The Latest Getty Shockers: Time to Come Clean and Clean House

Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino, the Woodward-Bernstein of the art world (who is their Deep Throat?) have come up with this thoroughly depressing update in the LA Times on the J. Paul Getty Trust scandals. The new exposé details more instances of how an institution that should be using its tremendous wealth to enhance the field appears to have also misused its money to tarnish the reputation of nonprofits.
For me to spell out possible inferences from Saturday’s LA Times article would be to risk a libel suit—not a prudent course for a lone blogger not backed by the legal department of a big publication.
The California Attorney General’s office, due to come out this month with the report of its investigation into the Getty’s finances and governance, will probably dot the “i’s” and cross the “t’s.” And bloggers will then be free to quote from that report, without risk of legal retribution.
But the Getty shouldn’t wait until then to come clean and clean house. It should be proactive, rather than reactive, showing that it doesn’t need to be forced by government regulators to do the right thing:
—First, it should immediately make public a report on the findings of its own internal investigation of past governance gaffes.
—Concurrently, the Getty should issue a detailed statement of how it will reform its administrative procedures to make sure that, going forward, it operates according to the highest standards of integrity and good governance.
—And, more painfully but most essentially, it should purge itself of every administrator and board member who had the responsibility to blow the whistle but didn’t. The megabucks Getty doesn’t need a fundraising board of movers and shakers. It needs trustees and a president possessed of the highest administrative, fiscal and artistic acumen, along with spotless reputations for probity.
After that, it can move forward to do great things.