March 20, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
Sen. Charles Grassley has gone too far in his criticism of the compensation and perks received by Lawrence Small, head of the Smithsonian Institution, says the author of the blog Charity Governance.
On his blog, Jack Siegel, a Chicago lawyer and accountant, blasts Mr. Grassley for trying to make political hay out of Mr. Small’s compensation.
Mr. Small, who will earn more than $915,000 in 2007 under his contract with the Smithsonian, has come under scrutiny recently for spending more than $150,000 on decorations for his offices and for receiving a housing allowance of $1.5-million during the past six years. The Smithsonian has defended Mr. Small’s spending and his compensation but on Monday appointed a committee to review the situation.
Mr. Grassley has been a vocal critic of Mr. Small’s compensation, especially because the Smithsonian relies heavily on federal money for its operations.
But on his blog, Mr. Siegel says it is the Internal Revenue Service, not Mr. Grassley, that should be raising questions about the Smithsonian’s finances.
If Mr. Grassley is concerned about stricter oversight of charities, Mr. Siegel says, he should spend more of his efforts increasing the IRS’s resources.
“Grassley and his cohorts have also increased the burden on the agency by passing significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code over the past decade. Instead of coming up with new laws and entering the governance consulting business, Congress could achieve much wider and fairer reform by simply increasing the IRS’s funding,” Mr. Siegel writes.
What do you think about the Smithsonian Institution and the issues raised by Mr. Siegel about the Internal Revenue Service?
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