WE GOT MAIL: Dorfman Weighs In

Tim:

Michael Wolff has written a notably fatuous piece.  To equate Martha Stewart with the victims of McCarthyism; to make the case that the celebrity rich comprise an aggrieved class; to state, in other words, that the state's jackboot is crushing her without cause--this is rubbish, pure and simple, and an obscene line of argument.  If you'd never heard of Michael Woolf, you'd assume this piece is a parody.   But Wolff, who failed in his attempt to buy New York magazine, aspires no longer to be a mere journalist, but to join the ranks of media tycoon--to be, in that phrase of Gordon Gekko from the movie,  a player.   He is a pathetic figure, sort of like a street urchin with his nose pressed against the bakery window, too eager to court the people, were he content to be a journalist, he should be skewering.  The man is too self-important and bloated to write parody.

Here is the heart of the Martha Stewart case: she got caught trading on inside information, plain and simple.  For sure: the monetary stakes were small; and there are graver sins for the government to prosecute.  She could have avoided this trial by saying, contritely: Yes, I heard Waksall was selling, and I did something stupid.  I sold, too.  As a former stockbroker, I should have realized that even the appearance of acting upon inside information is wrong,  I am sorry, and I would like to make amends. 

But instead Stewart lied, and treated the prosecutors like stooges who aren't worthy of her time.  She lied.  She dissembled.  She dodged.  She tried to humiliate public servants.  She is getting her due, and the government is right to nail her and nail her good.

I hear it said that the government is going after her because she is a woman, or because she's rich; and in any case, why isn't the government going after the malefactors from Enron?  Nonsense.  Complete nonsense.  The Enron folks--from Fastow to Fastow's wife to now Jeffrey Skilling--are getting hammered for their arrogance, for their criminality, for their belief that rules are for the other suckers to follow, not the guys who count, not the players.  Funny thing, isn't that just what Stewart is in trouble for--and isn't this just what Michael Wolff, lackey to the lunch set at the Four Seasons, wants to excuse?

--Jon Dorfman