Why do Democrats insist on eating their young?
As a former consultant I'll tell you what he did. He did research which required a lot of data entry. He analyzed the data and made recommendations to his higher ups; the best of which they passed off as their own. He prepared Powerpoint presentations and managed the copy room to produce the books. In client meetings he sat in a chair removed from the conference table while partners ran the show.
He did not determine company policy and he did not decide which clients to pursue and which projects to take on.
306
Full disclosure, I am a Buttigieg supporter. Having said that, there are two issues. First, when Pete B. was at McKinsey, did he work on any projects that were unethical or contrary to his beliefs at the time. It’s important that he’s able to talk about those if McKinsey will release him to do so. Secondly, knowing many people who have had consulting experience, their experience puts them at an advantage in terms of analyzing data to guide their decisions. This background can be especially valuable when dealing with massive bureaucracies and budgets.
Running for President is a vigorous test of how a candidate communicates to the electorate, handles tough questions, is transparent and why he or she should get their vote. I believe every candidate should follow all of these tests. I believe Pete Buttigieg is the smartest candidate in the Democratic field which is saying a lot since all the candidates are smart. If the general public can get to know Pete better, especially in the African American community and college age students, I believe he will do extremely well.
34
From the Argument to regular news articles to, now, your editorial pages, your animosity toward Buttigieg (one of my 3 favorites) needs to either be explained or dropped.
30
Read the comments and learn. Stop editorializing with photos. We get . Buttigieg NO, Biden Yes. I want to cancel my subscription but I am addict.
15
NYT At this point you're being unfair to Buttigieg. Rather than insinuate unfounded accusations because Pete is in a bind - turn up your attention on McKinsey - which deserves it, at least until it relents with their ridiculous NDA.
19
This very liberal voter thinks this request is flippin' absurd. Young kid takes well traveled path to do grunt work for consulting firm. Moves on to more productive activities in public service.
34
The judgment behind writing this Opinion piece from the Ed Board is reminiscent of the judgment behind the coverage of Hillary's emails from the newsroom. Disappointing from the NYT, not because of any demonstration of bias, but because of a lack of comprehension on what constitutes news.
31
I have to decide about my NYT subscription again in January. I’d like my paper to do better than this
24
This is the new low of NYT reports on Pete Buttigieg.
27
Some would consider this Gay-Bashing.
11
NYT EB: I love you all. I do. I appreciate all of your contributions to an informed public. Thank you. But on this one, you blew it. It feels more than “helicopter-ish”. And it almost seemed to infer actual suspicion. That’s surprising. I don’t care what he did there. I don’t. And I won’t. This was a bit of a disappointment. I hope you will continue to leverage your hefty influence as the NYTEB on things that matter.
22
Your opinion column only shows either your lack of knowedge about how any large corporation works or worse you are being disingenuous and trying to hurt Mayor Petes candidacy. Right out of college, no matter how bright, you don't have any say about what you're working on much less on the corporations direction. What speaks volumes about Mr. Buttigieg is that he left a potentially very lucrative job and went back to his home town and tried to make it a better please to live.
29
The gentleman signed a non-disclosure agreement to which he is adhering. And he left the firm ten years ago. And he is on the record stating his disapproval with the current work of his former employer, making it clear that such was not there business during his period of employment.
Your editorial board's position is the only untenable thing I see here.
215
What a cheap shot! No doubt trump will use this in his re-election ads if he runs against the Mayor. Go ahead, tear down all the Democrats with your conspiracy theories about how Pete has to sort of 'come clean" about his McKinsey work - so some other candidate you may favor more can say "see, Pete did a job for Exxon once so he is in the pocket of big oil" - why don't you spend your editorial time getting Rudy Giuliani to come clean. Who are you helping n this thinly disguised hit piece worthy of Rush Limbaugh only this time from the Far Far Left.
22
Is the NYTimes Ed board suggesting Buttigieg violate the law, or do they not understand how an NDA works?
21
He was there as a very young man. And probably did what young high potentials at McKinsey, BCG and other top consulting companies do during their first few years at those firms: work long hours as an "Excel-Slave" and a "Power Point Assistant".
There is absolut no story here and its really annoying and stupid that the NYT is making such a big deal out of it.
Feels almost politically motivated.
19
What does The Times want him to do, breach a legal agreement?
16
This editorial is a waste of readers' time.
Find something else to be outraged about.
Here are some suggestions:
1-Trump refuses to release tax returns
2-Migrant minor dies of flu while held in custody, left dead alone for hours
3-Trump refuses to release tax returns
4-Guiliani keeps going back to Ukraine to justify a false narrative about Hunter Biden
5-Trump refuses to release his tax returns
Gabish?
22
Do you read your own paper? There is an article today about Mayor Buttigieg's education and subsequent short-term employment at McKinsey, which goes as far as possible without encroaching on the NDA. You're really becoming hysterical; it's not a good look.
23
Well, thank you very much NYT editorial board: you are providing the Trumpists with some fodder for their campaign. You can almost start writing their idiotic conspiracy theories about what horrible things he did when working for Mc Kinsey.
The article in this same newspaper describes what he did. Coming out of college, he was hired by, certainly at the time, one of the most prestigious consultancy firms in the world. Obviously, he was a junior, but apparently, he did a good job.
This episode at McK only proves, one more time, that this guy is a high caliber individual. In his short life he has amassed far more relevant experience than the current life-long real estate hustler in the WH. The USA would be immeasurably better off with someone like Buttigieg in the WH.
But you find it necessary to start building some kind of case against the man. You are stupidly and completely unnecessary aiding the Trump campaign.
19
The people who will elect the next president don't care about this sort of ridiculous purity test. The NYT should know better than to join the circular firing squad.
17
When do the NYT attacks count as political contributions? Can't wait till we overturn Citizens United so we can stop these attack editorials. They're as unfair as the anti-Hillary documentary was.
11
Guys, this is so lame!! You have a vendetta against McKinsey and you’re trying to use it as leverage against Pete. I could tell you about the kind of work he probably did there - there’s nothing sinister about any of it, really. Just basic data-gathering and number-crunching and common sense. This horse is really pretty dead - please stop thrashing the poor thing and get a life!!
14
I'm confused. Is there a lead here? Is there anything suggesting something nefarious or untoward happened? Looks like two things are happening. (1) This otherwise great paper is trying to buttress its own reporting on McKinsey by inappropriately linking a prominent candidate for the presidency to its previous reporting. This is called casting aspersions -- something unbecoming of this platform. (2) The NYT hasn't learned that their reporting on Hillary "but what about your emails" Clinton was irresponsible. These pages have real consequences.
"Vow of silence"? Please. This is a clear example of the problems with for-profit news reporting -- sensationalizing the banal when there's nothing else to report.
13
I guess the NYT editorial board wants Trump to be re-elected? Otherwise, why this non-news non-story? Come on people, spend your energy more productively!
16
Buttigieg signed a nondisclosure agreement - do you expect him to have such poor ethics that he will not stand by that?
15
@ commenters who are very impressed by McKinsey, a few fun facts to consider:
Rajat Gupta. Ran the place for a long time. Just got out of jail. He wasn’t there for reciting Spinoza’s Ethics in public.
Great that you have respect for them. Enron too I bet. Jeff Skilling just got if jail too. I bet he had lots of respect for McKinsey too. He worked there after his Harvard MBA. Same as Gupta.
4
I have been a NYT subscriber for over 20 years and generally agree with the paper's opinions, but this opinion piece seems almost willfully ignorant. McKinsey has been the number one consultancy in the industry in reputation for a couple of decades or more and has therefore been the top pick of the brightest and the best looking to enter that industry. To suggest that there is something sinister or nefarious about Mayor Pete working for the firm, as his first job, is way beneath the dignity of the NY Times. These are "views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values"? Please!
14
One thing I don't hear enough about the current impeachment offense is the fact that the ask was not to actually do research into alleged wrongdoing by Biden's son, but just to SAY in a public news platform that "Investigating Wrongdoing by Biden's Son" was a thing, thereby intentionally tainting Biden by empty headline alone.
I have so far really liked what Buttigieg has been saying, however the title of your editorial (by the same thinking as the Ukraine situation) makes me wonder if there is not some kind of lurking evil, just by virtue of the article title. If you don't intend to smear or taint this candidate, please be aware of the bias that the way the title is worded appears to have against him. He may have some kind of agreement, he may not. But it seems to me if the Times has info on a developing story about some kind of concerning issue with Buttigieg's actual actions at the firm or elsewhere, please by all means publish and let us know so we can make informed decisions; if not, please present the ideas of advocating for disclosure in a different way that will not artificially detract from him (same for any other candidate) by vague implication. Doesn't that make sense?
Thanks for all the great work you do, btw.
3
Whats next? You delivered newspapers as a kid? Which newspaper was it? What was the newspaper editorial policy? Did you agree with it?
The guy worked there as a graduate trainee. He wasn't a partner laying down policy. He was just some highly educated pleb doing grunt work.
14
I am no great fan of Pete Buttigieg, but this is really a terrible position that the NY Times is taking. And, once again, a completely misleading -- some might say "fake" -- headline. There was no "vow" of silence. There is a legally binding non-disclosure agreement. And the NY Times admits that Buttigieg has done all one can ask to remedy the situation, by asking to be released from that agreement or at least have it modified. I've written comments about this sort of trend before re fake headlines in the NY Times. The NY Times increasingly is becoming the National Enquirer.
15
Why isn't the argument in this editorial that McKinsey should release or amend the NDA? It doesn't appear that Buttigieg is trying to preserve it.
7
Oh, this is too rich. I am sure I don't have to go into the details; our current POTUS is morally, ethically, experientially unfit to hold the office. Whatever Buttigieg did during his three years at McKinsey ten years ago is exponentially, overwhelming paled by Dumpy's criminal activities. This is a non-story.
10
Would a candidate who was a young reporter to start out his career need to now leak out his sources and back stories?
8
What dark secret lies behind the McKinsey NDA? Pete was a very junior employee. Did he serve roasted puppies in the company lunch room? Other than something that, I think he's correct in following the NDA.
12
Voters seeking an alternative to Mr. Trump should demand that candidates not only reject Mr. Trump’s positions, but also his behavior — including his refusal to share information about his health and his business dealings. This standard requires Mr. Buttigieg to talk about his time at McKinsey.
First you tell voters seeking an alternative to Trump what they should demand... then you set the standard to fit your headline... and this is the whole editorial board at the NYT giving their best advice??? The "certain longstanding values" comes off in this article as elitist.
2
I am no Buttigieg supporter. I find his candidacy silly, premature, and devoid of expertise. But this is ridiculous to the extreme. The one area where he was likely to have gained any executive skills at all must now be laid bare simply because the NYTimes editorial board has some preternatural predilection against people earning a living in the private sector. Meanwhile, has the NYTimes editorial board asked for clarification from the Clinton Foundation for any of its revenue streams during Hilary's years a SecState? Any investigation of Uranium One? Any plans at all?
3
This op-ed is silly. First, he doesn't control his NDA. Second, despite the scandals, McKinsey remains an elite consulting firm with many extremely talented and ethical employees. It's a great place to get private sector experience. Third, even if Buttigieg did work for a country, company or NGO that's less blameless than the NYT would like, keep in mind he was a young, junior associate (or whatever they call them there) and worked on projects assigned to him. He did not pick McKinsey's clients.
7
He does need to give more information about his time at McKinsey. But, so does Biden about what Hunter Biden was doing in foreign countries like Ukraine and China where his only connection was that his father happened to be the point person for Obama administration. Why is the Editorial Board so silent on that? If NYT and its reporters think they can sweep it under the carpet and somehow try to blame Trump for bringing it up, then you are as corrupt as the Bidens. And it is not going away despite all of Biden’s attempts to claim that It was ok because he got a pass from NYT.
3
"Vow of Silence" ???? That's language ascribed almost exclusively to mafia-like organizations engaged in criminal activities, not to a standard business measure required for the protection of client confidentiality.
Unless the Times Editorial Board thinks that McKinsey is a criminal organization, that malignant phrase should never be in a headline.
9
Well timed article to conflate Buttigieg's McKinsey tenure with recent revelations of ICE detention centers hiring McKinsey to advise on dialing up the evil.
3
NYT, this attack on Mr. Buttigieg is repugnant, small-minded and intentionally misleading to readers who may not understand that a NDA is a legally-binding document. I, for one, find Mr. Buttigieg's commitment to honoring what he signed to be commendable and representative of his ethics. He has stated numerous times that he has requested being released from the NDA and he has requested that McKinsey be transparent. Furthermore, this brief episode in his life gave him valuable insight into where his heart and life's work would be - public service, which he has done admirably. Please, NYT Editorial Board, don't pull a Maureen Dowd-style attack (on Hilary Clinton) on this honorable, respectable young man who can do great things for this country in any position he holds. I for one hope he is considered for Secretary of State or a future position with the UN. This country needs Mr. Buttigieg in spades. Go after McKinsey if you need a target, but do it lawfully and transparently. Stop grasping at straws of your own making.
13
Dear NYT Editorial Board,
Please reveal who the author is of the “anonymous” op-ed who promised us that they were the adult in the administration who will protect us from Trump. What you say? You vowed not to reveal who they are? (Hmmm...sounds like you signed a NDA with anonymous, right?) Is there a double standard here? As our mayor for the past eight years Pete Buttigieg has revealed his character and his abilities to one and all. As others have said, why are you wasting your precious voice to denigrate an outstanding candidate? Mayor Buttigieg deserves an apology from the editorial board.
Sincerely,
A concerned citizen
11
What?!!! Criticism of Saint Mayor Pete?!!!
It's moot. His candidacy hits the wall in South Carolina.
1
Boo. Boo. Is this a fair and balanced attempt to even the scales? Admittedly Mayor Pete is young, so three years a decade ago seems like it could be of interest, but once again the NYT is creating a false equivalence between relevant disclosure made so that the electorate can understand meaningful conflicts of interest and irrelevant but perhaps journalistic catnip biographical information. In doing so the NYT is lending its imprimatur of gravitas that lowers Mayor Pete toward the pit of disinformation and cover ups of our current President.
If the editorial board felt that this is important then maybe they should also discuss Trump and then resize each discussion's font size to better illustrate the scale of obfuscation. Given the size of a newspaper, Mayor Pete's section would not be legible.
7
Are former employees of the NYT restricted from sharing confidential or otherwise proprietary information upon separation from the business? If not, the NYT is the most poorly run company in America.
4
I’m profoundly depressed by the majority of the comments here. The Times, which has a long record of giving favorable coverage to establishment candidates and ignoring or smearing progressive ones, finally seems to be shifting to a fairer approach. This should be welcome news to anyone who cares about a free press that serves the public good. But the impression I get from these comments is that the Times should be ASHAMED for even asking questions. Even worse, I see countless posts labeling this a “non story” (how can you make that determination without the facts??) including one that pegs the McKinsey-ICE piece a “non article” and accuses the NYT of “sophomoric” “McKinsey bashing”. Truly disturbing.
36
Wow NYT, it seems that the vast majority of readers who commented simply don't agree with your conclusions. How is the Editorial Board reviewing this pretty overwhelming response. For one, I'd like to know the context of how the Board decided to go with this particular article, because it comes off as being highly partisan even to the point of being a "hit" piece, does not have the usual depth one sees in your work in terms of analysis and I wonder about that too. You pay lip service to the NDA he mentions and then essentially demand he break the agreement, and you also don't explain why that's important very well. Can you provide we, your readers, with a little more information?
9
Only today the NY Times notices the dead albatross of McKinsey hanging around Buttigieg's neck?
Even if McKinsey were to lift the conditions of its non-disclosure agreement for Buttigieg, he still chose to work for McKinsey after Harvard and Oxford when literally hundreds of other career options would have been there his for the asking.
(Or of course dozens of excellent graduate schools would have bent over backward to admit him.)
Rachel Maddow, setting aside her Glenn Beck-like Russia-gate "coverage", is also a Rhodes Scholar, who did a PhD at Oxford, but chose to work a landscaper in Northhampton Mass after Oxford.
2
"The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values."
What long standing values? The person or persons wrote this piece should be ashamed of themselves. What possible reason could they have had to vilify someone, who straight out of college works for a firm which makes him sign a non disclosure contract and whose unethical behavior was not on record until years after he left? Which he did for all the right reasons.
What were the reasons for publishing this hit piece?Seriously! Be these standards, is there anyone pure enough to run for president?
Keep it up Editorial Board and you will ensure that not one credible candidate makes it to the nomination. You might as well hand Donald Trump a second term right now and and pat yourselves on the back for being the first on the block with that piece of news if that's the strategy.
12
I have subscribed to the NY Times for over 30 years. However, your attack on Mr. Buttigieg is making me reconsider my subscription. The fact that as a young man Mr. Buttigieg worked for a business that is known for honing analytic skills should be lauded rather condemned. More importantly, the fact that he honers his commitments is a rare virtue rather than a source of shame (n.b., Mr. Buttigieg has, in fact, asked to be released from his legal obligations). This is not news but a character assault. Is the Times intent on sabotaging every qualified candidate?
10
If the New York Times wishes Mayor Pete or other electorial candidates to be so transparent as to provide minutiae of their past work life, maybe it's Editorial Board should be similarly transparent and list the names of the members in "The Editorial Board" in the by-line of its editorials with hyperlinks to the curriculum vitae of each of those persons. After all, doesn't the readership - especially those of us like me who subscribe - deserve to know the quality of the editors giving the editorials. Frankly, considering that many of the NYTimes writers, journalists, and other employees are about Mayor Pete's age, we deserve to know their stories as well.
7
After the secrecy and distortions from the current administration, it is imperative that all presidential candidates are forthcoming about their health and tax records and relevant experience.
2
It sounds like Pete is trying to honor an agreement that he put his signature on. I suppose if you want a candidate who happily breaks agreements they sign, Trump is right there for you.
10
How about putting Biden and the others in the "barrel" as well. Let's get all the skeleton's out, not just wait for those at the top of the polls before you "attack". Me thinks you are soft on Biden. Just my opinion. I will simply pose: Are you treating the candidates equally and fairly with the somewhat different ways you choose to "pick them apart"? That is all I am asking. All have their baggage. Let's have a look at it in as fair a portrayal as possible. Thank you.
1
@George Olson Seems logical that Biden has been a public figure for 40 years, subjected to more campaigns and opposition research than anyone else in the field, and so there's little to know about Biden that we already don't know.
1
The fact that Mayor Pete won't discuss his time at Mckinsey tells me that he is a man of his word, unlike Trump. Buttigieg signed an NDA and is honoring the agreement. How quaint in the age of Trump.
10
Given what was presented in this article about PB’s political view during his time at Oxford, https://www.npr.org/2019/12/03/784151111/pete-buttigieg-spent-his-younger-days-pushing-democrats-off-middle-ground
I think it might help to understand PB better if we ask him why he chose to work at McKinley at all and why he is now seems to be aiming for the so called middle ground (that seems like a big leap to me). Yes, we all evolve; well, hopefully. It’s how/what he thinks about his own philosophical and political evolution that could be revelatory to voters.
1
sure, this is as treasonous as trump’s inviting multiple foreign governments to interfere with our democratic processes. thank you for the lesson in false-equivalencies.
6
What a cheap shot.Just a back handed endorsement of Warren and Sanders. Asking him to break a legal binding contract,and breach his fiduciary duty to his former employee and their customers so some can point to no matter who he worked for, they did something bad or wrong somewhere in its past.What joke of an editorial
11
As a liberal democract and very long time NYT subscriber, I usually agree with The Editorial Board. This time however, you are overplaying it, leave it alone. The other article in todays edition about Buttigieg and the other democracts views on universal college education showed more about Buttigieg's thinking and policy. It's like when Maureen used to harp on Hilliary every week...just get over it. If anyone cares, my choice in the California primary will be in decending order...Warren, Sanders, Buttigieg, Biden. Would love Buttigieg to be my #1 choice as am gay, but we need structural change in this country as Warren and Sanders promote. It won't happen overnight of course, but as my Mom always says when asking her where to begin, she always says "at the beginning." A good place to start.
On the other hand, anybody smart enough to work at McKinsey is probably smart enough to run a competent presidential campaign and defeat Trump and isn't that what most people really want?
4
@Keith Alt Well, perhaps, but then what? I hope to help elect someone who is very smart, capable and whose views align to a great degree with my own. I’m getting mixed signals from PB. He seems more like a nice republican. Nothing wrong in that.
2
I usually agree with the NYTimes Ed Board but I'm not so sure about this. Buttigieg was very junior, did a job he was assigned to do. Was he making decisions that shaped McKinsey's policies and actions? I highly doubt it. To what extent is an employee accountable for the actions of an employer? I'm an attorney and have taken positions in the interest of representing clients zealously that I personally don't entirely agree with. Should that be held against me if (God help me) I run for office? I also think all candidates should release their health records, not just the more senior ones.
10
One could draw a number of parallels between Pete Buttigieg and former Republican candidate for President Mitt Romney.
Mr. Romney co-founded and worked a career at Bain Capital.
He took a few beatings during his 2012 presidential campaign over some of the stories about how Bain conducted its business and how Bain made profits in the world of leveraged buyouts and work force reductions and questionable asset moves and business bankruptcies.
How much Mr. Romney disclosed at that time about his personal involvement in everything Bain should be examined anew, as perhaps one way to conclude how Mr. Buttigieg should be treated by The New York Times in this upcoming election cycle.
