Who monitors the monitors?

"'People should be very careful to make sure that monitorships do not become political plums,' said Breeden, who stressed that he was not speaking about specific cases. 'The key is the person who is monitor has to have a very good understanding of the business they're dealing in.'" It's gotten so bad in Washington, even the government-appointed watchdogs might be on the make. According to a page 1 story in today's WP, "[f]ederal prosecutors are steering no-bid contracts to former government officials who earn millions of dollars by monitoring companies accused of cheating investors and other schemes...The lucrative arrangements are known as 'monitorships,' unusual contracts in which an outsider comes into a troubled company with vast power to expose corruption and change business practices."

Among the former officials in question, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was recently put in charge of a $25 million deal to clean up kickbacks happening at the medical supply company Zimmer -- no doubt because of his wide-ranging understanding of medical implant devices. "To prepare for the assignment and learn more about the business, Ashcroft said he recently watched as a replacement knee made by Zimmer was implanted in a cadaver." Well, now he's an expert...give him the check.