http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/business/yourmoney/23gras.htmlAS regulators prepare to file suit against Richard A. Grasso, the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, demanding that he return the bulk of his $139.5 million pay, his lawyer, Brendan V. Sullivan Jr., is making his case loud and clear: Mr. Grasso's compensation was approved by an all-star board of Wall Street and corporate chief executives.
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For Mr. Sullivan, a trial lawyer at Williams & Connolly in Washington known for taking on and winning the most difficult of white-collar cases, it's a strategy that also echoes his career- defining - and successful - defense of Oliver L. North, the former marine who was accused by government prosecutors of illegally financing a guerrilla war in Nicaragua. Don't blame Mr. North, Mr. Sullivan argued. His client was a hard-working patriot and a stand-up marine who was just following orders, he contended. If an accusatory finger is to be pointed, he added, point it at Mr. North's commander in chief, President Ronald Reagan.
In most regards, Mr. North, a career soldier and Purple Heart winner from San Antonio, could not seem more different from Mr. Grasso, a kid from Queens who was in the Army for two years. But for Mr. Sullivan, surface comparisons may be less important than his ability to recast the bitter and complicated dispute between Mr. Grasso and the exchange into a simpler, purer fight: of one man struggling valiantly against an army of faceless prosecutors to recapture his good name. Mr. Sullivan painted just such a picture of Mr. North more than a decade ago.
Patriotic symbols are also playing an important role. Just as Mr. North's chest full of glittering medals symbolized his love-of-country fervor, Mr. Grasso and his supporters have eagerly cultivated his image as a hero of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That the stock exchange may take down a plaque dedicated to the victims - simply because it bears Mr. Grasso's name - further advances Mr. Sullivan's strategy of trying to position him as an honorable man who has been wronged.
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hmmmm.... found this interesting because it seems to try to tie the administration with corporate obsfuscation and corruption of ethics (plus I just enjoy dragging Ollie North's past back out :) )
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