1
@Ed C Man Really? One was a founder of a company and the other was a new college graduate working at the bottom of the command chain. How can these two cases be equivalent?
5
This article should do more to condemn the company that compelled the NDA than the employee who signed it, presumably for some form of consideration. Buttigieg is in an untenable situation here and is more than likely doing the right thing by honoring his legal obligations.
8
This is a repost from the other Mayor Pete article, and I want to show what the receiving end of the consulting process looks like...
I worked with Accenture consultants during the initial Medicaid expansion, and I was on the government side. They were contracted by the state to do several things: modernize the eligibility system (it was still operating on a DOS system in 2013, and eventually moved to Cloud based computing), seek out the challenges and difficulties in the legacy system, and seek out ways to improve training and management of state employees who determine eligibility for public benefits.
The junior consultants (1-3 years in the job) conducted interviews to understand current state agency policies, pros and cons of current operations, and what employees would like to see in the future. This was not a one time thing, but an on going project. We would have weekly meetings going back and forth to see how things are being implemented and provide end-user (state employee) feedback. I don't remember exactly how long Accenture was contracted for, I left my state position to go federal, but I worked with the same group of consultants during my time on this modernization project. It appeared that junior consultants are assigned until a contract is expired.
While consulting firms have a notorious reputation, this particular experience is relatively mundane. Accenture was hired to ensure that the state was compliant with Federal guidelines for Expansion Medicaid.
2
Doesn’t Accenture have a contract with Facebook to “moderate” their objectionable content? I have read several articles about how their employees (independent contractors in the eyes of Facebook) are treated horribly. I guess you didn’t work on that notorious project, right?
Buttigieg will find that you can't have things both ways. You can't claim that you got "great experience with that great company" but then say that "that evil company is doing terrible things, and you are just so disappointed that they fell off the wagon of good deeds that they happened to be on when you worked there". Statements such as these require MUCH deeper explanations in order for us voters to even begin to buy such a thing.
3
While I am not at all troubled by Buttigieg's history at McKinsey, I am troubled by his resume for the job of POTUS overall. The resume of any POTUS applicant should convey a lifetime of passion and commitment to a set of ideals and principles that are supported by specific achievements (like, say, studying income inequality and founding the CFPB). It is not enough to want to BE president. I need to know WHY? I get that Buttigieg is talented, wicked smart and ambitious, but where is the cohesive narrative that makes his bid for the white house seem like the next logical progression in his career? To me, he has pretty words and offers more of the same.
4
As others have pointed out, given his age, short tenure, relatively low position, and the obligations of the NDA, this doesn't seem like much of a story let alone a cause for an opinion piece from the Editorial Board. But what should also be pointed out is the utterly lurid seeming title and photograph. From a glance, one would think that the candidate were willfully keeping silent about participating in something on the level of a war crime or sexual assault. This is the type of ruinous clickbait trafficked around the shall we say lesser respected precincts of the internet. The Board should hold itself to a higher standard.
9
It’s official: there is no action or inaction for which Democrats won’t criticize other Democrats. It’s a miracle you win any elections.
13
Trump is doing everything he can to prevent his tax returns and financial records from ever becoming public and Pete Buttigieg's reluctance to violate an NDA is a story because????
Let's put things in their proper prospective, please.
9
Assigning guilt to Pete Buttigieg by his association with McKinsey is illogical. It is as illogical as saying DJT represents USA by serving as the President. DJT has just been found to have engaged in corrupt behavior. He is an American. So, all Americans are corrupt!
I proudly worked at McKinsey for 14 years and I am perfectly proud of my moral compass then and now. Painting an individual’s character with broad brush strokes using paint that may be tainted by the actions of others is unfair and callous.
8
Great. Let’s cast aspersions on every candidate until there’s no one left.
7
I find it hilarious people that support Mayor Pete are talking about trust, a signed agreement, and his duty to stay silent. Was that their opinion on the women with NDA’s with Trump, Epstein, Weinstein, O’Reilly, FOX, NBC, CBS, or the ones congressmen paid with government money to buy silence of sexual misconduct? Either NDA’s are a legitimate legal document that must be enforced faithfully, or they are dishonest and should not be allowed. Picking and choosing which ones we would like voided makes them useless, or worse, future weapons to slime the next person of interest.
Totally agree with Michael Hinson. The NDA is nothing to fool around with. Having indirectly worked for McKinsey through a consulting firm, I would not disclose the work, even as non-controversial as it was. I see 2 issues: professional integrity (Buttigieg), legal liability. Though he may escape the liability, he would not be able to escape the breach of confidentiality as a direct failure of integrity. NYT should be asking McKinsey to release Buttigieg, as he himself has requested per news reports.
Aside, why is this an editorial leader? Most business consulting involves no issues of interest to the country, and relates to the particular business needs of the client. Why and when has the NYT issued similar cries for disclosure of private employment arrangements, contracts, or 'gigs' by other candidates prior to assuming office, after office, or otherwise?
7
In summary, at 25 years old Pete was hired to work at one of the most prestigious consulting firms in the world. During his 3 years (long enough that he was obviously good) before moving to public service he worked on whatever files he was told to work on by his boss(es). As part of his employment he signed a customary NDA with McKinsey (he likely also had one with each of the clients he worked for) which he has no ability to waive and even if he would, what would be the relevance?
Why would any of the clients he worked for 10 years ago want to be dragged into a political campaign, particularly in such a partisan environment? How is this a story?
8
This column is beyond ridiculous. You can not equate Buttigieg’s refusal to violate an NDA and reveal what he did as a junior associate at McKinsey with Trump’s refusal to furnish his tax returns or Bernie Sanders’s refusal to reveal his health records. Buttigieg has said his time with the firm was what propelled him into a career of public service. That’s all I need to know.
And oh by the way, I was a camp counselor my first two summers after college. Glad I got that out in the open. Now I can run for President one day!
11
I’m disappointed that your article doesn’t tell us what pay cut Buttigieg took leaving the private sector. To me, this act speaks volumes about Mayor Pete’s values.
139
I would rather have a president who keeps his promise when he makes a commitment like Pete Buttigieg than someone who doesn't even intend to keep his word like Trump.
9
I don’t often disagree with the NYT editorial board, but this is a tone deaf piece. I actually work for a competitor of McKinsey, and I have no love lost for them. I am also not a “Pete” supporter. Still, I want to make sure that readers understand that Mr. Buttigieg was not senior enough at McKinsey - despite his resume - to be an influencer of their business decisions. I can assure you that he was given assignments that capitalized on his experience (regardless of the customers he supported). I think it is likely that he charged his time to many client engagements - mostly clients of little influence in policy. While I appreciate impartiality, this is an insignificant position for the Board to take.
12
After only three years in an entry level job, Mr. Buttigieg was just following orders at McKinsey and not making any profound decisions on who they did business with or their end-game business plans.. Although I do believe in transparency from a candidate, this information is not needed to make a character decision for me.
9
McKinsey was responsible, along with Manafort, for the rise of Yanukovych in Ukraine:
"McKinsey helped polish the battered image of Mr. Yanukovych and pitch him as something else: a forward-thinking leader with an economic vision of a better future for all Ukrainians. McKinsey’s role in resurrecting Mr. Yanukovych’s political career has been lost in the clamor surrounding the conviction of Mr. Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, for secretly taking millions of dollars to help the Ukranian leader win the presidency in 2010. But McKinsey was financed by the same oligarch [Rinat Akhmetov] who backed Mr. Manafort, and it wrote an economic plan that Mr. Yanukovych wielded to disarm his critics — before discarding much of it after becoming president.
. . .
[Akhmetov] had rescued Mr. Yanukovych through a strategy that included hiring two very different consulting groups: Mr. Manafort, whose Russian-linked team had worked for dictators with little regard for human rights, and McKinsey, the purveyor of best practices for the world’s most important corporations."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/15/world/asia/mckinsey-china-russia.html
2
@BlueBird Why is this relevant here?
3
Yes, please, let’s drive out all the McKinsey, Bain, and BCG consultants from government. Then let’s get the Goldman and Morgan Stanley folks out of treasury. Get big tech out of government too. Harvard, Stanford, Yale: go home.
When we finally do this, only then will the government will truly represent the general incompetency of the electorate.
13
The Pete supporters are really showing their true colors here.
Not only would it be unethical for Buttigieg to violate a Non-Disclosure Agreement, I disagree that any revelations regarding work as an entry-level, young employee are likely to be relevant. In all likelihood, he worked tremendous hours, much of it on mundane administrative tasks, observing and learning. Really, doesn't the Editorial Board have bigger fish to fry?
15
On McKinsey releasing him from his NDA: it’s not McKinsey’s decision. It’s their clients. In order to release Pete, McKinsey would have to request release from every single company Pete worked with. That process would take months if not years and likely would result in multiple “no” responses.
NYT- you know how these things work. Why are you harping on this?
14
I'm sure many readers would like to see the minutes of the L'Chaim Society meetings in Oxford when Cory Booker was co-president of this Jewish (basically Orthodox) group.
Just kidding.
With all due respect to the Editorial Board, Mr. Buttigieg was not working as a mercenary gun-runner, but in a legitimate consulting firm.
Maybe a firm that you don't like, but that does not mean he owes you an explanation for this.
There is a limit to the logic of disclosure (Do we know what Mayor Pete eats for breakfast? Does he eat breakfast?).
14
As usual purity tests are going to end up with a loss for Democrats. The main story that is being lost is that he left the high-paying McKinsey job to volunteer with the armed services and then enter public service. How often is that the career path for a McKinsey alum? It think that is far more indicative of his character than anything he had to so as a fresh-out-of-college grunt.
12
@Joanne F They would make his departure from McKinsey to risk his life in Afghanistan as a sign of padding his resume to be President. He can never win!
4
As someone who has spent many years working for a competing consulting firm of McKinsey, I find this to be a non-story.
It is standard operating procedure to sign NDA's with consulting firms, in part because they do so in regards to many of their client engagements.
Also, Mayor Pete was in an entry-level position and can guarantee you that he was doing a tremendous amount of baseline work on these accounts. That's not to say he wasn't on some intriguing accounts, but I highly doubt that he was making decisions of the kind that Times editors have been assigning writers to over the last few months.
At this point in the campaign,I'm still researching and coming to grips with fine(r) points of the various candidates and their positions. The Times seems to spending an inordinate amount of time trying to get at the aggot type aspects of Mayor Pete's career? Why is that?
7
I'm one who thinks Buttigeg isn't quite ready for the presidency. But I'm loathe to hold 3 years experience as a junior analyst at McKinsey against him. He likely did some spreadsheet work and grunt work like all of the McKinsey junior employees. Nothing special. I don't think he's hiding anything - it's just that most mgmt consulting just isn't that interesting!
11
This morning I woke up to a Huffington Post article about Pete Buttigieg on the same subject I thought it was disgusting. See:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pete-buttigieg-secret-work-mckinsey_n_5de83018e4b00149f73aef4e
Coming from the Editorial Board of the New York Times is even more disconcerting.
In a world of low-information voters who are drowning in misinformation propagated by cable news, social media, and most-of-all the president, I find this Times editorial irresponsible.
The over-reporting of Buttigieg's low polling among African American voters has already led to unfair accusations of racism, and his lack of concern for the black community. In contrast, and I can say as an African American, I've determined the opposite to be the case. I have a sense of his concern and determination to make a positive difference in the black community. But in the minds of average voters, such labels, no matter how accurate or fair, become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It has been said in many of the comments here that Buttigieg's employment with McKinsey is hardly evidence of cooperation in the wrongdoings of rogue partners of the firm. I implore the New York Times to be more responsible in its coverage of Buttigieg and the 2020 election in general. Try to stop tropes before they circulate too widely and become embedded in the consciousness of the voting public.
17
Mayor Pete needs to tell us more, precisely because his employer was McKinsey.
McKinsey has been involved with:
-Enron and Valeant shady accounting practices,
-Galleon Group insider trading,
-Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement immigration policy,
-Chinese state-owned companies,
-Saudi Arabian dissident clampdown,
-Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
-Ukraine's Victor Yanukovitch
-Sanctioned Russian and Chinese companies
Clearly I do not belong to elite circles as I do not see anything prestigious about a company involved in so many shady activities. Mayor Pete needs to explain why he is not tainted by his time there at McKinsey.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_%26_Company
6
I have mentored over ten future McKinsey, BCG, and other top five consultants. All are from Ukraine. They have attended Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Dartmouth, Georgia Tech, University of Chicago, Jacobs (Germany) etc
I think that the Times take on Peter Buttigieg is a bit tough and unfair. He was a junior employee as many here have pointed out. McKinsey is a default job for Harvard grads. Understanding how McKinsey works is valuable for future public servants.
That said NDAs are a problem for those planning a career of public services. McKinsey reptresents a private equity mentality that is incompatible with the necessary transparency of public service. McKinsey types are like black cardinals for hire enabling plausible deniability to companies, dictators, and money launderers.
McKinsey's activities in Ukraine are very much a part of its and America's predatorty practices abroad.
McKinsey has served (undoubtedly at very high prices) the worst most corrupt oligarchs in Ukraine; There is direct information linking McKinsey to Poroshenko, Akhmetov, Firtash, and Pinchuk. Undoubtedly there is much more.
Second, McKinsey breaks down the national loyalty of its employees. The Kyiv McKinsey office is filled with global types with no rcommitment to Ukraine. It also appears that even after the EuroMaidan the Kyiv McKinsey office is subervient to the Moscow office. There is more money to be made in Russia
Ultimately, there is something fundamentally insincere about McKinsey
This is a slippery slope. He owes McKinsey’s clients a duty of confidentiality if he signed an NDA. If the clients agree to release him from this duty, fine. But they apparently have not. Is the NYT arguing he should violate the NDA because he is running for President?
If he were an attorney would you expect him to violate the attorney-client privilege and disclose details of client representations from long ago? How about if he had been a journalist — would you say he has a duty to disclose sources to whom he had promised confidentiality? I think not. If voters care deeply about his past work in the private sector, which I doubt, they can decline to vote for him on that basis. But he is doing the ethical thing here.
9
McKinsey is one of those dark, secretive companies with classified govt. contracts. There's an old saying: "If you really want to keep it secret, put it in the private sector."
Buttigieg may have a security clearance and was perhaps doing classified intel work in Afghanistan. That may be why Mayor Pete can't talk about it. Anyone granted a security clearance is bound by it for life.
Footnote: Edward Snowden did not work for the NSA, he was an employee at Booz Allen, another 'spook' outfit.
1
As a junior employee at McKinsey, the vast majority of his time was crunching data and putting them into fancy pie charts into Powerpoint for corporate clients. The only secrecy is for which clients, because corporate clients want to keep their reasons for hiring McKinsey a secret, for competitive reasons. No corporation will hire McKinsey if their ex-employees go blabbing about the work they did for them. It's the same as attorney-client privilege for lawyers.
10
Liberals = eating their own!
Can't make it up.
Just sad.
15
@Paddy Coburn
Just like Trump eating his tax returns to keep them from the public eye, right?
1
Exactly, horribly on target. Chelsea Clinton worked for McKinsey. Please look up in your files what she did in Haiti. Pls stop. Biden is not a match for trump, get your thumb off his scale. Don’t publish but listen to me.
2
well, except for the fact that buttigieg isn’t a liberal, sure....
1
This is nonsense. He spent 3 years as a junior consultant where he would have had minimal influence over the projects to which he was assigned. He was crunching numbers as the most junior person on a team.
9
There is NO perfect politician. A variety of experiences is a good thing for a candidate, having knowledge of Busi ness and big data is a good thing. He didn't run off to Wall Street, he became the Mayor of Southbend, went to Afghanistan.
Agree with LauraF, if there's an NDA, there's no story here.
11
I think he has offered "a kind of romanticized version" of his whole life! The man is smart, he knows how to use his words to win. The question in my mind remains if he can back up his words with actual achievement. I am waiting to see how he does to heal the wounds if South Bend before I back him to lead our country.
1
You are wrong, and your ire should be directed at McKinsey. This isn't like Trump hiding behind a tax audit; former employees of big, secretive firms like McKinsey who violate their NDAs get sued by big, prominent law firms, lose and owe life-changing, bankruptcy-inducing sums.
I know; I've worked at such a law firm, and, later, as an investment banker, I've been forced to sign such NDAs.
So stop blaming the victim (Buttigieg), do your job as responsible jouranlists and go after the perpetrator (McKinsey). McKinsey should be able to offer Buttigieg the ability to make some reasonable disclosure, and pressure from the NY Times and other respected institutions is how that happens.
And tell all the ignorant commentators who think violating a NDA with a major US company has no consequences that they're dead wrong, too.
You need to do better. And for the record, I support Ms. Warren, so my views aren't drive by partisan concerns.
15
If it is true that McKinsey will not let Buttigieg out of his agreement, what do you want from him? When the agreement is voided I expect him to answer all questions pertaining to his stint there. I expect all candidates to reveal all that pertains to running for office. This is information the public needs to make an educated decision.
.
5
The mindset of this editorial piece is exactly why Trump may be re-elected: the purity tests of the Democratic side might as well be a large gun, shooting itself in the foot.
20
@James221
Right. There is no story here.
1
Imploring him to 'disclose' is not fair, given that he is bound by the NDA. Should he just disregard the NDA and face a lawsuit? He did ask to be released from it, so clearly he is ready to talk about it. But McKinsey is well know for extreme secrecy to protect clients and continue to recruit those with deep pockets.....so the chance they will release him is zero to none. Let's be realistic here.
4
I'd be much more concerned by those whose work history includes stints in the Senate or House. They have much more to explain than a low level employee at McKinsey
8
So let's see, his qualifications for the highest office in the land come down to working for a skeezy consulting firm that produced the blueprints for a human rights crime, and the mayoralty of a town smaller than the average Dallas suburb. Wow.
At this rate in four years a Mayberry Alderman and a Justice of the Peace of Lower Slobobia County will be credible candidates for the Democratic nomination.
3
@Gary FS WEll, I'd take his qualifications over the failed real-estate-developer-turned-reality-TV star any day.
4
Mayor Pete tells us, "they'll try the Socialist thing, but the thing is, I got started in the private sector."
Then they'e try the Crony Capitalist thing, but the thing is, they'll be basically right.
1
Seriously, you're going to make a story out of this? If he violated a signed agreement, that would be a story. If he lied about having signed an agreement, as an excuse to avoid discussing his employment at McKinsey, that would be a story. Remember DJT refusing to release his tax returns based on the bogus excuse that he was being audited by the IRS? Please. The story here is that he's following the rules and agreements he made. Period.
13
There's an old saying that McKinsey will borrow your watch and then tell you what time it is. At Buttigieg's entry-level position, it's doubtful if he did much more than that.
9
What you Dems don't realize about Mayor Pete is that he is the political equivalent of Woody Allen's Zelig. He has no moral center but has punched every ticket that he thinks will help him succeed, regardless of what the ticket represents. Mayor Pete stands for nothing but Mayor Pete. His "success" thus far is from his ability to raise large sums from the gay community ("not that there is anything wrong with that"). But he does it quietly and behind closed doors.
3
@Bob No moral center? Surely you jest. Compared to our present POTUS, Pete is a combination of MLK, Gandhi, and Harriet Tubman.
Please provide some evidence for your claims.
5
I think the real story here, if you read between the lines, is that Mayor Pete's ascension is making the old guard at NYT and mainstream Democrats more than a little nervous. The comparison to Trump and the president's aversion to transparency is ridiculous, but perhaps not surprising given the recent coverage of Buttigieg.
7
I don’t buy that for a second. Mayor Pete IS the old guard wrapped up in a shiny new package. The idea that he represents a rebuke to the establishment is LAUGHABLE.
3
@Casey S Please back up your claims with facts.
2
Trying to equate this with Donald Trump, who is actually President and has a known and extensive history of shady financial dealings, concealing his extensive holdings and interactions with foreign powers while in office is one of the more ridiculous opinions this Editorial aboard has come up with.
Companies like McKinsey have NDA agreements with low-level analysts like Buttiegieg because all of their clients want confidentiality - not because young person in his first job has decision-making power over which jobs the company takes on.
This is a non-story, let’s keep our eye on the ball with things that actually matter in this election.
15
I'm no fan of McKinsey, but don't understand the Times' takedown of Mr. Buttigieg's stint there. If a NY Times reporter refused to identify anonymous sources because she made a promise not to disclose them, would we berate her as well?
It also seems unreasonable to hold all Democratic candidates to a gold standard of transparency and disclosure in a time when our president scoffs at any hint of doing the same.
17
What part of "Non-Disclosure Agreement" do you fail to understand? Buttigieg is nothing if not ethical and honorable, but those qualities are increasingly inconceivable and even suspicious in the awful times we live in. How sad and distasteful that so many people nowadays presume that everyone is deceitful and untrustworthy.
13
So let me get this straight: the editorial board of The NY Times is asking Mr. Buttigieg to do something unethical in the name of ethics? That is an oxymoron. Mr. Buttigieg would be UNethical if he were to release the information he in effect swore not to. Which part of "nondisclosure agreement" does the editorial board not understand"? You state that he "has asked the company to release him from the agreement, and that it has yet agreed to do so". What more can he do other than something that is unethical and would most likely result in a lawsuit against him.
Would The NY Times release the names of its "unnamed sources" for the sake of clarity? I hope not.
15
How exciting! Pete is clearly making the establishment nervous, if the Editorial Board feels the need to call respecting an NDA an "untenable vow of silence."
