The weekend cometh If he's not gone by Monday it will be death by a thousand leaks, which have now reached Iguassu-like proportions, there are so many flowing together and crashing to the turbulent water below.

It turned out that the rumor about Suzanne Folsom's attempts to get IT staff to read email had no one to confirm it. Bank IT staff were quick to say they don't do that and wouldn't unless it was properly authorized. Of course not. The flurry may have something to do with Suzanne's fears of unauthorized leaks from INT itself, so if anyone has any insights...

The ad hoc committee is keeping mum about the progress of its drafting to send something for the full Board to read and digest.

Paul Wolfowitz, accompanied by his defence attorney cum spokesman (a fulminating fan of Lewis Carroll, according to Bloomberg), will face the committee on Monday and the Board is said to be ready to do the needful if Paul doesn't do the honorable.

Otherwise, President Bush and Chancellor Merkel's press conference after their summit might be a repeat of the Spring Meetings opening and closing scrimmages. With more delectible details this time, including the tasty issue that surfaced Friday from State, via GAP, that Shaha's working at State paid by the World Bank violated US appropriations law. After all, Congress appropriates the maximum an agency can spend, so unless there was some other, specific statutory authority, having her on board for Liz Cheney, paid by the Bank, was illegal. A careful review of the various exchanges between the Bank and State surrounding Robin Cleveland's email also suggests some confusion over how long State expected her (one year) versus how long the Bank was sending her out (two years) and State's subsequent explicit clarification that she was not 'detailed' to them. Funny, 'detailed' is not a word long-time Bank staff use. Sounds like US budget maven language. Anyone work at OMB? Used to work at OMB?

And those lawyers at Justice Scalia's son's firm said that someone else had to opine on whether Shaha's [fill in word] to/at State complied with appropriations law. The job was short, the bill small, and maybe they knew that there was a problem. Of course, moving Shaha to the Foundation for the Future might fix that, even a year late, even though most of its money comes from State, presumably via appropriated funds, too. But as Shaha does not cost them anything there either (still on the Bank's tab), "curiouser and curiouser" as Lewis Carroll might have written. No word yet on FFF's Washington, DC branch mentioned in the Foundation's website--anyone know where the Verizon and PEPCO bills are sent, who the landlord is?

Bank staff, meanwhile, are doing their gardening, going to the kids' soccer games and dodging neighbors with questions. The ad hoc committee continues its work. People will iron their ribbons over the weekend, and those who can't wear ribbons will wear blue, demonstrating unity on the need for good governance and the fight against corruption to start close to home.

Deep Insider ~ April 28, 2007

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