Will the Mystery Woman Please Step Forward?

I love it when reporters dig. (Wish they'd do it with all things Bush related, though). From the New York Times...

The female executive whose romantic relationship with Harry C. Stonecipher led to his ouster this week as Boeing's chief executive has been identified as Debra Peabody, an employee in Washington who has been at Boeing for more than 20 years.

Ms. Peabody, whose identity was disclosed last night by BusinessWeek Online and confirmed by a company official, is a 48-year-old divorced executive who manages office operations for Boeing's chief Washington lobbyist, Rudy deLeon. She is a graduate of Ohio University and received an executive M.B.A. at the University of Washington, which featured her recently in a promotional brochure.

I guess, now that her identity has been revealed, she won't be having a career at Boeing any longer. Lew Platt said yesterday that her identity was being kept under wraps pending the outcome of the investigation into her involvement in the affair. Umm...I thought the outcome of the investigation into Harry concluded that the relationship was consensual. That would seem to indicate that she is as guilty as he. Except that, apparently, Harry wasn't fired for having an affair with an employee. He was fired for using company e-mail to send her explicit messages. So, I guess, if she didn't talk dirty back, she gets to stay? Well, probably not anymore, now that everyone knows who she is.

On a related note, I've lately been a bit irritated at the kid-glove treatment Harry's gotten. While I don't think it's anyone's business whether or not Harry was having an affair, if he (ab)used company resources in relation to that affair, he deserves what he got. The investigators say he didn't, so I'm no longer sure Harry deserved what he got, in spite of any personal feelings I may have for the guy. It's possible that Harry's ouster was a knee-jerk over reaction in an overly puritanical envorionment. However...if Boeing's board were trying to make a point, simply letting the guy walk seems a bit of a milquetoast reaction. Turns out Harry was about to be awarded a potential payout of something near $27 million in stocks for his performance in 2004 but needed to be employed by the company for a full year after the bonus was awarded. (Guess that explains why he was waiting until 2006 to retire...again). So, it turns out that he did lose something as a result of his "poor judgement". Still, I have a hard time feeling sorry for a multi-millionaire not getting another $27 million to heap on top of the tens (hundreds?) of millions he already has.