I especially enjoyed your burying -- in the bottom of the 4th paragraph -- the call for the ancients, Bernie and Biden, to release their health records.
What's next, his emails?
GO PETE!
15
Pete IS the establishment. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either incredibly cynical or just plain delusional.
1
Sorry NY Times editors but this is blowing an issue way out of proportion and very disturbing that it rose to the level of an Editorial Board opinion. Buttigieg was a promising associate at a prestigious management consulting firm for 3 years doing data crunching and analysis on a project team, assigned to his client work by higher ups and not in a position of strategic authority. He left that path for public service work. He signed and is abiding by an NDA that is standard for all McKinsey employees as part of its contracts with clients. There is nothing nefarious to see in that and if he’s freed up to talk about his work then he will do so. On the other hand there’s much that’s really nefarious happening every day in the willful and voluntary non disclosure and obstruction on view from our president, his advisors and high level appointed govt officials. Better to keep focused there.
12
A refusal to renounce a youthful dalliance with business consulting is disqualifying in a presidential candidate.
2
Why does he need to say anything about his time at McKinsey? Even if this is a dark spot in his past, why would it make him unelectable?
Compare him to the current President and see how clearly superior he is. Compare him to Bill Clinton too.
And why is the Editorial Board taking a position on this? Do you people want to risk diving the Democrats even more and getting Trump reelected?
5
Please. Let's not start this tearing down of candidates for no substantial reason again. Didn't you learn anything from the last presidential campaign?
Buttigieg's work at McKinsey was his first job out of college. Those kinds of companies generally don't give new hires work in significant or sensitive areas. Besides, he knew it wasn't what he wanted to do forever and left after 3 years.
The Times is too influential to not be focusing on important things.
This isn't fake news, but it is a fake controversy.
14
This is ridiculous ( I think others have said this). He was bright and ambitious. Period. What is there to know?
9
When people bring up the fact that Warren used to be a Republican, her supporters say "I think people can change". Those same people's scrutiny of Buttigieg's "possible" private sector work we actually know little about is hypocritical at best, and downright ignorant at worst.
6
There are probably hundreds if not thousands of McKinsey (and BCG, and Bain, and blah blah blah) engagements going on globally at any given time. The vast majority of those have nothing to do with supporting oppressive regimes or dumb politicians.
In all likelihood, Pete crunched some numbers for three years, made some presentations to old white men in a room, and got paid pretty well for it. More than likely, he made some kind of elite status on airlines and hotels. Maybe he even recommended that some employee working in corporate America get fired. That's about it.
4
Apparently we can expect Mayor Pete to keep his word.
Something the current President, who is twice as old, could give a try for the first time.
8
First, I am frankly surprised that Times would even choose to discuss this, given the Editorial Staff should have a pretty good understanding of what responsibility and choices an entry level employee has in any corporation. Citing McKinsey's multiple controversial decisions, including the one be involved with Purdue etc. implies that it may have a bearing on Pete's choices. This is simply wrong. Its like they are holding a first year NYT employee responsible for the Editorials and stories at Times, and then asking him to disclose the sources.
Second, comparing it to Trumps, Biden, or Sanders refusal to share information is like comparing oranges to apples. Trumps, Biden, and Sander were making the decisions and choices, and are responsible for them. Pete was as mentioned by many, likely getting coffee for the decision makers given his very junior position.
Third, Times should clearly understand NDA's and not punish Pete for following what he agreed to do. If Times really wants NDA revoked, they should be pushing McKInsey and not Pete.The decision is in McKInsey's hands. NYT holds themselves to a similar standard, and does not get pressurized to disclose sources, unless a decision is made to do so.
I read the Times everyday and I expect them to hold themselves to a higher standard than trying to push for a populist story.
9
@Luice Andre, by now we know that crimes against humanity were committed by individuals American soldiers in Iraq. We have no idea what McKinsey & Company did in Iraq during US’s occupation. Mayor Pete need’s to come clean on his record. Or he becomes a sanitized version of Donald Trump.
2
More importantly being mayor of a small town next to Notre Dame does not provide experience for high office. Clearly he does not even “run” the city as he is campaigning.
@meh. He’s no longer the mayor of South Bend. A new one was elected in November.
2
I need to know about how he spent the three years in elementary school from 1st to 3rd grade. Did he share ? Did he care ? I cannot vote for him until he or his parents come clean about it.
8
Why, after watching another candidate ignore pleas from the public for transparency, would Buttigieg say anything about his time spent at McKinsey?
If he wants to win, he'll follow the previous victor's playbook.
Buttigieg aside, are you saying that McKinsey, BCG, etc. should be forbidden from doing any consulting work for China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia? If all individuals and firms have to vouch for the character of their clients before they perform or advise on any services, should all law, consulting, financial and PR firms preemptively immediately shut down immediately? Wow!!
2
No big deal here. It was probably a boring, entry level job with no import. Good for one's resume and nothing else. I'm not concerned. Perhaps he will disclose more as soon as Trump's IRS audit is concluded. The Times needs to worry about something else.
5
I would've expected this article from some of the more "woke" correspondents you have, but not by the entire Editorial Board. This piece is perfect demonstration of the Democratic circular firing squad.
You demand an explanation because someone worked for a consulting firm who at one point did some questionable things? Your purity test will sink any moderate democrat, which is essentially begging for 4 more years of Trump.
When you wonder why people on the right loathe liberals, this is an excellent example. A bunch of highly educated people who have zero common sense.
I fundamentally dislike the right, but articles like this make me want no part of the left either.
7
NY Times is absolutely correct in asking presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg to tell voters what he did at McKinsey. Reading some of the responses to the Times editorial is a bit baffling. Dose any of these responders have any idea what McKinsey & Company is all about? Mayor Pete worked for a comapny that has spent decades, as consultants, slashing and burning jobs and lives. Throwing thousands out of jobs, investing in companies they were advising, working for ICE. Cutting costs for ICE which meant that detainees were in horrible conditions, lacked medical care, and basic hygiene. This and more is McKinsey for you. Now Mayor Pete wants hide behind a NDA? Give me a brake.
3
If I’ve learned one thing after reading these comments it’s that every single Mayor Pete supporter has a Times subscription.
Buttigieg can't win with some folks. There is an NDA. End of story.
6
So the NYT has decided to throw Mayor Pete under the bus.
I'm reminded of this paper's coverage of HRC and Sanders prior to the '16 election. Roughly 10 pro-HRC pieces to 1 pro-Sanders piece. A concerted effort, frustrating to those of us who turn to the NYT for objective news.
The deluge pro-Biden pieces will soon follow.
Let's focus on real news items please. This is a non-story.
4
The president of the United States refuses to reveal his tax returns after 3 years in office, and you are carping at Pete Buttigieg because he won't talk about his first post-college job? Really?
9
This will haunt Mayor Pete just like Hillary Clinton's failure to disclose her speaker's fee for Goldman. In both cases the cover-up is the crime.
He and McKinsey should figure out some compromise which allows for partial disclosure, and Lord knows McKinsey could use some good PR these days and stands to benefit as much as the Mayor.
Didn't a recent McKinsey Chairman do a stint behind bars for insider trading? And its work in South Africa for an India firm was unconscionable. See , its refusing to cooperate only dregs up the ugly past.
@Jl Exactly how is Buttigieg covering up his time at McKinsey? He is honoring the NDA he signed. Maybe you actually didn't read the article.
4
In 2016 the NY Times favored Hillary Clinton's candidacy and consistently denigrated Bernie Sanders. This time it's Pete Buttigieg they want to bring down. It's hard to imagine that the NY Times this time would endorse Sanders or Warren. Perhaps they are carrying water for Biden. In any case, Pete's work experience at McKinsey doesn't rule him out for me. Sure, I would like to know what he did there, but I think the Times is out-of-line implying that it was something nefarious. The Times here is doing what the GOP is doing when the GOP tells us that Joe Biden, because of his son's association with Burisma, is as one with Burisma and therefore unfit to run for president.
3
If you learned he did somethign you didn't like while at McKinsey, would you really not vote for him? Who would you vote for instead? Are you sure they're "pure and perfect?" This is a race to self-disempowerment.
3
About 90% of the comments here seem to agree that the Editorial Board is completely off base on with this Editorial. I've never been prouder to be a NY Times reader. The readers are making sense while the Editors display a lack of understanding or worse. I say "or worse" because I believe the Editors aren't as ill-informed as some comments suggest. The Editors must understand the legitimate reasons to withhold this information and they must also know that a client list from three years worth of consulting engagements would tell us very little, possibly even nothing, about Buttigieg. What they are looking to do is a hit job. They know that if he doesn't reveal the information they have caught him being obstructionist. And if he does reveal it, there are bound to be clients that are red flags even though the work he did may not be. This is a move made regularly on the Left where the goal is to find some association with something negative and turn it into a disqualifies. The NY Times would love for him to list engagements with an oil company, a tech monopoly and an oppressive government. Then Buttigieg gets branded as aiding and abetting these types of organizations and the woke people in the newsroom get their red meat for the day. This is nonsensical. It's disgusting. And it's going to get us a another term of Trump. The NY Times needs to get its head straight and fast.
10
@SJG. Exactly.
5
So Pete has sworn confidentiality to a past employer and gets criticised for NOT betraying the same.
Old Trump promised to disclose his tax returns after he was elected and then failed to do so after the fact for three years and counting.Everybody now accepts this.
What the Devil kind of double standards do you people operate under in the old U.S.of A.?
Puzzled Canadian.
6
This is probably the silliest article I've read in the NYT. Having been a consultant at a competitor for McKinsey, I can say with certainty that even the clients and work done for a private company are not national interest. He's almost certainly not hiding something, just honoring his agreement with his former employer.
8
FAIL! What part of NONDISCLOSURE agreement do you not understand? This is a legally binding agreement regarding confidential work he did on behalf of the company's client. Whether or not the public "deserves to know" what he did is highly debatable. The NYT Editorial Board should have consulted with a competent legal authority before publishing this sort of nonsense.
6
Lots of people somehow want to think Pete is somebody he is not. I don't care if he is gay--I'm from the 1970's generation of gay men who broke down the door so he could be out.
No, Pete is anything but someone I would vote for. He is a secretive, totally careerist person. He is nothing like the party of FDR. Get hip, people.
@Walter
Unlike some of the uber-woke millennial LGBT of today with anti-Pete bias whom I’ve seen on Twitter, you’re of the 70’s so then you’ve probably lived through some horrors of the 80’s and 90’s. I myself lost a good friend in the 90’s - to suicide - he couldn’t tolerate the self loathing and the disapproval of his conservative family anymore. I wish he would have believed that “it gets better”. I wish he could know now that there’s a gay man who has a decent chance of being President. I would have a hard time telling him though that there are LGBTQ of his generation who, after fighting for their rights and for their lives, are now at this historic moment in time, but some of these folks won’t even give this man, a Democrat in their own party, the time of day.
3
Mayor Pete has my vote. The NYT Editorial Board is not going to sway me to vote for Biden. That's for sure.
5
Thank you and agree 100%.
Perhaps he worked in the mailroom so there is really not much to say.
1
It's not the CIA. Open up; McKinsey secrets are just not that important.
Donald Trump MUST release his tax returns.
4
Why is this headline not "McKinsey" needs to free Buttigieg to speak? The board writes this: "He says his lips are sealed by a nondisclosure agreement he signed when he left the firm in 2010 and that he has asked the company to release him from the agreement. It has not yet agreed to do so." Why are you implying that Buttigieg is doing something wrong? This is unjust and misleading.
7
Biden’s backers are really worried about their floundering candidate and are stepping up their hit jobs.
3
Do people commenting on here realize that when they dismiss someone as 'a white male' they are guilty of sexism, misandry and racism? It seems not. In this case also they want to ignore the man's sexuality because it's then easier to dismiss him for his other attributes. That's homophobic. And they then wonder how anyone could vote for DT. I always vote for the least crazy person with the least crazy supporters. A tough choice these days. I'll apply the same criteria in 2020. Love x
5
This editorial is a disgrace.
To smear a man because he is talented enough to land a job at a prestigious firm that a decade later has done some unethical things is just as bad as rudy and djt smearing Joe Biden if not worse.
8
Pete is THE most talented politician and probably the most intellectually robust and honest person running for president.
What exactly is the NYT attempting to accomplish with these insinuations that Pete is hiding something?
There is no obligation for the editorial board to try to drum up negative stories on every candidate. Leave that to the actual journalists. Then if there is a story publish it.
Do you want Trump re-elected?
4
His flip-flop on Medicare For All (he used to be for it) and his disastrous Douglass Plan roll-out speak volumes. He’s as dishonest as the rest of them and he will soon go the way of Kamala.
2
Finally, the consummate try-hard, millennial resume-padder receives some constructive analysis. Raise your hand if you work alongside a thirty-something whom Buttigieg reminds you of.
4
@Ed
OK, boomer.
(I am one).
1
@Ann
For once the boomer in question is right.
2
Politicians must now violate all past NDA's? I presume you are also holding every other member of Congress and Presidential candidate to this standard, right? This has got to be one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen out of the NYT.
6
Imagine having a President who can keep their word and not blab away. How refreshing is that?
4
I'l like to send you the 23 page NDA my wife was forced to sign in order to get her severance package. And she was just working for a billionaire Art collector.
Alas, I can't. We'd be sued both for the severance and for breaking the NDA. I imagine McKinsey's is at least 36 pages.
8
This is perhaps the silliest piece by the Board of Editors I’ve ever read. He was an entry-level employee at the firm who undoubtedly played a supporting, largely analytical role in a handful of assignments he neither could choose nor lead. The only insights to gain from his short time at McKinsey are the facts that he was hired by this highly selective consultancy (no small feat) and then chose to leave a promising, lucrative career for public service (a laudable move). To imply there is more to know here is simply naive - or the act of a group who prefers a different nominee.
9
Sorry but as a NYT reader for decades I need to join the chorus that says this is much ado about nothing and beneath NYT standards. The guy was in his 20’s getting assignments. He made no policy at the firm and certainly did not influence what clients the firm took on. If there is a story is that his stint confirms the obvious: he is whip smart and has foregone a lucrative career in private life to serve his country.
9
This sounds like the NYT's attacking a Democratic candidate so it can feel "fair and balanced." Don't get me wrong, I generally appreciate the NYT's editorial bias, but an NDA is an NDA. The candidate says he's tried to be released. Will the NYT indemnify him if he breaches it? If not, stop this nonsense. And if it is found that his employer assigned a junior member of its employee ranks to work for a polluter like DuPont, are you going to vilify him for that? Why aren't you calling for Elizabeth Warren's records when she worked for corporate America?
5
Here we go - another round of purity tests. McKinsey=evil. Mayor Pete worked there for 3 years=evil. Have we forgotten that Warren was a corporate lawyer (which I am not holding against her)? Harris was a prosecutor. What possible detail could emerge from his stint at McKinsey that would be relevant? He was not in leadership, and client companies demand confidentiality. There are legitimate considerations as to whether he is the best candidate. This ain't one of them.
14
I'm not a huge fan of Buttigieg or McKinsey but I object to this criticism. As an entry-level analyst or associate at McKinsey, it's almost certain that nothing Buttigieg did in his time there was ground-breaking or even in a leadership role. He was only there for 3 years. Who cares?
11
It is not a vow of silence. The NDA is a legal agreement that he cannot break without negative (legal) repercussions. It's really not the same thing as Trump requiring his mistresses to sign NDA's or not releasing his taxes.
13
Echoing @Michael Hinson, the request is a bit untenable. So you would have him break the NDA and disclose his work over a three year period? Seems extreme. This would be more compelling if he had spent 20 years there. It would also be more compelling if we had seen the NDA and evaluated its enforceability. If it was likely unenforceable, then that also strengthens the request. But the request at this stage is not reasonable. We also need to consider the fact that he was likely not a manager, not deciding who were McKinsey's clients and not. And I am assuming he no longer has a financial stake in the company (or if he does, that he will sell such interests upon entering office). These are all factors governing the reasonableness of the request.
One last point: I clerked for a judge that approached the law with a very conservative mindset. Sometimes we agreed, sometimes we didn't. I pushed him on things and he pushed me on things. But in the end, he was signing his name to the opinion, not me, so if he didn't end up seeing it my way, I had to write it from his viewpoint. Does this fact mean that all his opinions should be imputed to me simply because I worked for him and drafted some of his opinions? Obviously no. The same is true here. It is not fair to impute all actions by McKinsey the company to Buttigieg simply because he worked there for 3 years.
7
Maybe NDAs should have to obey a sunset provision that limits their duration, since it's not likely that anything he discloses now, practically a decade after he left, would affect any of their ongoing business.
1
I'm as anti-corporate as you can get, but seriously? Who cares about his consulting work in his early 20's? Also, what exactly do you expect him to do? He's requested the waiver as you've noted, but the company has denied the request. His only option is to just disregard the LEGAL document that he signed. But then he'd be a person who breaks legal agreements. Why would that be a good thing?
13
I don't trust any individual or any one in any corporation that requires any employees to sign a non-disclosure agreement unless it's a matter of national security. What are they trying to hide? I taught for years and no one asked me for such an agreement. Should Mayor Pete have refused to work at McKinsey? That's second guessing and like everyone else except for the tweeter-in-chief and his minions, Mayor
Pete has to live with the consequences of his decisions.
@Bethed He was just out of college and got a high-paying job -- and you're maintaining that signing a standard NDA at that time should disqualify him for the presidency??
2
I'm a Warren supporter in the "any Democrat over Trump" camp. This column is an example of providing ammo to the perennial Democrat circular firing squad.
Mayor Pete's involvement with McKinsey is newsworthy. He is, after all, running for President. Anything is fair game. But a full-on Editorial Board column?
Come on. This is not big news. Three years at a firm, straight out of college does not compare with not handing over tax returns. Doesn't compare with candidate Kerry's youthful protests against the Vietnam War.
A young person's first career commitment of just over 1,000 days strikes me as exactly what Buttigieg says: Not terribly essential. Bracket it with his joining the Navy, then heading into public service, and you begin to see the outlines of the real story.
Why is Mayor Pete not being praised for abandoning McKinsey and giving up a wealth-building career, much as President Obama graduated Harvard law to enter public service?
Many of the comments to this opinion piece and related news story demonstrate an anti-elite, anti-intellectual stance that has infected the Democratic Party.
Look, I'm from a working class family. As a kid I was a second-rate student at a third-rate college, but after college I worked my tail off to the point where I have had the opportunity to work alongside consultants from McKinsey and similar firms.
Guess what? A lot of them are really, really smart. And some of them (including perhaps Mayor Pete) really, really care.
20
I worked for McKinsey for 10 years in the late '80s and early '90s. Lawyers and doctors don't blab about their confidential client work and consultants don't, either. The Times's presumption that *all* the firm's work is evil is ridiculous and insulting. Pete Buttigieg was a junior consultant. He crunched numbers, went to meetings, helped business people do what business people do. That is what I did and I don't talk about it either, but not because any of it was evil (mostly it was dull). If Mayor Pete had been a lawyer or a doctor, would we be asking these questions?
17
If people want the information from McKinsey, the pressure should be put on company not the candidate. As a junior person at a company I doubt he knows any big secrets. It is just a ploy to knock down Mayor Pete.
16
Who are his bundlers? Why doesn't he open his fundraisers to the press, for transparency, to see what he is promising them?
1
He didn't stay. He clearly didn't like it. He walked away from ga-zillions of future earnings. Even if he had been somehow involved in something untoward, as a peon, he didn't stay.
He's gone to war, he's run a city, he's a candidate with a NDA. He speaks Arabic. If you don't care for him, that's fine; I am still deciding too. But with a world on fire and a president nearing impeachment, I would like the esteemed editorial board of my go-to news source to work on harder issues. He didn't stay.
29
Has any read the feature story in this very edition of NYT of his colleagues assessment.
I think a generalized description of what he did there is sufficient. We don't need to know the names of the clients he worked on. He was very young at the time, so it is unlikely he had a role in setting company policy.
12
Yes, we are interested in what he did at McKinsey. Being just out of college, he was not a policy maker there for a big project for a high profile client. Yet, given what we know about McKinsey, they undertake projects that might be inappropriate for a presidential candidate. So we are at an impasse. We should not expect him to put himself in legal jeopardy by revealing what he did. We must trust, if we choose to, the integrity of his character, that he did nothing that would seriously tarnish his qualification to be president. If we are not comfortable doing so, we should say that and withhold support for his candidacy. Those, however, who now accuse him of hiding behind a NDA, implying that he is hiding something damaging, the "gotcha" branch of journalism and politics, are merely making noise.
10
I'm not a fan of Mr. Buttigieg.
However, joining McKinsey right out of college is not a reason to dismiss his candidacy.
Let's HEAR what he DID at McKinsey, without violating legally binding restrictions on sharing confidential information.
The NY Times editors are not doing a good job.
20
Since when does social media have a place to bully anyone into a disclosure that would compromise them legally under a contract that they have signed for nondisclosure. I see this as a complete distraction From the discussion on how we are going to move our country forward both domestically and internationally. We are not in a playground fight, we are at a tipping point in our democracy as to which direction it’s moving. Personally, I would prefer social media to be discussing the issues, the facts and the opportunities that we as a populace will have to vote on next year.
