The opportunistic twisting
and spinning by all political parties and the company has whipped up a
bulldust storm that’s obscuring the next round of real interest for
Telstra observers – who’s for the chop?

If Sol Trujillo and Donald McGauchie
have been telling John Howard the truth, at least two of Telstra’s top
non-American executives should be looking for other employment. But if
Sol and Don are found to have been just carelessly spinning and
trashing the share price, those same two non-Americans should be the
frontrunners to replace the cowboys.

Of more immediate concern
for the Telstra board, though, is the level of the board’s own
incompetence. Again, if Sol and his three amigos are telling the truth,
they have effectively trashed the reputations of Donald McGauchie
(Telstra director for 7 years), John Fletcher (5 years), John Stocker (9 years), Catherine Livingstone (5 years), Charles Macek (4 years), and Belinda Hutchinson (4 years).

They
have all been on the board long enough for shareholders to expect them
to know what was going on. If, as Sol implies, the company’s strategy
has been fundamentally flawed for years, that it has been pandering to
its majority shareholder at the expense of its viability, that dipping
into reserves to pay some of the dividend is a capital offence (it’s
not in certain circumstances), and it’s guilty of wilful neglect –
well, what’s the board’s excuse for going along with it all for so
long?

Let’s remember than the previous chairman, Bob
Mansfield, was deposed over the Sensis/Fairfax proposal – not the basic
structure and strategy of the company which should be the board’s main
concern.

But let’s get back to those two key non-American executives: the present chief financial officer, John Stanhope, and his predecessor and current general manager consumer and marketing, David Moffatt.
As CFOs and candidates for the CEO’s job, both Stanhope and Moffatt,
had intimate knowledge of Telstra’s strengths and weaknesses. If it’s
as bad as Sol suggests, they should be sacked as they would stand as
co-conspirators with the previous CEO and chairman in severely damaging
the company.

On the other hand, one of them could replace Sol if he’s just been spinning with so little regard for shareholders.

Even
before Telstra sank into political nonsense this week, Stanhope and
Moffatt must have been in interesting positions, deciding whether to go
or stay in the hope that the cowboys won’t last.

And finally,
talking of the cowboys, I wonder if any of Crikey’s head-hunter readers
would like to venture an opinion, based on the three amigos’ published
CVs, as to whether any of the them would even have been offered an
interview if they had applied through normal channels for the positions
they now hold?

Michael Pascoe isassociate editor of Eureka Report