The other Lawrence Small story

Over the last few days the Washington Post's James Grimaldi has penned a series of damning stories about Smithsonian secretary Lawrence Small's spending patterns. This story concerns Smithsonian spending at Small's home and in his office, and in this story (co-written with Jacqueline Trescott) the Smithsonian's former inspector general reveals that Small attempted to interfere with an executive compensation audit.

All important stories (especially that last one). But I'm concerned about this: Lawrence Small sits on the boards of directors of several companies, including The Chubb Corporation and Marriott International.

In the post-Watergate era, Congress passed a series of governmental ethics reforms, one of which prevented Cabinet officers and the like from serving on corporate boards. Those reforms did not extend to the secretary of the Smithsonian. Small's directorships are publicly known and are even included in his official Smithsonian biography.

But does that make it right? Chubb is one of the world's largest insurance companies. They do a tremendous amount of business in the art and museum worlds. Should the leader of America's largest museum complex sit on Chubb's board?

To take it a step farther: Small and his Smithsonian deputy Sheila Burke both sit on the Chubb board. And they fill two of the four seats on Chubb's compensation committee. Should the top two leaders of the Smithsonian be in position to have that kind of impact on a corporation with which many of their peer institutions do business? (Especially considering that Small and Burke are in a position to profit from their involvement in Chubb through stock and options holdings.)

Related: Small's holdings in Chubb stock, including millions of dollars in transactions over the last six months.