11
An extremely odd column with a chasm between what it legitimately argues for being in the interests of possible voters (disclosure) and what Buttigieg is apparently required to do by law. Two competing interests, and the Times has nothing more to offer than the obvious statement that it would be most straightforward for McKinsey to release the candidate from his obligations. Never mind that McKinsey itself may not be able to legally grant a former employee the right to discuss the identities and interests of clients, many of whom are likely to have required that the company agree to NDAs.
13
To me the main issue is that Buttigieg claims his time at McKinsey prepared him for being president. The question then is: how? Because in a few years he learned the ins and outs of business? Or because he learned enough about the McKinseys of the world that he wanted nothing to do with them? But he could never say the last, for fear of losing donors. Either his McKinsey experience was a nothing, in which case he shouldn't have tried to use it as one of his credentials for being president, or he has to say more.
8
It is difficult to believe the Times really believes that our many presidents who honored lawfully-imposed obligations of confidentiality were unworthy, including Abraham Lincoln, all other attorney-presidents from private practice, and former government employees with security clearance, such as former CIA Director H.W. Bush. This begs the question: has the Times decided to undermine Mr. Buittigieg for fear an openly gay man cannot win the general election?
14
A candidate's being bound by a non-disclosure agreement should disqualify them from consideration to be the nominee. For me, it's a deal breaker. That goes double for Mayor Pete, who is too young and inexperienced to have a history on which to judge him.
It is galling for a young man few people had even heard of a few months ago to have significant details of his resume blocked from public view.
Some people wonder, how could we trust a man who would violate a signed agreement? Maybe the better question is, should we trust a man who would sign such a thing in the first place?
3
@Mike Everyone who has worked for a law firm, a consulting form, and likely every major corporation has signed an NDA.
So everyone except career politicians are disqualified from public service?
8
@Mike Funny Mike your man Trump encloses an NDA on all his employees and now refuses to let taxpayer paid administration officials honor congressional subpoenas...
1
I’ll announce myself as a longtime supporter of NYT and a tentative admirer of Mr. Buttigieg; this is also my first response to an NYT editorial piece.
As someone who worked in a corporate environment for >20 years, I find it an unfair criticism of Mr. Buttigieg that he has not chosen to violate what is most likely a boilerplate Non-Disclosure Agreement with his prior employer. While I agree it is—and should be—a matter of interest for an electorate who strives to be informed, surely the onus is on the employer McKinsey to terminate the NDA, not on the employee.
And I absolutely cannot help myself from comparing the height of the bar that’s being set between the incumbent and the challengers...who are we?
438
@Steve Bolger A Non-Compete and a Non-Disclosure Agreement are two entirely different things. The latter imposes a duty of confidentiality. A non-compete prevents the former employee from taking business.
Both are contracts that imposes legal obligations. How much integrity would Pete have if he violated the NDA with McKinsey?
This is not an issue.
31
@Michael Hinson
Thank you. This is exactly correct.
There are also additional complicating factors. It is one thing to have an NDA from an employer, but he may be bound by NDAs from his clients. I'm confident that none of his clients would like to be dragged into the tar pit that is politics.
Perhaps his clients were perfectly ethical, and his projects were pristine. That is unlikely, as consultants are typically instructed to work with a client whether they like them or not. Perhaps his work was perfectly benign, even though probably has worked/given advice to companies that one might regard as less-than-honest, or odious, or engaged in work one might find disagreeable. No matter the type of work, the clients might not want to have discussions of their projects (however benign) aired in the political arena.
17
@Michael Hinson: Many workers are held to non-compete agreements in the US. One wonders if Mayor Pete is prepared to discuss issues of conditions of employment.
10
The problem is that these 'non-disclosure agreements' have
gone too far. Outside of protecting some proprietary information, are they even constitutional? Witness this case.
1
I don't understand the criticism. Buttigieg has a formal non-disclosure agreement that is a legally binding contract. He has requested McKinsey to release him from this agreement.
20
I'm a bit more forgiving to Mr. Buttigieg than the Editorial Board is on this matter. Why?
In the 1980s I lived in New York City, and struggled to make a living as a waiter. Then I discovered legal proofreading, which in 1984 paid $15 to $20 per hour, and I could support myself pretty well on that back then.
Unfortunately, I worked for a number of very large, famous corporate law firms whose clients included harmful companies such as Union Carbide, and corrupt governments such as that of Saudi Arabia. I worked on legal documents having to do with the Bhopal tragedy, and the intent of those documents was to get Union Carbide off the hook.
Was I aware I was working for corrupt entities? I'm afraid I was. Did I need to pay my rent and buy food, and take advantage of the wonderful things NYC had to offer. I did.
So there I was.
I'd vote for Buttigieg even if I never hear a word from him about his time at McKinsey. I'd vote for a pet rock to get Trump gone.
16
Yes, but you’re not running for president.
1
@Vesuviano
As an Oxford graduate and Rhodes scholar, Buttgieg's options were not waitressing and starvation versus working for McKinsey.
2
@Viv
That's true, but I'm not going to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Unless he pulled the wings off flies and was cruel to animals, children, or the elderly, I'd always vote for the Oxford Graduate and Rhodes Scholar over the con man and failed real estate mogul.
Besides, the world is full of ambitious people in their twenties who go for the money, and then become more thoughtful in their thirties and change their career paths.
The alternative it Trump. A bad man who says he fundamentally hasn't changed his personality since the first grade, and who seems to me to be getting worse?
2
I am surprised by this opinion piece. Not because of anything Buttigieg did or failed to do, but because of the choices made by the Editorial Board.
Let's talk about what happens if NDAs suddenly become subject to the whims of the New York Times, or voter suspicion, or any other third party that believes they have a right to that information.
Does that right extend to confidential information known by the consultant? Should we start telling Melissa Benoist in the middle of an interview that she is a bad person if she doesn't tell us what happens in the upcoming Supergirl season, because, "There may be something in there that we don't like." Should we tell Warren that she needs to publish all of the grades and work of all of her students, so that we can determine if she was engaged in racial or gender profiling? Where is the line?
When you agree to work confidentially for another party, that other party agrees to work with you, and agrees to share confidential information with you, ONLY because that confidential information is protected. If we wipe out that protection in the name of knowing what Mayor Pete did at McKinsey, then the ability of anyone to do similar work in the future evaporates.
NOW, to be clear, there is a very important distinction between members of the public wanting to know something confidential, and legal investigators wanting to know something (tax returns?) that ties to suspected criminal activity and whose request is supported by the Court.
18
@Human
NDAs are bluffs. They are in fact, subject to the whims of both parties who signed them.
What happened to Stormy Daniels when she broke her NDA with Trump? Nothing. She lost in court, but the damage was already done.
McKinsey already has suffered a slew of negative publicity. Do you think they would be so stupid as to bring in more negative publicity on themselves by suing Buttgieg? Over what? Telling the world what wonderful work he did for them?
Buttgieg doesn't want to talk because he knows he participated in a Canadian grocery price fixing scheme and gouged the US government with bogus reports on Iraq and Afghanistan.
@Viv And of course you have documentation to back up your charges?
3
Whaaa? Trump refuse to release his tax returns because ... well, he doesn't want to . Mayor Pete won't talk about McKinsey because he'll be sued if he does. How are these even remotely "the same standard"?
30
He worked for McKinsey, great.
What kind of return on investment did he get for his clients?
How did he cut costs and increase productivity?
1
I like transparency too. Do we need Buttigieg to determine what McKinsey does, and the type of clients it typically represents? Is it likely that any of those he worked with are
evil? If so, then we know what we need to know.
But expecting him to violate the law by breaching a confidentiality agreement is a nonstarter.
If his inability to breach the agreement is important, don't vote for him.
9
This opinion article is a perfect example of how the Democrats "eat their own". I don't care if he spent 3 years of his early life working for McKinsey. What I care about in this election is beating Trump. Period. If Buttigieg is the nominee, fine. If Bernie is the nominee, fine. If Warren is the nominee, fine. If Yang is the nominee, fine. Another four years of Trump will take this country down a very very dark and dangerous path and I don't want that to happen. We, those of us who want to defeat Trump, must concentrate on those things that matter to the electorate who will help defeat Trump: the economy, a decent living wage for families, health care at a an affordable cost, access to higher education at a fair price, etc. That is what matters. Not where someone worked 10 years ago. Get a grip on reality.
30
Exactly right. I commented the same thoughts
1
@Mountain Girl
Are you saying that the NY Times is the "Democrats" who "eat their own"?
I thought the NY Times editors at least purport to be fair minded and even handed.
I was wrong.
I can't imagine what he could have done at McKinsey that would have any material effect on his candidacy. I don't see an issue here.
But I do wonder why employees at some companies have to sign an NDA, and what the conditions are.
7
So, he has tried to get the NDA lifted, his former company will not comply, and he is responsible for not talking about his time there? He is getting blasted by the editorial board of the Times? You expect him to break the NDA and be subject to a lawsuit? I could understand this argument if he was not trying to get the NDA lifted. But as you say in the piece itself, he is. How is he to blame here?
23
This is an extremely disingenuous piece. I expect more from the NYT editorial board.
Let's get real. At his level, from the Chicago office, he was not advising Saudi clients. He was creating pivot tables and powerpoint presentations. If the editorial board had done any contextual research in advance, they would have known this.
It is unethical to publish a piece like this when the most corrupt POTUS in the history of our country is still in office and putting us in danger. It suggests that Buttigieg's adherence to an NDA somehow rises to the same level of Trump, Giuliani, Mulvaney and other criminals that are actively keeping important secrets from the American public.
Shame on the NYT.
39
Pete needs to take the lead on transgender rights.
1
this article and the boards specious claims are more whining and demands for purity tests.
it is times like this that some intrepid reporter needs to dig into the Editorial Board Members pasts and demand they go on a life time apology tour.
Pete is under an NDA, breaking it would cost him a fortune... and you can bet the NYT Editorial Board wouldn't pony up a single cent to cover that money.
19
The NYTimes editorial board is a politically correct and apparently ignorant body. Who cares what Pete did taking orders as a grunt st the firm. Good for. I’m for getting a job there and roughing it out for a while. End of story. The editorial board is clueless and yelling fire where there is not even smoke.
16
I call on the NYT to disclose the sum total of subscriptions delivered to every corporate office and employee of any company that is in the oil, tobacco, firearm, consulting, military contracting, pharma, white collar defense, banking, insurance, mining, tech, or any other business that does not pass the purity test of the day, terminate all existing subscriptions and return all monies received...
I’m a lifelong reader: report real news. The virtue signaling is getting tiresome.
17
It's not everyday the NYT baits its hook for a red herring, but they did, reeled it in, and are trying to call it a Great White Shark.
If he were personally responsible for anything during those three years, it would be flabbergasting.
15
This is among the more ridiculous editorials NYT has ever published. It is nonsense to attribute the questionable assignments McKinsey engaged in to a new employee who had absolutely no ability to influence the firm’s policies or decision to undertake an engagement. The NYT decision to publish this should be embarrassing to the organization. It reflects slipshod thinking and lack of appropriate oversight. Note that I have been a devoted NYT reader for 60 plus years.
26
Yes NYT, make him show us all the decks he edited! Then we will know what he stands for!
12
It is difficult to imagine why the New York Times would publish this piece unless its editorial board knows something the New York Times has not published in a news article. Does the New York Times have something to reveal to us or is this kind of inquiry a normal part of the paper’s candidate-vetting process and service to the public? If the former, please let readers know what is specifically concerning about the candidate’s time at McKinsey. It is absolutely maddening and I think anti-journalistic when journalists withhold information they know is important.
If the latter, somewhat strange...but thank you.
2
Shame in NYT for this salacious non-story. Out of school, working at a place for three years he did this: exactly what his boss told him to do. Who his clients were is pretty inconsequential - it’s not as if he was responsible for bringing new accounts in; he probably didn’t even have a say in what clients he worked for. With three years of experience he wasn’t exactly a mover and shaker - let’s get real, NYT.
P.S. Hillary isn’t in the race, so you don’t have to tilt the playing field against legitimate upstarts because it doesn’t fit your narrative.
20
Keep it up New York Times Editorial Board! Keep it up Dems! Keep savaging your own! The Republicans love it! Trump loves it! And you'll wake up in November 2020 flagellating yourselves as to why Trump is president for four more years!
14
McKinsey Consultants is a CIA contractor... do the math here people.
1
@Keith
2+2=5
1
"untenable vow of silence" is putting it on a bit thick, isn't it? Why the hyperbole? Why the scary-serious photo chosen for the caption? What did Buttigieg actually do to earn this sensorious editorial? Have a job at a consulting firm for a few years? And?
I'm going back to the serious articles.
11
Hey, "Editorial Board", it's cowardly and not a little ironic to make insinuations about a man's career, darkly imply he's shielding shady corporations and misdeeds, and suggest he breach his NDAs when you won't even put your own names to this op-ed.
15
There's real news that needs reporting, and this is not real news. Would NY Times please fire the Purity Brigade and use those billets to investigate, oh let's see, President Trump's children's overseas business activities, which apparently differ mightily from those of Hunter Biden? But you see, I don't know if they do because NYT is going after low hanging fruit.
15
This is so ridiculous.
15
Everything about this headline is bogus. His stance is hardly "untenable" and the word 'silence' implies he will not speak of it at all, which is not the case. He simply declines to provide details of his assignments. There have been NO allegations or even implications that he worked on anything controversial. He has publicly condemned some of the clients/situations that this organization took on subsequent to his employment there.
NYT is doing it again (as they did in 2016). Trying to create a tempest in a teapot for clicks. I'm disappointed and angry at this kind of manipulation. You're better than this NYT. Just stop it. Please.
15
I don’t get why the NYT is so anti-mayor Pete. This is just dumb. He was a junior consultant. A career-building experience. I know he’s smart but do you think he was calling the shots at McKinsey in his 20s?
17
When did the NYT become the referee? You don’t own the electoral rule book.
6
Is the NYTimes suggesting that Buttigieg should violate his NDA with McKinsey despite certain litigation and/or criminal penalties? Really??? I thought the NYTimes was better than this. Beyond disappointing.
18
Give it a rest, NYT. NDAs are just that. Go after McKinsey instead of dinging a junior employee for abiding by a legal contract.
14
NYT Editorial Board you have really embarrassed yourselves by writing this non-story editorial. If you had done any research before writing this you would have quickly found out that an analyst at a firm like McKinsey is a grunt creating spreadsheets and power point presentations. They have no sway over their clients and may even be limited in their interactions with the actual client. To suggest that by not disclosing the clients he worked for (despite signing an NDA) is some kind of subterfuge is at best naïve and at worst libelous.
20
As a former consultant, we ar bound by the privacy expected by our clients. Betraying this trust is one of the mortal sins of consulting. Saying nothing about your work is standard, and in no way nefarious. Im not too sure what bone NYT has to pick with McKinsey, but this is a reach. Few facts filled in by conjecture and speculation is sloppy reporting.
18
On the other hand, he only worked there for three year and then went into another line of work altogether, something completely different from political consulting or investment banking. Since he was young and new, he would have been at the bottom doing legwork. Having seen it what it was, and deciding it was not fulfilling for him, he choose something else.
8
Life is full of decisions. Should I take that job or this job? Should I marry this person or that? Having children, buying a house, going to college, joining the military, etc., etc.
Some decisions constrain your options later in life for any number of reasons - ethics, morality, money, commitment, and on and on.
I like Pete. He's on my top 4 list. And I respect his decision to abide by his NDA, which I'm guessing is far more ethical than those trump demands of those who swear fealty to him. He said he's trying to get released from it, and I believe him. And I would think this is something that could be negotiated with McKinsey.
But if it isn't, then his decision to work for McKinsey and to sign the NDA - 9 years before he decided to run for president - might very well be one of those constraining factors. He took a job, signed an NDA, and he has the integrity to abide by it. Even if it's not integrity but rather concern over legal consequences, so be it. And maybe, just maybe, he disqualifies himself from running for president. Is that right? Is it fair? Probably not. But it's life, and if the last few years have taught us anything, it's that life is most certainly not fair.
3
Interesting. My guess is if he released that information despite the NDA, he'd be accused of being unreliable next. Give me a break. Instead of pushing the "experienced" candidates on us, maybe try supporting the younger, more dynamic ones. This has been the country of old men for lung enough. Mayor Pete seems reasonable enough, and fit for the job.
8
Having worked on Wall Street in a past life, let me defend Buttigieg on this one. Not everything is as the public believes, both the good and the bad. Neither Wall Street nor consulting are per se evil undertakings, nor are they the great value generators they make themselves out to be. Both have, like all human endeavors, their dark sides, which are simply amplified by the huge amount of money inherent to these industries. It takes experience to understand what is really going on behind the curtain.
The fact that Buttigieg was able to stay in such a job for a few years indicates that he is probably very intelligent. Most people who make it that long in such a highly selective industry are. But the fact that he deliberately left it to become a much less compensated public servant indicates that he may also be wise. It takes a certain high level perspective on life and society as well as character to choose to walk away from that much money.
I believe the Democrats would do themselves a huge disfavor to attack Buttigieg for his consulting experience. If anything, it will diffuse any attacks by the political right that he lacked business experience or were unfriendly towards business success. Practically speaking, his real world business experience would likely guide him as president to improve the ethical standards in these influential industries - for the betterment of us all.
16
Trying to understand why this article was written. It seems that there is a view that working for corporations makes an individual responsible for everything that the corporation does or has done.
Mr. Buttigieg was hired for his intelligence and accomplishments at that time in his life. Being hired by McKinsey ,given their standards for employment, is a an achievement worth noting.
It is perfectly reasonable to ask employees who are working on sensitive aspects of a clients business be required to not disclose.
Editorial Board needs to find a more meaningful subject to expound on.
14
The attraction of centrist Democrats and "Never Trump" Republicans like Bill Kristol, Joe Scarborough and David Brooks to Pete Buttigieg's McKinsey & Company stint and "Republican-lite" exonomic prescriptions is telling. He is yet another Third Way Democrat who believes there is always a policy that can simultaneously serve both the people and the powerful, that we can navigate a path between corporate and quotidien interests so that we never have to answer labor's classic question of "whose side are you on?" But that is the path Democrats have tried to trod since the Reagan landslides and what has it gotten us? An historic, polarizing wealth gap that has fanned the flames of racial and ethnic division, literally eaten away at our democracy like termites, and made a President Donald Trump not just possible, but inevitable.
Another Democratic president who appeases the corporate lobby by avoiding fights over wages, union rights, and monopoly power in the name of "unity" and avoiding "divisiveness" will be another four years marked by more crushing poverty that wipes out entire communities and further hollows out the middle class. Such a dispiriting, disillusioning presidency would drive the country even further to the right, to another authoritarian who would likely be far smarter and more politically savy than Trump, who would lock in the oligarchy of Wall Street and the one per cent that is actually ruling us for good. That kind of Democrat we don't need.
5
No way, we must protect Mayor Pete at all costs. During the primary nobody should be allowed to bring up McKinsey in any way shape or form. Once the general election hits and all the details are leaked to the GOP we can let the voters hear about it from Trump first. I'm sure that will work out great. Let the entire story be crafted by the Republicans. That's never backfired.
2
The New York TImes on the beat up Buttigieg bandwagon. I got a job fresh out of college for a corporate law firm in Chicago, worked for a year, and then part-time for a couple of years as I entered graduate school. I am now a professor at a major research university. I did not approve of all the cases I worked on. I moved on. Buttigieg moved on. Spend more time on the corrupt president that we now have, not Buttigieg. Shame on you, editorial board.
15
What is wrong with you? Is this really the lead editorial? As even you admit, Biden's or Sander's health is pretty important. Why isn't an editorial that everyone needs to release more info? Mayor Pete was a junior person at McKinsey who worked there briefly. So what?
15
It's the lead because they're being CRUSHED, as they should be.
1
The mighty NYT Editorial Board has drawn a line in the sand for Mr. Buttigieg:
It almost sound like -- 'Open up or we'll shut you down.'
Perhaps the Publisher would be willing to go to bat for Mr. Buttigieg and get McKinsey & Co. to release him from the NDA?
Short of that, clearly the NYT can get their investigators to dig up whatever they think is being hidden. It would be a whole lot better than just tossing out innuendo after innuendo as they have been doing.
12
Keep it going my fellow Buttigieg supporters.
3
Do you really want him to break his contract? This article feels like the Times is sewing gratuitous seeds of doubt about a fine candidate.
13
Another hit job by the Times. Who cares what he did at McKinsey. We know that he did not murder anyone. Why is that relevant to the campaign. I am not going to vote for him. But I think it is unfair that you drag him through the mud for this.
15
“Untenable vow of silence?” Here is some non-McKinsey level math for the editorial board: NDA = tenable.
11
Is this worthwhile? No wonder the Democratic Party is in shambles. They are putting on a show they know won’t sell in the Senate and now going after each other for no reason. The N.Y. Times covers its front page with anti Trump nonsense that doesn’t carry water. Headed for another defeat at the hands of a lousy candidate. Self immolation.
1
Sometimes I think you fall back to your primary mission of selling newspapers, as you did in 2016. You amplified Trump during the last election without adequately calling him out for who he is. Now you go to the other extreme with Buttigieg. You try to call him out for not talking about his private sector work when he cannot legally do so. You associate him unfairly with actions by McKinsey occurring long after he was gone.
The idiomatic expression “digging up dirt” is truly a misnomer. You are trying to “manufacture” dirt on Buttigieg just as Trump has been trying to manufacture dirt on Biden in Ukraine because there is NO DIRT TO DIG UP. I expect more from the NYT.
