More on the Smithsonian and MoMA Compensation Contretemps

The Washington Post published an editorial on Thursday, taking Lawrence Small to task for his unauthorized expenses as top official of the Smithsonian Institution and criticizing him for refusing to discuss the controversy. (Similarly, the Museum of Modern Art's director, Glenn Lowry, has declined to speak on the record about his unorthodox compensation by a private foundation).

The Post opined:

As distressing as Mr. Small's actions were, the real problem lies with a board that opted to be more lap dog than watchdog.

The Post's editorial raises what, for me, is a more interesting question: Why hasn't the NY Times followed up on the Glenn Lowry compensation controversy (which broke Feb. 16 on its own front page), the way the Post has pursued Small's small-potato transgressions (which involved only thousands, not millions, of dollars)?

There's been no Times editorial, nor any follow-up reporting or commentary by the news or arts staffs. On Saturday, however, the Times did publish a letter to the editor defending Lowry and the manner of his compensation, signed by MoMA's chairman and president, Robert Menschel and Marie-Josée Kravis.

Their letter states:

All payments and compensation were reported on tax forms filed by the [New York Fine Arts Support] Trust, the museum and Mr. Lowry, who paid personal income tax on compensation he received.

However, the museum's own tax returns, available for inspection online, make no mention of the Trust, even though they do list other exempt organizations to which the museum is related "through common...trustee officers." The Additional Compensation Information page provided by MoMA on Jan. 5, 2007 in response to requests by the NY State Attorney General's Office specifically states that the yearly dollar amounts of compensation to Lowry from the New York Fine Arts Support Trust are "information in addition to that set forth in its IRS Form 990s [emphasis added]." And this supplementary page only reports such compensation back to 1999, although payments began in 1995. My attempts to get the full list of payments from the museum have thus far been unsuccessful.

Perhaps the trustees' letter to the Times should have stated that payments and compensation from the Trust were reported on tax forms filed by the Trust and Lowry but NOT by the museum.

UPDATE: Modern Art Notes piles on.