Getty Files Its First "Independent Monitor" Report; Brand Gets His Own WSJ Op-Ed

The J. Paul Getty Trust announced today on its website that it had filed its initial report on the Trust's implementation and compliance with the policy changes mandated by the California Attorney General's office after its investigation last year.

According the the Trust's press release:

The report includes the new and revised policies and procedures approved in April 2006 by the Board of Trustees and implemented by management to improve governance and oversight....

The Getty also announced that it has engaged Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP to assess the Trust's implementation of and compliance with its new and revised policies and procedures. Based on procedures developed solely by the firm, Deloitte will review policies and procedures related to business expenses, grants, human resources, conflict of interest compliance and employee complaints and whistle blowing.

The Getty's agreement with the AG last October called for oversight of its operations by independent monitor, former Attorney General John Van de Kamp. He now has 60 days to review the report and "advise the Attorney General as to whether the Trust has satisfactorily implemented and complied with the [mandated] reforms."

Two more such reports will be issued under the agreement, the next due July 31 and the last due a year from now.

The Getty has refused to make public any of the crucial underlying documents related to the AG's investigation, including reports that its board's special committee received from counsel; its responses to the AG's requests for information and documents; and the detailed letter that the Getty received from the AG at the conclusion of the investigation.

To these nondisclosures we now can add the the "confidential" report that the Getty has just send to the AG. As I have repeatedly stated, all of these government-agency filings should be considered public documents and made publicly available.

Let us also note for the record that the J. Paul Getty Museum's director, Michael Brand---not to be outdone by Italian Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli---yesterday scored his own Op-Ed piece on the Getty-Italy antiquities contretemps in the Wall Street Journal.

For those who are keeping score, Brand got 662 words in the WSJ, compared to Rutelli's 651. If you subscribe to the online WSJ, you can a access Brand's article here.

If not, you can revisit his rebuttal of Rutelli in CultureGrrl, which covers much of the same ground.