18
It appears to me the author is making a big fuss about nothing. Give me a break. This is a sly way of attacking Buttigieg, maybe the author doesn't like him.
15
I’m dismayed that the New York Times publishes hit pieces on Democratic candidates on a weekly basis, holding each accountable to some undefined, rigid standard of excellence that we don’t even consider for Republicans.
It doesn’t matter the Company, first year associates are hardly making critical decisions, rather they’re likely pushing paper around, tracking billable hours. No 24 year old at McKinsey should be held accountable for decisions made by management, both McKinney’s and their clients’. Please!
Furthermore, the criticism that his perfect resume is nothing but ticking off boxes in advance of a presidential run is absurd. How would the editorial board of the New York Times suggest a highly motivated, successful and talented individual with those aspirations construct his resume and career?
Buttigieg and his accomplishments are far more impressive than this embarrassing opinion piece.
10
Where do we draw the line?
Should the New York Times report every paying subscriber and advertiser so the public knows whether their news stories are biased?
Should Elizabeth Warren disclose every legal client she has ever represented?
It feels like The NY Times is out to get Buttagieg, and they teed up today’s story with yesterday’s McKinsey article, which feels more like a liberal extremist attack on businesses rather than a good faith article.
Please stop undermining the NY Times’ credibility.
13
Hey NYT you are entitled to your opinion, but please, please in encouraging progressives and their purity tests when the most corrupt, self-dealing, woman hating, racist, democracy destroying tin pot dictator can very possibly win a second term you do no one no good.
If NYT reporters think there is something nefarious about what he did at Kinsey then expose that - however, don't create hints bogey man by insinuation where none exists (that's what Republicans do) or tar him with some vague guilt by association rap
.
Was he in a major decision making position. No. and even if he was, geez, who is the man now? He left Kinsey after THREE years of being a minor cog. He clearly has a strong conscience and always attempts to do the right thing when we have a president who has no conscience and does the wrong, most corrupt things every single day.
Ugh, progressive purists are killing me.
10
Are you asking Mr. Buttigieg to break the law? A nondisclosure agreement is legally binding, and breaking it can land you in court. Not to mention the nightmare of being sued by the behemoth McKinsey company and its army of lawyers. Why do you think Trump made all his White House appointees sign NDA's?
NYT's pressure should be placed on McKinsey, not on Mr. Buttigieg.
11
Yes, he does. Being this evasive just because you signed some NDA is, sorry, lame? When you are running for the leader of your world. Put up.
1
This is a non-story trashing the guy who will most likely be the nominee of the Democratic Party. I swear the Times is staffed by pro-Trump sleeper agents who back stab any promising contender with pretentious but flimsy accusations. They did a real hatchet job on Bernie in 2016.
9
The New York Times has evidenced zero understanding about how large law firms operate. Now we can add consultancies to the list.
11
I’m disappointed that my favorite newspaper would be this biased and unreasonable, especially when all the NYT-selected comments are the few that support this myopic view. He is an incredibly smart and hardworking person who has served his country proudly. The constant negative barrage of articles from NYT on him is getting out of hand.
12
I’m completely dismayed with the thinly veiled attacks on Buttigieg from the NYT. I don’t know the origin of this bias, but every day the NYT seems more like Fox News covering Buttigieg. If the recent pieces against him are the best you can do, it’d be better to just stop. You’ve completely failed.
12
the Times has lost it's mind.
How can you possibly compare a single 3 year stint at McKenzie out of college to Donald Trumps shady, questionable and unscrupulous life?
Honestly, are you actually serious?
15
Ok It appears that now Sen.Harris is gone, Mr.Buttigieg's time to be shredded by the NYT has arrived. He must be doing something right. I guess this is what President Obama was speaking of?
10
This is what bothers me about the NY Times. No, we do not need to know more about Pete's tenure at McKinsey just because you say so. Period.
13
Much ado about nothing.
12
Has the NYT Editorial Board completely lost its mind? How is it at all relavent, useful, or gemane what an analyst is his early days out of school did at McK? Among other matters of national security, he would have been staffed like any other BA making charts and PowerPoints. This does not rise to the level of Obama's birth records and Trump's tax returns and I'm embarrassed by the Editorial Board's view that this even warrants debate and discussion.
8
@Thomas
....either that or they are showing their naivete via the view from their ivory tower.
This may be the WORST case of editorial discretion I have seen in, wait for it, a few months.
2
We may have to start calling Mayor Pete “the Manchurian Candidate!”
Pete should just ignore this opinion piece and move on.
5
The editorial board is off the rails here. Apparently the hope is that it can find some dirt on the cleanest candidate in recent history. I assume that the NYT company is familiar with and uses NDAs itself. Does it nevertheless believe that such agreements are meaningless if someone runs for elected office--even though they still must not reveal classified material if they worked for the government?
Does the seamy search for some "(im)moral equivalence" between all political candidates produce this kind of editorial stupidity? Is this supposed to be the "access Hollywood" moment for Pete? Shame on the NYT.
12
Look. Buttegieg is either bound by a non-disclosure agreement or he is not. If he is and his former employer refuses to release him from it or to loosen its restrictions then what is left for him to say? Either he has requested such a release or he has not. If he has not, then he can be criticized for that. If he has and has been refused, then what is there left for him to say?
9
"Untenable"? Meh.
5
He strikes me as someone who does not come clean, is sometimes vicious, and distorts positions of others, as I have seen on stage. Also, Lawrence O'Donell's report on MSNBC last night accounting P. Buttigieg's FALSE and distorting claims about Democrats not addressing deficits, is just another example of his pandering that is calculated.
2
An NDA is not a vow of silence before God, it is not even sacred under contract law, it is simply an agreement that provides for ample financial remedy to compensate the other party in case of breach.
Mr. Buttigieg, Rhodes Scholar and McKinsey Wunderkind, should be more than familiar with the legal doctrine, under law and economics, of the "efficient breach of contract": the voluntary breach of contract and payment of damages by a party who concludes that he would incur greater economic loss by performing under the contract.
To put it in rational economic McKinsey terms that Mr. Buttigieg can readily understand: Is the Presidency of the United States worth more to you than the payment of damages to McKinsey for breaching your NDA?
For now, Mr. Buttigieg is clearly saying to America: McKinsey is more important to me than the Presidency of the United States.
Voters should accordingly grant him his wish, and send him back to be on the partnership track at McKinsey.
Good luck.
5
@Ego you present an interesting argument regarding breach of NDA contract, but can you imagine the financial costs and litigation that a giant such as McKinsey would impose? It would be catastrophic for any individual to withstand. While your point is idealistically valid, I think it may be practically too much ask of anyone.
5
@Ego Talk about Kellyanning the discourse! Or, in other terms, disambulation (shambling) of what is a simple story. As in, Oh, mere transactional details! Weigh the Contract for The White House and see what come out in the wash! I suspect you vote for Trump.
2
The cure to Trump is not public colonoscopies of every candidate. Politics requires obscurity and shifting narratives. We need this as humans as well.
Trump’s behavior isn’t new for politicians. His behavior as a politician is vile simply because he is an awful person. Voter demands for a more decent and respectable person will cleanse the system. Transparency by candidates will return to what it has always been, a tool for politicians to convey their values to voters.
1
This is some truly BIZARRE apologia. Unless you’re morally compromised, there’s no need for “obscurity”.
1
Look at your language. He must given an "account of his time" That is an accusation. He worked for 3 years as a junior member at a consulting firm. There is virtually nothing to be learned other than he has some private sector experience. Maybe he can give a blanket statement saying that he did not perform any work which lead to the encagement of childrenat the border? This editorial presupposes that it is somehow wrong or evil to work for McKinsey. It isn't. He had a job that lots of people from prestigious colleges get upon graduation. Don't make more of it than it is.
18
I am interested in knowing why he went to work for McKinsey and why he left than I am about the specific work he did at the company.
Buttigieg isn’t stupid. He knew going in the type of clients hired by McKinsey and the type of work McKinsey is hired to do. The reasons why he sought the position and why he left would tell us a lot about the evolution in how he thinks. And as long as he went beyond “I learned I wanted to work in public service” it would help us understand what he cares about and why.
Buttigieg made a number of deliberate choices. Explaining them in a convincing way is what he owes us, and to explain them, Buttigieg does not need permission from McKinsey.
2
Have you read his book? He talks about that.
1
This article has absolutely no understanding of what it is like to be a consultant at a large firm. I actually am a consultant at a large firm that I will not disclose the name of, but is on the level of McKinsey. Buttigieg was hired as a newly hired graduate (an associate or a consultant, depending on McK's nomenclature), and worked there for three years. He was not a decision-maker. He was not a key player.
If you want to know what life is like for such level of staff, here it is: they are sent where the deployment team tells them to go. His day-to-day functions would have consisted of making powerpoint decks, writing memos, and (believe it or not) ordering meals and coffee for the team. His powerpoints and memos would have gone through 4 or 5 levels of review. As such, he would have little to no power to express individuality or thought in his ideas in order to respond to all of his bosses' review comments.
I am disappointed that there are people that want to shame this man for landing a good job. Not everybody who is successful is evil, and it's this mentality that makes it uneasy for many to consider the Democrats despite Trump's shortcomings. Maybe I could understand if he was a partner in the firm, as he would then be somebody that could influence the policy of McKinsey and/or his clients. But as an associate? Give me a break.
21
@Will
Agreed. This article is the equivalent of blasting a judicial nominee for working at a white shoe law firm for three years after graduation. Ridiculous.
4
This is a reason not to support Buttigieg in the primary, and, if you insist, Biden and Sanders for not releasing their health info. In the end the Democrats can put forward Daffy Duck and I'll vote for him, and our chances of saving this Constitutional republic and the right to vote so that in the future another range of choices at least remains possible.
2
There's too many candidates in the running for someone with this much baggage to still be in it.
Time for Buttigieg to step aside.
2
What baggage?
3
This opinion piece outlines the naivety of the Times Opinion authors. Mr Buttigieg is legally bound by his NDA. Simply because we would like more information, that desire does not allow or compel the candidate to violate the law. He should not be singled out and criticized in a Times editorial for complying with his legal obligations.
15
A far more important story is about Mr. Buttigieg repeating the republican talking point (and complete lie) that democrats don't care about deficits. Republicans run on the deficits. Democrats work to lower them. Mr. Buttigieg needs to account for this.
Puzzling why these candidates, most of whom will soon become footnotes to the election, should release their private information when the current president reveals nothing about his mystery trip to the hospital or his predictably questionable income tax records. One might say the best way to the white house is to keep your records to yourself.
2
This strikes me is the same as holding a defense attorney to account for the types of clients he defended. also, it is absolutely clear that be I had absolutely no control over the type of assignments he was given. 
9
Surprising. I did't know that today in America to have worked for McKinsey as a junior was the same as being a collaborator of Lucifer. Probably better to have been in real estate in New York.
We have the same in France, where E. Macron is much criticized by the Left to have worked for a bank, and more, worst, a Rothschild bank.
It's becoming more and more difficult to choose to serve his country in a political fonction. Now, the public, and the NYT, just want pure angels wihout a past, experimented but without experience except perhaps lawyers, attorneys (not even sure about that:who were the clients? Where the defenders very bad people?).
11
Wow. Look at how easily Mayor Pete's background is excused and defended.
You still can't erase his racist views about black achievement. He of the "born midway between third base and home plate."
3
This editorial piece shows really poor judgment on the part of the NY Times.
It would have been very easy for them to understand what experience someone who worked 3 years at McKinsey would have had. Firstly, they would have had no discretion on what types of projects or for which types of clients they worked. Secondly, for most of that time they would effectively be an apprentice, learning the craft of a consultant, both the means: designing and conducting quantitative and qualitative analysis, improving written and oral communication skills, developing project management skills and seeking to generate insights from their analysis.
McKinsey and other elite consulting companies provide individuals with a very useful problem solving skillset that can be used in all forms of life.
It is to this candidate's great credit that he decided not to stay at McKinsey and earn megabucks, but to take these skills and seek to employ them for public service.
So what is the issue here? Talk about trying to make an issue out of nothing - very poor judgment NY Times
16
@ Marie B from SF (who is wondering if the Editorial Board should waste time on issues like Buttigieg choosing to work for McKinsey instead of focusing on really important stuff)
Because this is exactly the sort of thing an Editorial Board should focus on.
McKinsey is bad news. Its typical clients are horrid governments like Turkey, big corporations who are trying to maximize "shareholder value" and minimize everything for everyone else.
McKinsey was run successfully by Rajat Gupta (HBS graduate of course) who just got out of jail. He was not jail because he read and followed Spinoza’s Ethics.
4
Editors, please stop wasting our time. In the scheme of things, this "story" is incredibly insignificant, especially for a candidate whose chance of winning is akin to a snowball's chance in the Trump family's eventual eternal resting place.
If you are so concerned about getting stirred up, then let's prioritize under things we need to find out about a little more than Buttigieg's entry-level job:
1) Trump' tax returns
2) Congressional testimony of Bolton, Mulvaney, Pence, and Pompeo
3) Trump property financial reports detailing all government payments
4) Mitch McConnell's relationship with China via his wife
5) Devin Nunes' involvement in the Ukraine scandal
6) Jim Jordan's second career as a carnival barker
6) Illegal campaign contributions to the Republican National Committee from any of a hundred shady sources
7) Mark Zuckerberg's lobbying efforts with the Trump administration
I could go on, but you get the idea.
8
Sounds like that "none of your business" stuff that Trump threw out.
Trump refuses to give info like that. Why should Pete?
This op ed is a low information hit piece. Biden and Sanders are under no legal obligation which forces them to withhold their medical records, so the primary analogy used is simply incorrect. They have a choice and have made a purely political calculation. Buttigieg, on the other hand, is under a contractual and fiduciary obligation not to discuss the specifics of his clients’ business. Absent being released from the provisions of his contract, disclosure of those particulars would open him up to a civil suit. And the author is completely dishonest in this regard. He has no choice in the matter beyond asking McKinsely to release him. Which they will NEVER do because of the precedent it would set for their clients. It would absolutely ruin their reputation. This is much the same as the issue with the police shooting that happened in South Bend and people criticizing Pete for not firing the officer immediately. He could not. Illinois law prohibited it and mandates the review and termination process. I am open to reasoned criticisms of his actions and policy positions, but this is neither.
13
I understand that Dean Baquet will be retiring at the Times's mandatory age. So, if he should then decide to run for public office, will the Times expect him to violate every agreement he has ever made with the Times regarding confidentiality, every secret conversation he or his subordinates have had with "anonymous" writers, whistle blowers, etc. before they will give his candidacy serious consideration? I doubt it.
If Mr. Buttigieg's candidacy is, in the end, dependent on how easy he finds it to break promises, confidential agreements (all quite legal), etc., is it any wonder that the truly competent people both the Democrats and Republicans need to enlist into politics and public service shun both parties and just go their individual ways? With the possible exception of Mr. Bloomberg, the candidates we now have for the Democrat presidential nomination, and have had for the Republican one, are evidence enough that we are not fishing anywhere near the top of the barrel where politics may be concerned.
It is amazing to me that The Editorial Board of the Times either does not understand this or simply chooses not to do so.
10
This is a media created story amplying the desperate attempt of Elizabeth Warren to salvage her doomed campaign. I am more interested in what Pete wants to do as President than what he did as a young intern at McKinsey. Really.
7
Buttigieg refusing to violate his NDA is in no way similar to Trump withholding information about his business dealings. NYT should know better than to suggest a 3 year entry level consultant with no decision power was doing anything remotely concerning.
9
I think this editorial is a stretch. Non-disclosure agreements are real things and should be honored. And are we going to set him aside as a candidate because he may be our first potential president who can do spreadsheets; make PowerPoint presentations and make a mean presentation using Harvey Balls (oh, wait, that's Booz Allen)? If he were to disclose clients and what he did for them he would be violating a strong bond that exits between consultants and clients; bankers and clients, and, indeed intellectual property developers and the companies or other institutions they work for. Could he talk about the type of work he did, sure? But this is such a tangential issue at this point that it hardly deserved this much attention from The Times editorial board.
8
Dear NYTimes, don’t forget to try to tear down every democratic candidate during the primary and dig up all the necessary dirt for republicans in the general. It makes Trumps job easier
6
Gee, NYT, you just gave ammunition to the Republican Party. You know, that party that embraces conspiracy theories?
So the Democrats have a stand-up guy as a candidate and now you imply there’s something nefarious about a 3 year stint in the private sector?
God help us.
6
Suspicious, secretive, unqualified, corporate backed, no real policies, no actual beliefs. Not your guy for president. Even if he were more experienced, I wouldn't vote for him because of the sneaky characteristics he has displayed, already. He can't run a small town in Indiana! His black constituents are dissatisfied with his lack of control of the police force, and his ill treatment of black citizens. We don't need anymore candidates who serve the rich, instead of the entire electorate. He wants to be rich, himself. If you're an average American, this guy will sell you down the river.
2
Client confidentiality is something that firms like McKinsey and others take seriously. It protects the clients they serve so that the markets don't jump around if news hits that X is working with X. NYTimes just sounds like they have a vendetta out for McKinsey at this point. Lots of misinformed facts. I wouldn't be surprised if the NYTimes is a client of McKinsey.
3
OK.
1) Indeed , if we hold Trump to any standards, than we should be willing to meet them ourselves.
2) This let's Rush and Sean and Sinclair AND ... Trump ... say "see, even the NYT deosn't trust him" and claim that stuff is still being hid.
Uncommon low quality article from the editorial board...
An equivalence between the "business dealings" of a junior consultant in his 20s and the longtime owner of a secretive and oft-bankrupt billion dollar corporation is a false one, and below the times' standard to make.
9
More than likely, if mayor Pete disclosed what he did at McKinsey it would be a huge disappointment.
Running numbers and charts, while running to catch a plane. And getting a few hours sleep wherever and whenever. That’s the life of a junior consultant at the big firms.
In fact, mayor Pete may well be hiding behind his NDA, for exactly that reason. To avoid having to disclose what a boring job he had at McKinsey. And perhaps how inconsequential his work there really was.
Sorry to burst your bubble, NYT.
3
Demanding dishonesty is not a reasonable editorial position.
6
He has an NDA—end of story. And keeping his word is admirable, even if it makes some voters uncomfortable. McKinsey should issue a statement affirming his non-disclosure agreement and that he was an employee in good standing when he left the company. Buttigieg cannot be held accountable for the sins of a former employer, nor was he a former executive who could be. Really NYT, you are better than this. Go after the true grifters, liars and corrupt officials.... There are plenty to choose from.
4
If we want appropriate public transparency, I would love for Elizabeth Warren to disclose all of the places she lied about her ancestry, and the career benefits she received from fraudulently benefitting from an affirmative action system, incl Harvard Law, being the endowed Native American professor at Penn, and getting cases funneled to her as a lawyer in TX. She would NOT be a senator or a contender for president if she had not perpetrated this 50 year lie.
1
Mr Buttigieg is the whipping boy du jour. Everyone is piling on. He must be ahead. Why else would this be fodder for an editorial by the esteemed NYT ? I do not see his employment at McKinsey as an issue. He had an actual job as opposed to the con man in chief who has been conducting a massive shell game his whole life. Buttigieg remains the most focused and articulate candidate. I have every intention of voting for him in our primary.
6
Well, we all have made mistakes, hopefully we learn from experience and do not forget our straying from the truth.
Leave the man alone NYT. Look to Hilary Clinton's attendance of the last wedding nuptials of Trump, and her adoring gaze at Harvey Weinstein in a photograph as she gazes upward with the palms of her hands planted on his chest wall.
I think Mr. Buttigieg frightens this editorial board, but that is your problem, not your readers/subscribers. Elizabeth Warren frightens you and Bernie Sanders frightens you. Understand this truth, that speaks to your healthy side.
1
Goodness - why the worry? We are not talking about Mayor Pete spending three years working for the mafia. Why not have one of the reporters on your news side ask him about it, see what he says, and go from there?
5
This obsession by NYT and all the woke people with wanting to know everything about a candidate is just ridiculous. Buttigieg was an employee, entry-level at that. Suppose he did work on a project that would not be woke today, that still doesn't say anything about his values or approach to life - he did get out and got himself into public service after all. What we can discern from his 3-year McKinsey tenure is that he is smart and acquired management skills.
7
In Lord Buttigieg's world, which is the world of the elite few and oligarchy (despite his using the New app, 'Design-a-Prez'+), freedom means freedom to be sick, without access to free healthcare- a human right. Pete's running in the wrong primary.
A short political resume, Ivy league education, military service, comfort in front of the camera, smart-sounding, and indifferent to an underrepresented minority, he was quick to click SUBMIT to the billionaires and Wall st.
The way the mainstream media has elevated him to a status he doesn't deserve is so apparent. It's basically the Obama recipe, with the modification that this guy is gay instead of (half) black.
He's like one of those guys born middle-aged whom you can't imagine in anything but a business suit or casual Dockers. This is Corporate America's great white hope as Old Joe keeps fading.
God help us If we have to listen to this self-important frat boy pontificate for four years!
2
Geez, landing a job out of college at a prestigious firm like McKinsey used to be a mark of success. Now it’s reason to attack. First the accusation was that Pete must have been paid tons of money while there. When he released his tax returns, they revealed that his salary as a young associate was fairly modest by the standards of that company and its peers. Maybe, just maybe, he is telling the truth when he says he feels bound by his NDA but is trying to get a release from the company. And maybe when he gets the release and discloses a completely mundane list of clients for whom he did run of the mill consulting projects, the Times will apologize for the unfair implication in this piece that he is hiding something nefarious.
