By SHIRA OVIDE As a U.S. senator, Jon Corzine was used to grilling corporate executives and White House officials. Now he's the one in the hot seat.
 Reuters Former MF Global CEO Jon Corzine will face questions Thursday from U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas and the House Agriculture Committee.
Mr. Corzine is expected to make his first public appearance since the Oct. 31 bankruptcy filing of MF Global Holdings Ltd. at a U.S. House of Representatives committee hearing Thursday to answer questions about his role in the firm's collapse.
Mr. Corzine, who stepped down last month as MF Global's chief executive, was subpoenaed to appear. It isn't clear whether he will answer questions or invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.
The former Democratic senator from New Jersey also has prepared a statement he will read in front of the committee, chaired by Frank D. Lucas (R., Okla.). A spokesman for Mr. Corzine declined to comment.
Mr. Corzine is likely to face questions about trades he made in European sovereign debt and about MF Global client funds that have gone missing.
If he does respond to questions, Mr. Corzine must walk a careful line in Congress, according to experts in crisis management and public relations. They say he should exude both confidence and contrition in front of what is likely to be sometimes hostile questioning from his former congressional colleagues, and he must be wary of any missteps that regulators and plaintiffs' attorneys could seize on.
 Associated Press Rep. Frank Lucas
Most of all, these public-image experts say, Mr. Corzine must be prepared to be a political punching bag.
"The tendency is to want to score points, to argue a case," said Gene Grabowski, chair of the crisis and litigation practice at Levick Strategic Communications. He says that isn't usually a wise approach.
Andrew Gilman, chief executive of crisis-consulting firm CommCore Consulting Group, says Mr. Corzine should use his opening statement Thursday to "show some responsibility without a concession of liability."
In a congressional hearing, even saying "I'm sorry" to shareholders or MF Global clients might later be seen as a tacit admission of wrongdoing, Mr. Gilman says. "Anything he says publicly will be subject to lawyers trying to pick it apart," Mr. Gilman says.
Mr. Grabowski adds it is likely Mr. Corzine has been prepped heavily for his congressional appearance. In such prepping sessions, crisis experts say, public-relations representatives stand in for members of Congress, and executives are tutored in how to respond to quasi-attacks in the form of questions. They are also trained how to sit during a congressional grilling (on the front half of the chair, with hands on the table, according to one crisis professional).
Mr. Gilman says he advises clients never to repeat negative characterizations contained in questions. "We weren't trying to sweep this under the carpet," for example, sounds like a tacit admission of guilt, he says. |
