George J. Mitchell
Connections can be good, but they can also become conflicts of interest.
Former U.S. Sen. George J. Mitchell released his report Thursday on the illegal use of steroids and other performance enhancing substances by Major League Baseball players.
Mitchell, 74, is widely respected, the sort of statesman who’s called in to fix problems others can’t solve. But he also has past and current links to baseball, including his role as director of the Boston Red Sox.
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Columnist Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe argued that those links compromise Mitchell and his report.
“Mitchell again arrogantly dismissed his obvious conflict of interest by citing his good works and his efforts brokering peace in Northen Ireland,” Shaughnessy wrote. “It’s astounding that a man as smart as Mitchell can so easily shrug off his compromised position. He either has a blind spot or his thinks his audience is stupid.”
Describing Mitchell as “fifth on the depth chart of the Red Sox masthead,” Shaughnessy argues that the report “trashes some Yankee gods while leaving the championship Red Sox unscathed.”
Mitchell’s investigation, initiated by Bud Selig, baseball’s commissioner, does name far more Yankee-connected names than Red Sox names.
However, Roger Clemens, perhaps the biggest name in Mitchell’s list of 89 players who allegedly used illegal performance-enhancing drugs, has played for both teams.
Mitchell, a Democrat and former federal judge who is now the chair of the global board of DLA Piper LLP, a law firm with 3,600 lawyers in 25 countries, lays out his possible conflicts in Appendix A of his report.
“I have been a consultant to the owners of the Boston Red Sox since that club was acquired in 2002 by an ownership group led by John W. Henry. The club labels that position ‘director,’ ” Mitchell writes.
He goes on to state that he is not involved in baseball operations, that he has no vote in owners’ decisions and he does not have “any ownership or other equity interest in the Red Sox.”
Though he makes it clear that he is not an investor in the team, Mitchell does not say how much he is paid for his services to the Red Sox.
Mitchell also notes that he served for about a year on the board of the Florida Marlins.
Mitchell reports, too, that he was a member of the board of the Walt Disney Company for 11 years, some of that time serving as chairman of the board.
As he notes, Walt Disney owns ABC, Inc., which owns ESPN, which broadcasts Major League Baseball games. Disney also owned what are now the Los Angeles Angels until it sold the team in 2003.
Mitchell also acknowledges that DLA Piper once represented the Major League Baseball Players Association in an action related to the drug testing of players. He notes that the association consented to his and the firm’s involvement in the steroids investigation.
Critics argue that acknowledging these possible conflicts doesn’t make them go away. Others say that Mitchell’s links to baseball may have given him both the background and the contacts necessary for the investigation.
While that may be the case, Mitchell makes clear in his report that he had a hard time getting through a wall of silence put up by the players and their association. Very few players, current or retired, talked with him and his investigators.
Consequently, he relied heavily on people who had already agreed to cooperate with criminal investigations into the illegal use in sports of steroids and substances such as human growth hormones.
Regardless, Mitchell, who is Roman Catholic, suggested Thursday that he faced stronger accusations when he was asked to broker a peace between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. His efforts helped lead to the 1998 peace accord.
“Judge me by my work,” Mitchell said of his baseball investigation. “Read the report.”
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