Stewart shirks responsibility; paints herself as a martyr

Her protestations notwithstanding, Martha Stewart continues to lead a charmed life.
She continues to characterize her federal conviction as "a small personal matter" that was blown out of proportion by the government and the media. She shows absolutely no remorse for what she did. The closest she came to an acknowledgment of wrongdoing or an apology was to say that she was "dreadfully sorry that the perception of my conduct has caused my family, my friends and especially my beloved company so much damage." Not her conduct, just the perception.
Despite her refusal to admit wrongdoing and her lack of contrition, Stewart was given the minimum sentence under law: five months in prison and five months of house arrest (at her 153 acre Connecticut estate).
Stewart, 62, and her stock broker, Peter Bacanovic, 42, were convicted in March of making false statements, conspiracy and obstruction of justice during an investigation into Stewart's sale of 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems Inc., a biotechnology company run by her longtime friend Sam Waksal, on Dec. 27, 2001.
Stewart and Bacanovic always maintained she sold because of a preset plan to unload the stock if it fell to $60. But Bacanovic's assistant, Douglas Faneuil, testified that he was told to tip Stewart to the fact that Waksal and his family were dumping their stock. The sales came on the eve of negative news about the company that sent stock prices plummeting.
Ironically, ImClone stock has since rallied and is now selling at about $77.
But at the moment Stewart sold her stock, netting about a quarter million dollars, she was benefiting by information that other ImClone investors didn't have. And while that may not have been illegal for Stewart, it was clearly illegal for Waksal (who is serving a seven year prison term) and it was illegal for Stewart to lie to agents who were investigating irregularities in the stock sales.
While Stewart paints her self as a victim, the real victims were the investors who lost money because they weren't privy to insider information. The U.S. economy is built upon the proposition that all investors have an equal opportunity to make (or lose) money in the stock market. Waksal, Bacanovic and Stewart undermined that principle.
Barring a successful appeal, Martha Stewart will, presumably years down the road, serve her five months in prison and her five months in splendid immobility. But it is galling nonetheless to hear her compare herself to South African freedom fighter Nelson Mandela. Yes, Stewart said in an ABC interview: "There are many, many good people who have gone to prison. Look at Nelson Mandela."
And, while Stewart maintains that her only real concern is for the company that still bears her name and for the welfare of its employees, her willingness to drag out years of appeals belies that. If she were truly concerned about those employees, and her company's stockholders, the best thing she could do would be to take her medicine. The company's stock rose 37 percent on news of her light sentence. If she put that sentence behind her, the company would have a better chance at long-term stability.
But that isn't likely, because, not matter what she says, when Stewart's actions are analyzed, it's all about Martha.