How an Office Romance Went Off the Rails and Brought Down the NCPA’s John Goodman

[Judi Lynn]

How an Office Romance Went Off the Rails and Brought Down the NCPA’s John Goodman
by Glenn Hunter
Posted in Business, Local News, Politics & Government. Aug 26, 2014 at 12:09 pm

Back in June, when the National Center for Policy Analysis fired its CEO for alleged “sexual misconduct and breach of fiduciary duty,” the free-market think tank had more than a dozen directors on its board. Chief executive John C. Goodman denied the charges at the time, you might recall, and said his dismissal was based on trivialities. Today the NCPA board is down to just five directors—and insiders say the Dallas nonprofit is struggling to survive.

So, what happened to bring all this about? The apparent implosion has come as the result of an office romance between Goodman and a staffer that went way off the rails, leading to an unusual “job promotion” that backfired badly:

In the world of free-market think tanks, Goodman was a star. Best known as the “Father of Health Savings Accounts,” Goodman was the founding president of the 31-year-old NCPA and a nationally quoted champion of privatization, tax reform, and a consumer-driven health system. He’d advised politicians like George W. Bush and Newt Gingrich, testified before Congress, and written numerous books as well as opinion articles for The Wall Street Journal. Photos of Goodman and such Republican luminaries as Dan Quayle, Clarence Thomas, and William Bennett lined the halls of the NCPA headquarters in North Dallas.

So it came as a surprise, to put it mildly, when the think tank announced in June that its board of directors had dismissed the 68-year-old Goodman as president and CEO. Goodman told the Dallas Morning News the charges weren’t true, insisting that his ouster was the result of “trivial stuff.” Reached by phone, one board member agreed that Goodman’s dismissal was a “shocker,” but declined to comment further. Very quickly, an iron curtain of institutional silence fell over l’affaire Goodman. The NCPA appointed an interim CEO, corporate-governance expert and talk-show host Dennis McCuistion, who said that business at the 501(c)(3) nonprofit would continue as usual while a permanent replacement for Goodman was sought.

More:
http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2014/08/26/how-an-office-romance-went-off-the-rails-and-brought-down-the-ncpas-john-goodman/

[Drunken Irishman]

1. Not Dan Conner! :(

[packman]

2. Interesting post

"NCPA ever since its founding in 1983 at the University of Dallas, helping to attract more than $100 million in funding over the years from the likes of Exxon Mobil Corp., the Scaife Family Foundation, and foundations run by Charles and David Koch"

and---

"According to the group’s latest Form 990, filed for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2012, the NCPA had $4.13 million in revenue and expenses of $4.92 million, while Goodman’s total compensation was $587,337 "

Gotta love those conservative "think tanks" that Hannity, Billo, and Rush keep quoting - the chart points out the salaries of the top execs:

National Center for Policy Analysis, John Goodman
$450,173

Ludwig von Mises Institute, Llewellyn Rockwell Jr.
$175,078

Competitive Enterprise Institute, Fred Smith Jr.
$236,300

Manhattan Institute, Lawrence Mone
$453,104

Cato Institute, Edward Crane
$466,872

American Enterprise Institute, Arthur Brooks
$637,500

Heritage Foundation, Edwin Feulner
$1,162,696
Base, bonus, and incentive compensation only. Does not include nontaxable benefits or retirement and other deferred compensation
Damn, those are big bucks for spewing out shit.