7
Did he represent Clinton?
Not crazy about Mayor Pete, but this seems like a non-story.
2
Dear NY Times, if your editorial board, whose "views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values." wrote this, then I think you need a new editorial board. Please, include a labor and employment attorney next time.
Right in the article, you state, "He says his lips are sealed by a nondisclosure agreement he signed when he left the firm in 2010 and that he has asked the company to release him from the agreement. It has not yet agreed to do so." Do you not understand how common these NDAs are, and that a person who has signed one is not at liberty to violate them without legal consequences from their former employer?
Are you saying, then, that the NY Times and your editorial board would like Buttigieg to break the law in order to cater to your whim?
5
Seriously, NYT? There is an NDA, and your headline irresponsibly leaves out this very relevant information.
Furthermore, your arguments here are pretty third rate. Comparing Buttigieg's compliance with an NDA about tracking grocery receipts is hardly akin to the explicit and daily dishonesty coming from the Trump administration. You insinuate his three years at McKinsey represent Buttigieg's only experience with big data, but fail to acknowledge his implementation of smart sewers in South Bend. I could go on.
The real story here is the diversity of Buttigieg's resume and its reflection on his distinction as a millennial candidate who is willing to explore new ways of doing government. If anything, it suggests an ability to leverage the internet of things to advance connectivity, increase efficiency, and make government work better for the people.
5
Buttigieg is trying to honor his NDA, which is fair and reasonable. How would the NY TIMES feel about a member of its Editorial Board writing a "Kiss and Tell," account of its inner workings?
6
This shows how far the Democratic nut cases have gone!
The man has an NDA - not an unusual thing in today's business world - and you consider this some sort of collusion to keep the public from having information that may or may not impact a particular candidate?
We are talking about the primary elections. Take the four states preceding the March 3rd super primary and, outside Nevada, I'll bet you can't dig up five people who know what McKinsey & Company does. And who cares? It was ten years ago, both the candidate and the company can have changed dramatically in that time.
The board is doing a real disservice to the public and their readership by printing this piece. - is Rush Limbaugh on the board?
I'm not a Buttigieg fan, but this is yellow journalism if I ever saw it - you ought to be ashamed!
6
He signed an NDA. If he discloses, who's going to pay an impending lawsuit for him breaking the agreement? The New York Times, perhaps?
3
“By The Editorial Board
The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values.”
You guys really messed this one up! Seems to lots of folks that Pete’s decision is indeed informed by those very same “longstanding values”—like sticking to your word—that you all profess as creed, and yet call on him to violate.
6
Really? I am not a supporter of Buttogieg- but his work as a McKinsey out of school? Just how compromising and significant would that be? Answer: Not very. I agree that he should be able to talk in general terms about his work. But elevating this to the Editorial page of the NY Times? Really!
6
Very much ado about nothing.
Mayor Pete is criticized for taking a career advancing job straight out of Oxford? Defy his written legal agreement with McKinsey?
He needs to be more transparent?
Where are Trumps tax returns? What about the millions of $ he received as loans from Russia as stated by Don Jr.?
What we have here is a conspiracy theory in the making. Is Hugh Hewitt now on your editorial board?
4
If this were the litmus test for a candidate, the NYT should have run 10 op-eds about Trump. Daily. For 18 months until election day.
2
I'd like to know if the NY Times has ever hired McKinsey, or their competitors for management consulting services. I mean, i'd hate to think i'm reading from a source that frowns on an industry that it uses itself.
4
Seriously NY Times! Like this matters one iota. "it was a decade ago and well before their nefarious behavior. Read his book and quit picking a weak candidate like Biden as our savior. Never Biden.. Anita HIll. .. Clarence Thomas which led to Bush and the falsified war arguments. We women will never forget Joe!
I love Pete, but know he can't win. Still contributing to his inspirational campaign while I believe Bloomberg and Booker would be a formidable ticket.
Go with this NY Times. Quit picking on Mayor Pete!
2
What he did at McKinsey was learn how to keep the rabble in their place, which is mandatory for a winning moderate. Is there anything else to know?
1
Democrats/liberals love to eat their own. Republicans/conservatives have made it clear they will support child abusers, scam artists, serial liars or completely unqualified candidates. They do not care about a candidate’s past as long as they promise not to get caught again and do what they’re told. Democrats demand sainthood. The media has bought in to this structure giving Republicans a pass and doubling down on any flaw in Democrat candidates.
1
If NYT is looking for a yogi as President they have to look some where else. Compared to Trump this guy is a saint. Don’t spoil it please. There are enough spoilers.
So Buttigieg worked an entry level job for an insanely competitive consulting company with a notoriously difficult recruiting process...and left a lucrative salary for public service, military enrollment, and getting married. Wow, what a shady character. Thank God the Times is on it!
Just today I counted 3 - yes, 3! - negative articles on the Times' homepage about Buttigieg. I sense that he is going to be the Bernie Sanders of the 2020 race with the Times - endless negative coverage while ignoring the utter lack of enthusiasm for the DNC-anointed "front-runner." Let's reflect how well that panned out in 2016.
Maybe the Editorial Board could explain to me how an insanely intelligent, charismatic, mature, thoughtful veteran is somehow a downgrade from the current disaster in the White House. I'm all ears. But this paper-thin argument of this editorial, backed up by the flimsiest of innuendo, is a shameful piece from the usually reputable Editorial Board.
6
Here is the NYT meddling in the selection of a Democratic candidate for President, by trashing the candidates they do not like. I will not vote for Mr. Biden. Mayor Peter is a better candidate.
2
This piece reminds me of a previous NYT unflattering story about Amy Klobuchar an aide and a. comb, the details of which I can't even remember.
Keep it up NYTimes and Trump will be re-elected.
3
@Lynne
YES--I thought the same thing. I am rather disgusted.
This is a ludicrous and ridculous request. My son worke at McKinsey for years and was never able to discuss his clients or the scope of his work there. The fact that the Times has reported potential misdeeds by McKinsey has absolutely no bearing on Buttigieg's work there. NDA's exist for valid reasons, and your demand for Mayor Pete to divulge any specific aspects of his work there belies your bias against them.
4
What a bunch of clap trap. He worked as an entry level consultant in the company, and only for three years. He would have been assigned to consulting engagements with little, if any, say in what engagements he was assigned to. He wouldn't have had anything to do with the company's strategic decisions or policies. He wouldn't have even had anything to do with selling new consulting engagements. He was a worker bee, and he left the company before he would have potentially even become a manager of any import.
Why does the NYT publish stuff like this, which is based on a complete lack of understanding of the consulting industry?
5
Fake news
He needs to discuss the race issues when he was mayor
That’s what needs coverage
What a nothingburger. Imagine if the headline here criticized McKinsey for not releasing Mayor Pete from his NDA? With the same set of facts, you’d reach an entirely different conclusion.
This piece doesn’t illuminate Pete’s candidacy; it just insinuates and reads like it was written off the talking points of one of his opponents.
2
Pete Buttigieg McKinsey
Donald Trump Trump Properties
Presidents Bush Oil Companies
Dick Cheney Halliburton
James Mitchell Carlyle Group
Lyndon Johnson Brown and Root
Need I say more!
2
Suddenly I'm not very impressed with the New York Times creating smoke where there is no fire. I really though you were better than that.
3
I have seen the Times make mistakes before but not one remotely like this. An NDA is a standard business practice enforceable at law. Mayor Buttigieg doesn’t get to make up different laws just for him. He has to live under the same laws that apply to the rest of us. The NYT knows all this. The law is not secret. It’s not even particularly controversial.
This editorial reeks of hostility towards normal business practices. It says that the Mayor “must find a way” to disclose his work for McKinsey. But surely if it were so easy, the Times would explain how. It doesn’t. If the Times has a better reason why the laws don’t apply to the Mayor, it should say so. Otherwise, it should retract the editorial.
2
Dude signed a non disclosure. The ball is in McKinsey’s court. Enough already.
1
Really, NYT? He was a 22-year old kid working there as a business analyst crunching numbers. Also, he's asked McKinsey to release him from the non-disclosure agreement. Not sure why this is the lead editorial.
3
Does anyone remember the Times editorial demanding Hillary Clinton reveal all the work she'd done for Rose Law Firm? Neither do I.
2
The NYT has frequently done negative reporting and editorializing on Buttigieg from the very beginning of his surprising ascension. It suspiciously smacks of bias, or an effort to help other Democratic candidates by dinging him.
As many others here have noted, this is a non-story. Buttigieg has done nothing wrong and isn't trying to be withholding. This headline -- "Untenable Vow of Silence" -- is absurd. As the largest and loudest mouthpiece in the world for news, the NYT needs to be more responsible! Moves such as this one can be subtly responsible for swinging the election again to the right as much as intentional misinformation can. What you have done is just provided a slew of phrases that the GOP can put between quotation marks, slap a "New York Times" next to it, and run it in opposition ads. Then even moderates and independents will think, "Sheesh, if he's a Democrat and the NYT is saying this, there must be something shady here." It's an unforgivable editorial, particularly when we're in the midst of an Impeachment! I say this as someone who has questions about Buttigieg and certainly hasn't committed a vote to him, but please, NYT, do much better than this, and quickly!
3
I occasionally have to remind myself that the New York Times doesn't get it right 100% of the time...(Iraq, anyone?)
This is one of those instances. You're attempting to create some nefarious story where none exists. Give the guy a break.
3
@Reader in Washington DC - whilst I realise he technically does not sit on the Editorial Board, I personally believe the youth of the publisher if this newspaper has been reflected in the Editorial Board’s articles lately.
Some youth like Buttigieg are wise beyond their years; others are wet behind them.
2
Mayor Pete worked for McKinsey. Is that a crime?
2
The NY Times Editorial Board has strongly cautioned us against Elizabeth Warren in more than one piece and is taking down Pete B here. Who, pray tell, is the perfect knight in shining armor you supposed Democrats ought to nominate? Or are you hoping for 4 more years of Trump?
Answer: Bernie Sanders. It’s happening.
1
Seriously? The New York Times wants to call out a candidate for a NDA? I've had to sign them, and trust me, you can't just decide you want to ignore them. How dare you. Frankly, the editors should be called to task for this hit piece. This isn't a president declaring 'executive privilege' or anything similar. It is a a former employee bound by a legal obligation. Maybe your editors should have to do a little more real world experience before they get to write anything more.
3
This non-story accomplishes precisely one thing: true to the Dems penchant for eating its own, the NYT is giving Trump et al some fresh fodder to spin into campaign ads. They'll take this non-factor, really-low-on-the-McKinsey-importance-graph-job, and turn it into another right-wing conspiracy. Maybe when Rudy gets back from more illegal activity in Ukraine, he'll even launch a "corruption investigation." I thought your founding motto was "All the news that fit to print."
1
What a dumb article. He put food on his table by staring at Excel spreadsheets and crunching data for large companies, probably optimizing grocery prices or something. Five minutes of my life I can't get back.
4
This article is stupid. A 22 yr old business analyst at McKinsey does one thing: create power point slides, based on the strict instructions / direction of others. That’s it. They make no decisions. They cut no jobs. They simple produce presentation materials in support of more senior professionals. Even associates (one rank up) primarily just synthesize data and make slides.
4
This article displays an embarrassing lack of critical analysis, and is a black mark on the otherwise sterling record of the Editorial Board. If this argument were made in good faith, they would be appealing to McKinsey to release Buttigieg from his NDA, not somehow comparing his compliance with the letter to the law with Trump's flagrant defiance of it.
3
Oh, c’mon. He was a junior guy in a heartless, soulless, conscience-free consulting firm like all other such cost-cutting consultant firms.
The bad guys aren’t the analysts, like Buttigieg, who put forward a menu of options, from minimalist to Draconian. The bad guys are the consultees who receive those menus and implement the brutal ones.
Stop sniffing for a smear. By doing so you’re aiding and abetting the kind of contemptible people who “swift boated” John Kerry into the loss to Bush in 2004, which led to the Cheney presidency, which led to imaginary weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which led to an unnecessary and horrifically destructive war, which led to ... now!
3
Questions this challenge by the NYT Editorial Board to Pete Buttigieg beg are -
1) why didn't the NYT challenge the incumbent POTUS about his personal and work history AND
2) if it did, then, given Trump was nevertheless successful and is now the current POTUS, what does the NYT hope to gain from the same querying of this Democrat candidate?
3) If the NYT persists in applying the same process to POTUS candidates - and expecting a different result - is that truly the definition of insanity, as Albert Einstein so pithily noted??
4) Isn't it time a new way forward was found?
You know who else hides behind NDAs? Trump. Forget mini Machiavelli.
This is utter non-sense.
Unless McKinsey releases the candidate, Buttigieg cannot speak about his clients at McKinsey. Full stop. That is the law. He signed an NDA. Don't understand how they work or what their purpose is? Google it.
Instead of writing about why a Presidential candidate should violate a legal agreement, how about the Times respond to McKinsey's claims that they have willfully misrepresented its work with the government and deliberately neglected to share facts that wouldn't support their salacious story.
The Editorial Board needs to grow up.
Would the New York Times please concentrate on substance? The Chinese have a saying, "The highest nail gets pounded down." Are you just hitting nails? Seems you do this every time a candidate gets ahead.
And now, the liberal elite power brokers begin to use their tools to craft a progressive candidate only Democratic nominee. The NYT is one of those tools and Pete is the target of their smear. A gay white moderate male is unacceptable to the Democratic powers. Only Elizabeth Warren or Bernie are acceptable. The fabricated Ukrainian impeachment effort will take care of Biden. The rest are dropping like flies. Now, take down Pete and the path is clear.
Right, the elite power brokers want to elect a socialist. That is so laughable on its face I can’t be sure this isn’t an irony post.
1
Suddenly I'm not very impressed with the New York Times creating smoke where there is no fire. I really thought you were better than that.
3
Either the NYT is ignorant of the consulting business or has some kind of agenda here. Buttigieg worked at McKinsey as a consultant. He was not a manager and was not responsible for choosing the source of his engagements. End of story.
3
If you have to write Buttigieg off for this, you have to write Warren off for defending LTV or just being a corporate lawyer in general. These circular firing squads sure serve us well....
3
Candidates shouldn’t be able to run if some private firm has any hooks in them. Will that same restrictive covenant be enforceable in the White House? What about other contractual obligations. This is a perfect example of how being a bright young guy just isn’t sufficient to qualify to be president. I’d be proud of my kid if they accomplished what he accomplished, but I’d also tell them that they’ve completely removed any possibility of running a truly honest presidential campaign.
An NDA is both legally and ethically binding between the parties entering into it. Mayor Pete would be wrong to violate that because it would help win a primary. The lesson from Trump is not that a president must be transparent at any cost. It's that ethics and legality cannot be subordinate to political expedience. If Mayor Pete came to think that the law and ethics no longer apply to him because he's a big shot candidate nowadays and he's entitled to discard agreements which he entered into willingly because it's politically expedient, then he'd be no different than Trump.
The pressure here belongs on McKinsey. They should release him. His hands are tied until they do.
1
Really? I don’t even know who I support at this time: any Democrat for sure. But 3 years at McKinsey and he’s compared unfavorably to Clinton who made millions upon leaving office (and Chelsea Clinton who, her father famously opined, would “be the best President Clinton of them all, by the way also worked for McKinsey.) Meanwhile, Hunter Biden actually did work for Burisma while his father was Vice President and the Trump family business transgressions are long and extraordinary by any measure. I think this ‘demand’ is unwarranted. In fact, I am prepared to accept the argument Buttigieg makes that this gave him exposure to the corporate world. As a result he chose to go into public service. Good enough for me.
3
As someone who was a junior employee at a top management consulting firm for 3 years right out of school, I'm glad to tell everyone what Buttigieg's work at McKinsey entailed. He used Excel to make pivot tables and run linear regressions on various data sets. He spent endless hours adjusting font sizes and color pallets in PowerPoint. He used his expense account to stay at nice hotels and order room service. He racked up a lot of airline miles and hotel points on his employers dime, and geeked out about "status" with the other 20 somethings in his start class.
He had no say in what assignments he was given, had no material contact with the senior leadership of the client organizations he served, and he probably had little idea what the larger context of his work was.
None of this is a knock on Buttigieg. It is simply the nature of the work performed by a McKinsey Business Analyst (BA). They are smart kids who are hired to do simple analytical work, under heavy time pressure, while making very, very few errors. BAs are not decision makers, they are not leading teams or setting policy, and they are not even making much money. Buttigieg and his peers likely earned between 75K and 100K per year in today's dollars. Good money for a 23 year old, but not much in the greater context of consulting/finance/management careers. When you consider that BAs typically work upwards of 70 hours per week for 50 weeks per year, it works out to $20 to $30 per hour.
6
So your request is that a presidential candidate refuse to comply with a binding, legal agreement? Isn't that exactly what Trump and his administration has continued to do for most of his presidency?
It's on McKinsey to release him from the agreement. Otherwise, that opens him up to a lawsuit. This is a non-story until then.
5
Yet another test of ideological purity. If this continues there will be no democratic candidate.
8
As a voter, I can just say this column is about a non-issue. That part of his history is of minuscule importance compared to his current understanding and intention. The company could release some clarification, but try to find something important to write about.
5
I have been listening to and reading about Pete Buttigieg for months. He is a very complicated person. Many of the experiences he shares are full of contradictions -- like fighting in the Iraq war which he opposed. Overall, I have come to know him as an honest and ethical person who values equality and balance. And therefore, I can tolerate a certain amount of ambiguity regarding his work history, especially if it is bound by an NDA.
3
My youngest is a Yale alum, Pierson, 09 and School of Forestry and School of Management, 18. He interviewed with McKinsey and I did not say a word when he told me. In a conversation later I asked about it and he said, "I could never work there. " I smiled to myself.
5
McKinsey charges a fortune and often has consultants that have no clue about people. They often destroy people through their plans and advice. They are all about companies bottom line to help stockholders without regard for the human ramifications. I would not vote for anyone that worked for them.
5
@Dr. B
Thus, you would never vote for anyone who served in the military? Or anyone who worked for the Catholic Church? Or anyone who worked at an oil company?
Ridiculous!
1
@Paul-A
Yes, yes, and yes. People's choices tel you who they are.
Get the company to release him from his NDA first, then he can talk.
Are there Republicans in McKinsey leadership who see an advantage in not voiding the NDA?
1
You note that Buttigieg is bound by a non-disclosure agreement. Then, at the pivotal stage of your discourse, you offer only this:
"In Mr. Buttigieg’s case, the most straightforward solution is for McKinsey to release him from his vows of silence — or at least to substitute a significantly more permissive agreement.
"The obligation to provide more information, however, ultimately falls on Mr. Buttigieg. He must find a way to give voters a more complete accounting of his time at the company."
What a gloss of an ethical dilemma! You might at least have hinted at the way he could find. Perhaps something modeled on the way in which journalists could manage to reveal their sources, or doctors could manage to disclose consultations, after pledging not to do so? McKinsey is an unsympathetic actor (especially this week), but an ethical and legal obligation is, after all, an obligation.
If you want more information on Buttigieg's work for McKinsey, you should nudge the newsroom to dig for it and not ask the candidate to fill your plate. I know, the Editorial Board is separate from the newsroom. But you must find a way.
6
While I think Mayor Pete is a bright and genial fellow does anyone really think his involvement with McKinsey is his biggest problem. If you do then its for sure you have never lived too far from a liberal stronghold. Can you utter the words First Husband, because if you can you really haven't deeply assessed this country
3
The New York Times does not want Mayor Pete to be the candidate to be President Pete. Because they fear he will lose. That's the essence of this editorial. Period.
4
@Cobble Hill and electability is key. He should be running for Senate. Without winning the Senate, does not matter if the Dems win the White House
@ to many commenters who think the world of McKinsey and one even suggesting we chose our presidents from people who were hired to work there since they are brilliant and the like.
Did you know Rajat Gupta? I did. He ran McKinsey. Ran not just work there.
He is out of jail now. Go and talk to him. Maybe you will change your mind about the place.
3
All this harping on the NDA feels like a cynical deflection tactic. Notice how when someone brings it up it’s never followed by “McKinsey should terminate said NDA”.
3
Let’s see his EMAILS from his time there.
So the media is getting ready to make the same mistake they did with Hillary - where they became so obsessed with her private emails that they lost sight of the bigger question which they have yet to even ask. Why was/is so much information being classifed in the first place and whiy was so much information being up-classified when it should habe been down classified?
1
Key difference is he’s NOT THE NOMINEE. The scrutiny is absolutely warranted.
2
@Casey S MORE scrutiny would be needed for Nominees - not less.
I agree, Joe. In fact, I may have misread your comment. If they could focus on both the micro and macro of the issue that would preferable.
2
The implication that a young person who worked for 3 years at a global, multi-faceted, complex company such as McKinsey is somehow tainted by some of its controversial projects is editorial overreaching of the worst kind. Do some more reporting on Buttigieg's past jobs if you want to dig up something more than fake dirt.
11
Wait. What? Let me get this straight. You want Mr. Buttigieg to break a non-disclosure agreement he signed? To what end? There is absolutely nothing unethical about signing a non-disclosure agreement. The firm is not quite what it used to be? And this has what to do with Mr. Buttigieg?
