Posted 4:53 PM

HP's CEO: "I will thoroughly investigate myself..."

Well, former HP board chair Patty Dunn is now out on her ear, ironically just days after being inducted (not indicted) into the Bay Area Business Hall of Fame (not the hall of Shame, as some would prefer). She was applauded by the executives in attendance, by the way.

Still with HP, and getting an early promotion, is Mark Hurd. Who now claims that he "personally hired Morgan Lewis to investigate the spy operation on Sept. 8", a law firm that will directly report to Hurd, an no one else. But Mark Hurd should be a major target of the investigation!

Not only is HP's board defying generally accepted governance practices by naming the CEO & President as board chair, but they've pushed out the only two board members with the cojones to publicly stand up to the unethical practices of the previous chair and her CEO minion. And now, of course, they'll stand by sniffing their fingers while their new chair investigates himself!

When will this string of fiascos end?

UPDATE: The New York Times is reporting that Kevin T. Hunsaker, HP's senior counsel and director of ethics, and Anthony R. Gentilucci, the Boston-based manager of global investigations for Hewlett-Packard, have both been fired. First impressions are that they will take the fall to deflect criticism of Hurd.