollar at McDonald's. At what point does someone in accounting start to worry that the books aren't balancing? In Denny Crane's logic, this would be: "Don't talk to me about running a massive deficit. I'm talking about accountability."
Donors have obviously spoken--first with their voices and now their wallets. And it too, is double talk. Donors demanded to know why the Red Cross could not respond to certain aspects of relief during Hurricane Katrina. Some were quoted on television demanding to know why the Red Cross didn't have helicopters picking people off roofs. Short of buying those helicopters, the Red Cross stocked up, spending millions. Now many donors have turned and walked away.
In Denny Crane's logic, he once told a client, "It's as simple as this. You don't get on the stand and say, 'I'm sorry for not doing the right thing.' You testify, 'I did the right thing!' That's bow you win lawsuits. You're right! Even when you're wrong." The Red Cross board has always used that as a credo. It's time to stop doing so.
This is the new, reconstituted board. It's time to take responsibility. It's time to make the hard cuts and get this valuable institution back on its feet. It's time for zero-based budgeting. It's time for the biomedical division to stop getting fined millions of dollars by the federal Food and Drug Administration for its handling of the blood supply.
The Red Cross just might be running out of chances.
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