This story is overreaching and unworthy of the New York Times. If he did break the agreement, what would the next editorial about Mr. Buttigieg be? How untrustworthy he is?
This is an unreasonable demand of a candidate. Mr. Buttigieg isn't hiding anything.
13
Exactly!! I’m glad someone agrees.
1
This must be a hit piece from a Warren supporter worried about her decline in the polls. Nothing illegal or wrong getting an entry level job and McKinsey, it is highly prestigious in fact that only hires the top graduates. Kudo's to Pete for getting into McKinsey.
5
This warrants an editorial from the Times Board? Do you suspect something nefarious? That is certainly the implication.
And if he can't legally disclose information in the first place, how can you demand it?
He has asked the company to release him from the agreement--is the point of this editorial to bring pressure to bear on the the company?
Is the photo accompanying the article, showing a microphone wire in Pete's ear as he stares steadfastly into the distance, supposed to suggest that he runs on electricity and obstinately ignores your sober cries for justice?
6
This is simultaneously the definition of a tempest in a teapot, of guilt by association, of false equivalence, and of leftist purity tests. For starters, you are asking Mayor Pete to disclose what he legally cannot disclose. Second, unlikel Trump he has disclosed his tax returns. Third,who cares? He was a junior employee fresh out of college for a consulting firm ( that happens to be symbolic of capitalism) for 3 years. If he had worked for Google or Netflix for three years out of college, would you still feel it's crucial to know what dastardly deeds he had done in the name of capitalism? It is an understatement to say that this piece it's not worthy of the Editorial Board of the New York Times.
9
I’m a liberal leftist — two terms that really don’t go together, as I tirelessly explain to friends from both “sides off the aisle” (surprisingly, folks from the “right” get it sooner) — I actually hate “liberals” in terms of party politics but generally side on social issues. To my mind this is the stupidest angle on Buttigieg’s candidacy that I can imagine. Totally out of touch and pointless. Libs just trying to eat themselves as is their tendency. Hitting a Dem for dirtying his hands in commerce is a dead end — my virgin ears!
4
The guy is literally bound by law and by honor. Just because everyone is correctly freaked out right now over GOP political corruption, doesn't mean that from now on, everyone running for public office is evil by default until proven (purified?) otherwise. And what, "public interest" cancels out the Fourth Amendment, overrides the basic concepts of a contract, or the idea even of keeping your word now? The basic stuff that has made the survival of the human species possible for the last 10,000 years give or take? You guys wanna just toss that cause your paranoid that an impeccable veteran and patriot, might have at his first job done some paper work for a company that hasn't disclosed their carbon footprint to your standards?
4
i have never heard of any good done in the world by mckinsey, just layoffs, downsizing, company busting
3
By the way, you could do an op-ed about how many times Trump said, both during the campaign and as president, that he would love to release his taxes (which, unlike being subject to an NDA, he could have done at any time, as being under an audit does not preclude that). This would be a great time for the question: if you would “love” to release your taxes, why are you fighting against financial disclosure all the way to the Supreme Court?
Which do you think is more newsworthy, NYT?
5
Disappointed NYT! Give the guy some credit. Getting into McKinsey is hard. He is obviously smart with a fair degree of grit....McKinsey don't hire wall flowers who can't hack hard work, long hours and lots of travel. But c'mon! He was a junior! He was making power points look pretty and running financial models in excel. He wasn't sourcing new business, negotiating fees, or signing off on client strategy recommendations. This is such a non story and there is so much snobbery towards Pete. He seems like an ambitious and calculating guy. So was Winston Churchill - and he has gone down in history as one of the greatest politicians who ever lived,
11
Calm down NYT: We actually need good candidates who have diverse work experience and insight in the business world. We can ask the candidate to talk about this but it must be without casting dispersions. Let the man tell us about it.
6
Instead of asking an honest, hardworking man to break his contract and his word, why don’t you do some actually journalism and figure it out.
Mr. Buttigieg strikes me as a man who has had presidential ambitions since his youth. I doubt he would work on a project that would get in the way of his goal.
4
The whole idea of the NDA stinks to high heaven. If Petey the wet behind the ears college lad was nothing more than a coffee boy, and many of the commenters here are saying, why does his mouth have to be kept shut?
And why does McKinsey not want us to know who its clients are? If all they do is above board, shouldn't they be proud of whom they serve?
2
@whaddoino
The questions/suspicions you ask have nothing to do with Buttigieg; they're all about McKinsey.
Meaningless.
Wow. I guess I had no idea. Checking out McKinsey online it all falls in line with the cloak and dagger world of politics we live in.
2
Wow, 1,375 comments, overwhelmingly negative. I appreciate the Times keeping the comments thread open, considering the shellacking its editorial board is getting here. If members of the board had bothered to read a story in the paper on the same day in which reporter Michael Forsythe admirably pieced together Buttigieg's experiences at McKinsey ("When Pete Buttigieg Was One of McKinsey’s ‘Whiz Kids’"), this highly unfortunate editorial would likely not have appeared, and the board wouldn't have egg on its face.
4
Tempest in a teapot
3
I am also starting to question NYT's treatment of Buttigieg. Most of the NYT coverage of Buttigieg is negative. As Pete has said, he has asked to be released from the NDA that he signed as a very young man. He is definitely not wealthy and would struggle paying the legal fees if he violates the NDA. What are you not getting here? While overall i have respect for the NYT's editorials, I also hold them to a higher standard than other papers. They are not always consistent in the rigor of assuring that they have their ducks in a row and can do real damage when they create a story that is weak on facts. It's time for the editorial staff to do some self-reflection.
4
Not real happy that he also doesn't know that it's been the Republicans, not the Democrats, who have bludged up the federal deficit and debt over the last 30 years...and when corrected, still scolded the Democratic party anyway...wrong answer for this Iowan who caucuses. Bye Bye Pete, was just about in your camp but not at all anymore. May even have to work against you. It's the big lie by Republicans coming out of your own mouth, and you can't even correct properly when you do find out. Just not ready for prime time.
I'm sorry, NY Times, but this editorial is a reach. Indeed, it is so ignorant of the way in which a firm like McKinsey functions that it veers on the stupid. The man took a job just out of college that taught him something about American business, and then he went on to do something else with his life. Plenty of people use McKinsey the same way, or use big law firms the same way, etc. And no, he's really not allowed to talk about it, but given his age and tenure none of it was truly glamorous or truly earth-shattering. I'm glad to see the Democrats have a few candidates, among them Buttigieg, who understand the lineaments of big business, and evidently understand it better than at least some portion of your paper's editorial board.
6
seriously? this is completely overblown.
5
The comments on this article and the situation remind me of Obama's on destroying someone for how "woke" they are not. Hyperbolic, operatic, so full of moral outrage.
Democrats tend toward cannibalism. This is not the year to partake in that kind of self-destruction.
4
Can you imagine asking a lawyer who is a candidate to provide information on his former clients and the work he did for them?
It would be unconscionable. There's a reason for NDAs and confidentiality in the consulting world - it let's people provide and receive strategic advice without their competitors knowing or taking advantage of that information; and it allows people to provide frank information un-corrupted by public sentiment.
This is frankly a desperate non-story. Why is the NY Times publishing these bizarre attempted hit pieces on leading candidates?
6
From NBC News with video, but nowhere to be found on NYTimes (link below): Bernie Sanders supporter Igor Rodriguez shouts and steals microphone from black people lauding Pete Buttigieg.
Sharon McBride, a black South Bend Common Council member, was speaking about why she backs Buttigieg, who has struggled to win over African American voters, when a man in the audience began shouting over her.
"Where are the black leaders who don't have three-piece suits, leather jackets, and nice clothing?" yelled a man who was wearing a "Black Lives Matter" T-shirt.
"Who chose these people as black leaders?" said man asked. He then approached the front of the room, grabbed the microphone from McBride and shouted.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/buttigieg-slams-disruption-black-supporters-rally-turned-chaos-n1096441
2
You are asking him to break a legal obligation. This is stupid.
4
Totally disappointing article NYT. A middle class midwest son-of-immigrant genius kid that gets into Harvard and is smart enough to land a post-grad job at McKinsey for a few years should be something we applaud in a presidential candidate. Tell me, if McKinsey isn't good enough, where would you have had him work? Wall Street like 90% of his class? Or does 3 years in private sector negate all of the public sector work for the majority of his career? Isn't there a benefit to having some experience working in something outside of government? This article is ridiculous and is not what Dems need. I'm seriously about to unsubscribe from NYT for treating this as "news."
6
What a ridiculous editorial. Once you secure him a release from his nondisclosure, he can do it. You can look at his tax returns if you like. Sure you want to be seen as fair and balanced, we get it.
3
The title of this opinion piece bothers me and doesn't align with the facts (i.e., NDA).
4
So... you're demanding Mayor Pete break his word on a contractually binding NDA for McKinsey?
You know, Norm Ornstein works for the American Enterprise Institute. (as did John Bolton before becoming the NSA). Does that therefore mean Orstein must subscribe to the extreme Conservative views of AEI? Of course not!
Your pressure should be on McKinsey to release Buttigieg from his NDA, not on him to break his word.
Before you get done, you'll find a way to disqualify EVERY Democratic candidate, when every single one of them (excepting Tulsi Gabbard) would be infinitely better than Trump.
4
There are zero stakes here for the Editorial Board. You’re asking for something you know is not currently possible in order to attain a stance of criticality/superiority all while knowingly accomplishing nothing.
3
Major fail by the NYT. If it wants Buttigieg to violate the NDA, which is a legally binding contract, it should come out and say so and explain why the rules that apply to the rest of us don't apply to him. If NYT thinks he can reveal more consistent with the NDA, then just ask him whatever specific questions NYT thinks he can answer.
5
Why don't you pick on Der Trumpf asking, demanding to know the inside out of his MULTIPLE bankruptcies?
1
"But her emails!"
"But his NDA with McKinsey on his first job!"
This editorial is "both sides", double-standard, "balanced" journalism at its worst. On the same day that Rudy Giuliani is over in Ukraine openly seeking meetings with Russian operatives, the NYT runs a blistering editorial on Mayor Pete's first, entry-level job out of college.
Did he give black coffee to his boss instead of cream and sugar? Maybe he jammed the office photocopier too? Alas, because of his NDA, we will never know. After all, if he lies about his role in organizing the office holiday party, can we trust him with the nuclear codes?
Clearly the NYT is looking for some kind of "gotcha" narrative on Mayor Pete that it can hold over his head and attack his character with during the campaign, as it infamously did with Hillary and her emails in 2016.
Add this to the Hunter Biden "scandal" and Elizabeth Warren's Cherokee "scandal" and you can see how mainstream media coverage of Democratic candidates works.
Given the disparate media treatment of the candidates, is it any wonder that Trump won the Electoral College in 2016?
4
The only thing that's untenable, is NYT calling ANY democrat untenable while...I can't type his name anymore...is in the WH.
23
Pete Buttegieg is the smartest and most articulate candidate, has a remarkably diverse resume for his years, and would run circles around Trump in a debate and campaign. So, of course, everyone needs to destroy his candidacy through innuendo. Keep it up, folks, and we will have four more years of Trump and the end of our democratic republic.
4
This is nonsense. The implication is that he chose the work he did for his employer. I don't understand why the question would be asked by an otherwise thoughtful board.
6
Agree. As W.C. Fields put it, consultants are "Men From out of Town".
A less harsh view is that a massive consultancy like McKinsey, which surely has been helpful to numerous enterprises, involves a lot of frim fram sauce. No one should vote for Buttigieg unless we know what were the projects he worked on for McKinsey.
The issue is quite like Trump's tax returns. The President, like all citizens has a right to keep them from public disclosure, except for that which results from legal proceedings, such as Congressional oversight or court cases, But no Presidential candidate who does not make them public deserves a single vote and Congress should legislate a requirement that Presidential candidates make them public.
McKinsey presumably claims its NDAs are more sacrosanct than the public good. Not so. If its officers had an ounce of patriotism, they would work something out that let voters know what Mayor Pete worked on without getting
into the details of McKinsey's advice.
The nation is suffering from the results of having voted for a pig in a poke. One definition of insanity involves the repetition of big mistakes.
By the way, this is evidence of a need for legal restrictions on the scope of NDAs. How many sexual predators have been shielded from public view by them?
1
I must absolutely insist that any requst for a Democratic candidate to do what is expected of politicians these days (disclosure of personal information, for example) be conditioned on trump doing the same thing.
This is exactly the position I held when Al Franken was being treated like a leper and badgered into resign by his Democratic colleagues. They should have insisted that Franken resign for his (comparatively minor) transgressions as soon as trump did so for his (which are far worse).
Then and now, insisting that Democratic candidates be held to some sort of ethical standard without doing the same of trump is like curing the cold while ignoring the cancer.
While I love the false/phony sounding indignation here, I really think we should all check our craziness at the door. The Mayor is hardly hiding in the shadows and let's get real -- no candidate will ever be the crook that Trump is, so lighten up - he signed (unfortunately) an NDA -- although I don't think he should be President, this is not something that would prevent me for voting for him if he got the nomination.
1
This is absurd. McKinsey is a business consultancy. They help businesses primarily with strategic level decisions. Client confidentiality is essential. And McKinsey has a solid reputation. The only thing that would be accomplished by discussing the details of Mr. Buttigieg's engagements would be to provide cheap fodder.
For example, perhaps Mr. Buttigieg worked for a company that made industrial valves and McKinsey did a strategic analysis that indicated that the oil and gas sector remains a good fit for the company's products and competitive position. Oh boy - he's weak on climate change! He's a crony for Big Oil! He didn't storm the client's boardroom and stage a sit in.
3
Disagree! Buttigieg should do it when Trump voluntarily shows his taxes. The details of his work should not preclude him from being President. He is a Harvard Rhodes Scholar and I am sure he excelled at whatever the task was and if you now want to look for political correctness in every aspect of a candidates past life--you will never beat a morally bankrupt man like Trump. Stop tripping our democracy is at stake!
At this crucial and perilous moment when the Speaker of the House has just announced grounds to Impeach a President, the editorial board decides to pick on Pete. Shame on you.
The mere hint that this veteran resembles the draft dodging Trump in anyway is disgusting. I would have preferred the board to have spent time explaining emphatically why Trump needs to be impeached rather than running a nothing burger editorial on a newcomer.
To be sure, time will force all candidates to withstand criticism and vetting. And Mayor Pete will have to face the music. There is plenty of time for that.
At the moment there is no there there and unless there is tax evasion and corruption ( very doubtful) wait before assassinating.
I highly suspect that if we start unraveling all large corporations in this country, we can find many unsavory things.
4
This is much ado about nothing. He was a junior analyst with no influence on which projects or positions McKinsey took. While claiming that he has substantial private sector experience is conflated, this is a big nothing burger issue. Please, please let's not persist in our circular firing squad of solid Democratic candidates.
6
Buttigieg is all ambition. He’s obviously smart, but he hasn’t accomplished anything of substance that would qualify him to be our next president. I don’t really care what he did for the nefarious consulting firm he worked at 10 years ago because he’ll never get my vote, period. Bernie or bust in 2020!
1
Why am I reminded here of Bernie Sanders' calls for Hillary Clinton to release transcripts of her speeches to major Wall Street firms, and Clinton's refusal to do so?
1
“It’s not something that I think is essential in my story.”
A more deft Trump would have uttered the same line a thousand times by now over the last 3 years.
My first attempt at this, was lost by my hands at the computer.
I'm still confused as to the question.
Is the question about Mayor Pete and his brillance to be able to aid any company that needs help .
Is the question about the company, McKinsey.
Is the question about the prowess of a candidate, who has wonderful Rhodes Scholar brain power, and actually talks to us.
We have been so used to bad questions, inadaquate answers and still wondering about the candidates.
I have all faith with this wonderful young man, who can speak to all questions, answer with clear, concise words.
2
All NDA's need to end, they work for rich people who want to hide the truth, and are part of our cultural sickness.
Oh, we are in so much trouble. Apparently we have become incapable of reading a person, of judging character, without being able to stick our noses eight feet up their backside and peer with a microscope into every facet of their lives, in the interest of being able to level a holier-than-thou judgment about their "worthiness."
Yes, Trump should release his tax returns. But does anyone really NEED to see those to know that he is the most inept, dishonest and corrupt President this country has every suffered? And the fact that he would earn this dubious distinction was obvious to anyone with eyes and ears right from the start of his candidacy. It wasn't that we didn't know, it's just that too many chose not to see.
While I have reservations about Buttigieg, they are mostly due to his age and lack of experience; unless you are truly stunted in your development, like Trump himself, age brings with it a wisdom that is invaluable. I have no doubt about his intelligence, his fundamental competence, or his basic decency as a human being. A detailed accounting of his business dealings is not at all required for me to know what type of person I'm dealing with.
2
So 63million people will vote for a blatant fraud and con who lies about virtually everything (i.e. releasing taxes), but it's somehow a big deal that Buttigieg was driven and academically accomplished enough to land a job that only the most driven and academically accomplished can land?
I'm not planning on voting for Buttigieg, but stories with insinuations that working for McKinsey=Bad are just ridiculous. The far-left progressive mindset is so damaging to the prospects of electing a democrat to the White House.
This is nonsense. Instead of hounding Pete Buttigeig to break a nondisclosure agreement, let’s admire that he is keeping his word. Unlike so many other politicians.
4
Seriously? He was a “kid” right out of school. He was a nobody with no influence and no decision-making authority in a vast company. Holding him somehow responsible for McKinsey’ s misdeeds is absurd. It was a learning opportunity. He learned things. One of them was that he didn’t want to work for McKinsey. Kudos, Pete!
3
This editorial reads more like a back door criticism of McKinsey, rather than an attempt at adding to the dialogue about choosing a presidential candidate. A read of McKinsey’s policies, and indeed, what they commit to their clients, would inform any reader that McKinsey does not disclose the names of their clients. Employees of the consulting firm are legally bound by that policy.
If the New York Times editorial board wants to write a piece about McKinsey, go to it. But to criticize Mayor Pete for not disclosing what he did at McKinsey for three years, just out of school, as a young consultant is a fool’s errand. I’m am fine with his vague description of what he did there. This is not a big deal and should not be presented as something that needs to inform voters.
3
I read the articles about McKinsey linked through this article.
Not so good related to Ukraine, for example.
Mayor Pete needs to address his time there and show us he has nothing to hide.
1
Disagree - this is a ridiculous effort to create a story. Everyone has somethings that can be questioned about prior work or relationships.... this is one is NOT a disqualify him from being a very viable and capable candidate. Go look down some other dark rabbit holes.
2
Why are Democratic front-runners held to such a high standard but Republicans only need to keep from stealing from the collection plate to get a pass?
1
Normally, I agree with this "rag's" editorials, but not with this one. Mr. Buttigieg has a singed agreement with his former employer and it is understandable that he would not break it. I would urge, however, McKinsey to release him from that agreement and let his record be known.
A few things are certain. He never declared bankruptcy, looted his own not-for-profit, set up a "for profit" university
that failed, denigrated fellow human beings and more. He is guilty of being an incredily bright, caring, polished and stable individual. That stands in stark contrast to the current disaster occupying the White House.
1
I fail to understand the concentration on whomever the clients Mr. Buttigieg worked with might be. He had a job. Unless he lied, cheated, and stole on behalf of whatever client, that issue is nothing more than tangential.
Of course, lying, cheating, and stealing may be seen as prerequisites for the Presidency after Trump’s election.
Three years at McKinsey? Exactly three? Does that mean he failed to make the Partnership track and had to leave?
Clearly a number of commenters here do not understand how NDAs work. When an employee joins a company an NDA is signed before they start day one on the job, they are not used to “cover up” things after the fact and to imply that companies use them is this manner is just plain false.
NDAs are legally binding contracts, if the NY Times is saying that Mayor Pete should go ahead and violate it anyway would they then be ok with journalists revealing their sources in the interest of “transparency”?
Are you seriously suggesting that he violate a legally binding agreement?
Haven't we had enough of that sort of disregard for the law with the current WH occupant?
1
How can it possibly be relevant to Pete’s presidential campaign to learn about his client projects when he was a junior consultant at McKinsey? As the the NDA. McKinsey’s clients operate in a competitive world and deserve to have their client confidences respected.
Sounds like, a witch hunt, if nothing happens to Trump why would affect Buttigieg? because he is not an stablished politician? neither was Trump. Let's not forget the editorial board are a number of people who do not wish to release their names, why? what kind of jobs have they had in the past? why the board is seeking information when they cannot even give their own names?
Buttigieg should tell what he learned at McKinsey in terms of life experience. The fact that he only mentions it as work in the private sector suggests to me that he totally absorbed the world view of McKinsey and hasn't been able to take some distance and see things in a broader context.
1
I want to know more than just what he did at McKinsey, but for whom he did his work. It is one thing to consult for the Ford Foundation and another to consult for Saudi Arabia.
1
Who is the “Editorial Board”. Who are it’s members? Who has each member worked for and what did they do throughout their work history? How much money do they make and how much are they worth? Do they vote and if they do, who have they voted for? We need full transparency.
1
@Mark
That information is available. Plus, the Editorial Board Members are not running for President.
1
An article decrying a candidate for NOT breaking a LEGAL contract? That's just ridiculous.
NYT seems to suggest that it is morally preferable to violate a lawful NDA--and be handed a suit--than it is to honor it.
1
Waiting for a similar singular editorials regarding candidates to come clean on:
* Warren's work in the private sector
* Steyer's hedge funds investments in coal
* Bloomberg's involvement with a news source bearing his name
* Klobuchar's treatment of staff
etc.
3
I believe the reason he doesn't want to talk about his time at McKinsey is he has puffed it up where in fact he was a coffee/danish man. In any case with only three years there he just followed other people around. I want someone who can beat trump and I am not sure its him. I also think its time for a women president, Amy Klobuchar is my pick.
2
The assertion concerning Pete Buttigieg's work at McKinsey, which is sealed due to an NDA, that "He must find a way to give voters a more complete accounting of his time at the company." is a slippery slope. Is the Times recommending that Mayor Pete behave dishonorably and simply violate his non-disclosure promise? If Pete has asked McKinsey to release him from that agreement, and the company has not done so, then the Times' pressure should be directed at McKinsey and not at Pete.
2
Working in a literal ivory tower taught him "street smarts". This guy is so full of it I can't barely listen to him. Correction, I can't stand to listen to him. Hope he drops by the wayside soon. We don't need another unhinged narcissist as president. Cooler heads must prevail. This guy is just to in love with himself.
1
Funny how many see this piece as grasping at thin straws. Others feel the Times editorial board is being unfair to Mayor Pete. Really? This man has been on a honeymoon since he started running. The man is a consummate politician, speaking but rarely saying anything. Always playing all sides. What are his policies? Plans? He brilliant, there is no question, yet where's the substance?
1
Is this how the NYT tips the scales in selecting a presidential candidate?
Coming from that consulting sector, it is ridiculous to assume that a third year associate has a lot of impact on any business decision beyond supporting problem analysis. It is even more ridiculous to demand Buttigieg violate standard confidentiality agreements as a junior consultant. He undoubtedly learned a lot, but likely made few significant decisions that the NYT believes need to be revealed. That argument might apply to a managing partner but not to the role Buttigieg played.
2
Will the Times agree to pay all of the costs and damages resulting from breaking the DNA? And if he did break his agreement, what about his reputation? The Editorial Board needs to rethink this decision.
1
The fact that this firm is now consulting Trump is completely irrelevant to Buttigieg or his time there. You're making false equivalencies - and you know it. Buttigieg could have stayed with the firm making loads of money: instead he went somewhere that required a uniform - and then into a life of public service.
Who would trust someone who defies an NDA?
And these mindless comments here referring to Buttigieg as "just another white guy"... you want to know why we lose elections?
2
Sounds like some don't like the content of his platform, and lacking a reasoned basis to challenge it, they will find other ways to attack him. Hmmm, perhaps the "guilt by association " technique may work.
Only the problem here is that he was an employee, not a partner, and had zero impact on policy, practices or work of the firm. Oh, and he left after three years.
Really?
If you don't like his position on specific issues then unload on him with reasoned arguments why he may be wrong. But this seems petty and desperate to suggest he is tainted because he worked for an entity that some view as an evil empire. I am sure the NYT Editorial Board will not be launching similar investigations into all employers of every other candidate or better yet, whether Warren was ever a member of the Republican party.
1
On another topic, why in the world is Mayor Pete saying on the campaign trail that Democrats don't care and never have cared about the national debt? That is Republican hocus-pocus.
Why should the NYT demand that any candidate play by fair and honest rules when her/his opponent in the 2020 election cheats, lies, and obfuscates on a daily basis? Republicans have played by a different set of rules for years, and have succeeded as a result. Mayor Pete and the other D candidates are playing by a different set of rules, including the rule of law, the rule of honesty, the rule of integrity, and the rule of disclosure. Why insist on total and complete disclosure, especially when doing so would violate a legal NDA?
I agree with the Author. Buttigieg also has to explain in more detail the decisions he made as Mayor which directly hurt the Black Community of South Bend. He has to tell us more.
1
I was, at 21, one of the youngest stockbrokers EF Hutton ever hired, and was and remained without a glass office, just a cubicle in “the bullpen.” I became disillusioned fast and left after three years to pursue graduate studies in the humanities. If at age 37 someone in my PhD program had tried to characterize me in some seminar as having my philosophy tainted by my “time on Wall Street”, I’d wouldn’t even know how to reply, I’d have been so dumbstruck. Give the guy a break and let him run for President, sheesh!!
1
Pete got a good job out of college, and only stayed in it for a few years. He surely wouldn't have been a strategic decision maker, just a kid trying to earn a paycheck. I really am upset to think that my girls (all in their twenties) will be judged by their employers. Give it a rest.
Seriously let's stop trying to manufacture dirt on people. These opinion pieces are insidious. I put this in the same class as the various Elizabeth Warren hit jobs where she supposedly "mistated" her record when in fact nonsuch thing occurred.
1
He took whatever job he could find like most recent grads. Seriously, stop trying to bring this good man down. Clearly he's scaring them...
1
Wait a minute, you are criticizing Mayor Pete for following the law and abiding by a NDA he signed? The hits from the far left keep coming.
1
While I believe wholly in transparency, this is something like "Gotcha" in this non-story. In how many ways can you try to kill a candidate?
1
This editorial is simply wrong because the "analysis" supporting it is sophomoric. What the writer ignores entirely is that the confidential information and activity at issue here doesn't belong to Buttigieg, or McKinsey...it belongs to the clients for whom he did work. When they hired him years ago, that confidentiality was part of their contractual expectation. The fact that the consultant they hired is running for President doesn't change their expectation, which is why there is a non-disclosure agreement of a type that is common in this industry. The fact that he is running for President does not support the conclusion that the client's confidentiality should be breached. I'm frankly shocked that a news outlet, which constantly claims the right to refuse to breach the confidentiality of its own sources, would overlook this fundamental obligation. Moreover, there is absolutely no analogy to Biden's health records. The only person whose privacy is at issue for those records is Mr. Biden.
2
Nonsense. McKinsey has thousands of employees and he was at a very low level indeed. You can suss out what he did from what he's said, he was a computer jockey gathering "big data."
Your intimation that he could have been consulting dictators doing nasty things is beyond hilarious.
2
Failing to honor an NDA is not “breaking the law.”
There‘d probably be a nasty civil suit, There’d probably be monetary damages.
It’s a civil, not criminal, concern.
His first job out of college?...seriously?.........I doubt he was calling the shots. Consultants are not evil but they are private, for obvious reasons. He signed an NDA. I grow tired of the obvious herding of the Democratic populace into the candidate the party elders want. That didn't work out very well the last time, did it? Biden's "tough guy" routine to a valid question yesterday made me groan. I will ultimately vote for whomever they drag out there.....I would vote for a martian to get rid of Trump, but just let the voters decide.
I find this article to be a fatuous attack on the man. If he left 10 years ago, more power to him! The NDA is a binding contract. If the firm did security work, let him sketch it in outline. The fact he knows how the sleazier side works, and now stands against it, shows he's one of the rare ones, fit for office.
1
Since Pete can't legally disclose the info due to the NDA, it seems like someone should do some investigative reporting and talk to his colleagues, etc. Oh wait, the Times printed that today!
This editorial seems unfair and unnecessary when Buttigieg is legally prohibited from disclosure unless McKinsey releases him. He asked and they said no.
Hey, but at least Pete released his taxes. Props for that.
1
So I guess the bottom line is that the Times demands that Mayor Pete violate his non-disclosure agreement with McKinsey so he can be more transparent. Really, that's hardly reasonable or fair to Buttigieg. And what incentive does McKinsey have to release him from the agreement? Will their clients, who counted on confidentiality, be applauding the company if it gives Buttigieg a release? And what about his own personal ethical obligation to those clients, who expected confidentiality. Oh, and does the Times have any NDAs with its employees?
i despise the so-called 'management consulting' firms
- they famously know the price or cost of everything, but the value of nothing.
but that said a former McKinsey consultant will be a step up over a former New Jersey slumlord reality show liar.
Is it just me, or do others have some reservations about Mayor Pete? He'dcertainly get my vote if the choice was between him and Trump but, I'd still feel some discomfort about his sincerity. Maybe it's just me. Was it his sudden and calculated verbal attack on Beto O'Rourke? Is it his lack of experience, his shallowness when referring to the black community? Things to ponder, at least for me.
How is he supposed to talk about something that he has agreed to not talk about?
Two-faced. trump gets away with releasing nothing. I’m not thrilled Buttigieg has worked for this sleazy company but his honesty and dignity can not be questioned. Concentrate on the most corrupt guy ever in the White House.
Is this the obligatory attempt by the NYTimes to provide “balance” in its reporting about Democratic candidates?
This is precisely why 99.9999% of Americans don’t run for public office, much less for president: every experience in life is stripped bare for all to see, even when there is no story to tell or an NDA preventing disclosure.
My God! We have here a candidate who left the private sector to embrace public service as a career, served his country in war, can string two cogent sentences together, is smarter than nearly all other Americans, and espouses policy positions that even some Republicans can embrace.
A more enlightening story would have been why he is not connecting with Africa-American voters, rather than this nothingburger of a criticism.
It’s no wonder so few good people run for president.
1
The NDA rules. But it is more interesting to note that he was employed at McKinsey only a bit over 2 years. Did he fail the "training course"??
This editorial is so cynically unethical that I can only conclude that it represents a quid pro quo with the Trump Administration in exchange for the White House renewing its Times subscription. Nondisclosure agreements are real contracts that are meant to protect the client, not the consultant. Thus, the Times EB is pressuring Buttagieg to break a legal contract with clients who seem, from the accompanying article today, to include the US DOD and/or the miltitary. This is a ridiculously false equivalence to Trump's not disclosing his income tax returns, which are purely at his discretion.
I have to wonder, if Buttagieg had formerly been a reporter for the Times, would the EB be so quick to pressure him to disclose the names of all anonymous sources that he had ever used? I think not; the Times is the first to claim journalistic privilege in protecting such sources .
1
McKinney is part of the deep state of elites trying to remove our beloved President Trump. This coup will fail.
@CJT 1. It's McKinsey, not McKinney. 2. I guess you missed the article in this week's Times about McKinsey's work for the Trump administration.
I took a job at a local TV station after earning My degree. Do you know how much I impacted the decision making process there? As a director of daytime programming, I argued, asked for, then demanded that there be a change in the afternoon schedule. I thought I had that right as the director of daytime. I was overruled by the station manger. End of story. New York Times, are you serious with this?
The Times editorial board may want to shuffle down the hall to the restroom and take a look in the mirror. Take a good hard look and picture yourself being analyzed for every choice you ever made in your life, including what job you had when you were fresh out of college. If you happen to see a three year stint at a consulting firm go immediately back to your desk, pull out a really sharp object and end your miserable existence before you do more harm to humanity. This is apparently what you are asking a man who since his time at the consulting firm has dedicated his life to service in the military and by holding public office.
Pete's popularity is scaring the democratic hopefuls, it's so obvious when I see one story after another discrediting him
He worked there for three years, then left because it wasn't his bag. Apparently he worked on multiple projects both in the US and abroad. It's possible that some of these projects may have been ethically dubious - such is the nature of consulting work - but are we suppose to assume that this reflects on Buttigieg's character, who at that point was a newly hired 20-something kid who likely didn't have much latitude in the projects assigned to him? Given he also signed an NDA, I'm not seeing an issue here.
If there were anything even remotely embarrassing in his resume foreign powers would be on it in a minute. If there was nothing embarrassing but he still had not been able to expose everything foreign powers would be on it in a minute.
I'm a Republican but will defend Mayor Pete here (and I would also defend Elizabeth Warren's work representing corporations during bankruptcy & restructuring). Work in the private sector is essential to government, career politicians like Sanders and Biden don't understand the impact of their policies.
If we punish candidates who have done nothing more than work in fields that have become politically unpopular, we will limit the pool of future politicians who are ideologically pure, but lack any real world experience.
8
If you want an ethical person in power, why would you even remotely suggest that he violate a legally binding NDA are you willing to pay his legal fees if he does so? Don’t think so...and since he has/had national security clearance already, my guess is this is not all that relevant.
6
Buttigieg asked for the NDA to be lifted. What more can he do? And before we completely demonize everything about McKinsey, Obama brought them on the federal payroll. Like Goldman and Amazon and any other large corporation, it is not helpful to frame them only as villains but examine and confront issue by issue.
2
This is absolutely absurd! Would we Dems disqualify a candidate who in their early career had been an engineer at an oil company? Or someone who had been a news reporter for Fox News for three years? Or someone who had been a college professor at a Christian college whose mission statement includes a statement against abortion? Would we reject someone who had gone through Catholic seminary because of the Church's misdeeds?
I'm as liberal as they come, but c'mon now. This is akin to a McCarthyesque "Have you ever been a member of the Communist Party? Have you ever gone to parties where known Communists have been present?"
A young professional can't be expected to know the contextual dealings of every single aspect within every single company in their field across the company. Sometimes we learn things about our employer only after we've worked there for a while, especially if it's in a different wing of the company.
And sometimes people's awareness of the world and their sense of ethical connection to it grows and matures as they get older.
I'm sure that each and every one of us said and or did things in our earlier lives that we now would have avoided. In this new world of social media, should we all be disqualified because our past will forever be held against us? Do we want to create a culture of constant paranoia, a constant game of Gotcha?
It's not Buttigieg's responsibility to "force" McKinsey to release him from the NDA; nor does he have any power to do so.
8
Seems an honest and honourable man in this regard to me. Signed a legally binding NDA, and is abiding by it.
That’s what honest people do.
3
It's not a mystery what Buttigieg did at McKinsey as an analyst and junior associate straight out of school:
He worked 16 hour days, used Excel and Power Point until he wanted to throw up, was abused by partners and clients for unfair reasons, got coffee for bosses, took conference calls most of the day, sat silently in most meetings, worked in whatever client engagements the partners told him to, was assigned demeaning tasks simply because senior associates thought it was funny, had promotion and partnership dangled over his head, waited by the phone all night for partners who couldn't be bothered to break away for five minutes to dismiss him, read and responded to a million e-mails, took the red-eyes from and to every airport in America, gave up weekends and remained on call anytime he wasn't in the office, was blamed for problems out of his control, was shorted on hours by clients and pressured by partners on hours, and abandoned any hope of a meaningful outside relationship or life.
How do I know? Because that is what every analyst and junior associate at McKinsey does their first three years.
10
No he doesn't. He worked for a firm that represented clients, that doesn't mean he agreed with every client the firm represented or that he was responsible for the values of those clients. Give me a break, if a chemist worked for Dow Corning, would we question his or her position on environmentalism simply because the company they worked for was involved in environmental disasters. This op-ed is nonsense.
3
I want the NYT to vet candidates: I depend on it. But this is largely innuendo and insinuation. Voters don’t need more fuel for conspiracy theories or tenuous strains of anti-elitism, we need facts. I support Buttigeig, but I also understand the necessity to examine every facet of his biography. If you’re suspect, why not openly demand McKinsey to release him from the NDA, rather than attack him for honoring it? Every article and op-ed about him is laced with dismissal or intimations of deception. Seems the Times hasn’t found their hook, but not for lack of trying. It’s getting tiresome.
3
this article may not have been fair or that important of a story, but it is similar to articles about warren's past corporate clients are sanders and vermont college. so in a sense they had to write it to be even handed
Being bound by NDAs is an unacceptable position for a presidential candidate. Sounds like Trump's "I'm under audit" nonsense. McKinsey probably had the Mayor involved in some very sharp dealing. A young person make excusable mistakes but we don't need any more character surprises in our President.
1
Of all of the issues among the candidates in this campaign it is amazing the Times would choose this to be outraged about. What are they really asking, that he violate the agreement he signed? He was fresh out of college when he took this job so it's not like he was an important decision-maker or strategist. It gave him some exposure and experience in the private sector - he's not trying to make any more of it than that, why should we?
4
Information about 3 years right out of college is not very relevant to warrant such an article, nor does it make him a capitalist on its face.
I suspect his clients at that time had Republican leanings.
1
Why? Why is this info so important? Everyone with half a brain and knowledge of the consulting industry knows that the "newbies" barely see the light of day and certainly are not making earth shattering decisions. That is well below their pay grades. Had he stayed there for 20 years and became a senior manager maybe that info is necessary/helpful in evaluating him, but irrelevant now. Thanks for giving the Trump team an attack point.
2
This complaint is mild compared to the excoriating of Buttigrieg done by Lawrence O'Donnell last night on The Last Word. But, he was invited to appear on the show to defend himself. Let's see if he has the courage to accept the invitation.
I understand Mr. Buttigieg is whip-smart, highly educated, and even described a "McKinsey whiz-kid." But the reality is that Pete was a 25 year old consulting staff at McKinsey. I'm sure during the 3 years he worked there he did what most new hire's do - he was assigned to engagements he had no role in obtaining himself, worked long hours creating really cool Excel spreadsheets, drafted memos and reports, prepared presentations, and sat in on meetings attended by a bunch of people more senior than him.
This is not a knock on him at all - I am huge fan of his. Let's just be real about this.
5
The problem is the opposite of what is depicted in this editorial.
I agree that in his three years after college, Buttigieg did little more than crunch numbers and prepare documents. He would attend meetings with senior staff who did all of the talking. He had no decision making authority.
The problem is that his resume is just too thin for the job he is seeking.
While I think Buttigieg is very talented, let him become a congressman or governor for a few years and demonstrate a statewide or federal leadership role before running again for president.
2
Buttigieg seems to be an honest, honorable person. He's not claiming that an IRS audit is preventing him from releasing the information, at least.
3
There's an easy solution. Adam Schiff, or the AGs in NY or California, can simply subpoena McKinsey's records on Buttigieg's personnel file, his salary and bonuses, and the matters on which he worked. I'm sure Schiff et al can find a sympathetic state or federal judge to enforce the subpoena.
1
Why would Rep. Schiff or any state AG go out of their way to interfere in an election?
Ulysses: and do the same for that Biden kid.
1
@Sam Aren't they currently trying to interfere with two elections: Trump's 2016 win and his run in 2020?
Exemplary editorial. Concise, enough background, parries the sidestepping, ends with the salient question simply put: What did he do?
2
I find this article so overblown i almost am speechless. We are talking about a first job out of college!
14
My worry is that he rides this out, gets nominated, and then the Republicans do some extensive digging and find something damaging. This is why Mr. Buttigieg, and all the other candidates, must be completely transparent now.
2
This is literally the last thing I’m concerned about in this election. Last. Thanks for letting me know actually what I care least about.
10
WOW...just WOW. Finally a candidate who understands how the law actually works and we are going to beat him over the head to insist he break the law to satisfy your curiosity. Isn't that why we are where we are today? Candidate 1 has broken the law over and over and now we want to repeat that cycle? Yes I would like to know what Mr. Mayor Pete did for McKinsey but not at the risk of repeating behaviors that got us into this mess in the first place.
13
As a consultant who used to work for McKinsey's #1 competitor, I can tell you this is so unimportant in Buttigieg's background. It would have been good experience in the world of business, but coming just out of college he would have had no influence in which clients and projects he worked on. He would have been working on engagements and gaining experience in business, but I think its an enormous stretch to think he was involved in something shady. I think with recent articles about McKinsey The Times is make news where there is nothing there.
20
I get the impression that only the Editorial Board and I have read about the activities of McKinsey in Africa and elsewhere. It's not a pretty picture. The notion, espoused by many commenters, that Mayor Pete did nothing but tend the coffee pot for three years is silly. If Pete wasn't carrying his own weight after 6 months to a year, he would have been "let go."
His unwillingness to give any information suggests there's a reason.
3
WOW...just WOW. Finally a candidate who understands how the law actually works and we are going to beat him over the head to insist he break the law to satisfy your curiosity. Isn't that why we are where we are today? Candidate 1 has broken the law over and over and now we want to repeat that cycle? Yes I would like to know what Mr. Mayor Pete did for McKinsey but not at the risk of repeating behaviors that got us into this mess in the first place.
5
WOW...just WOW. Finally a candidate who understands how the law actually works and we are going to beat him over the head to insist he break the law to satisfy your curiosity. Isn't that why we are where we are today? Candidate 1 has broken the law over and over and now we want to repeat that cycle? Yes I would like to know what Mr. Mayor Pete did for McKinsey but not at the risk of repeating behaviors that got us into this mess in the first place.
6
This is such a non-story. There is a huge difference between Trump’s lack of transparency and Pete’s failure to break an NDA. I’m surprised this is the most important issue the editorial board wanted to write about today.
Progressives are frustrated with Pete for other reasons, but this is just shooting ourselves in the foot.
15
This is an unreasonable demand. Pete signed an NDA. What is he supposed to do? If anything, McKinsey should be held accountable for not allowing him to be honest about the (probably minimal, given that he was just out of college) work that he did there. Pete has done everything he can do in this situation. There isn’t a story here.
9
Why is the Editorial Board wasting time and space on this? He was an entry-level consultant at a prestigious firm, given assignments on which to use his smarts, analytical skills, strategic thinking skills, and work very long hours. Why are you trying to equate his NDA on clients with Trump not releasing a single tax record? One doesn't matter and the other hides corruption and potential links to foreign governments with whom he has done business. Leave Mayor Pete alone on this. It is NOT news.
18
Because this is exactly the sort of thing an Editorial Board should focus on.
McKinsey is bad news. Its clients are horrid governments like Turkey, big corporations trying to maximize shareholder value and minimize everything for everyone else.
It was run successfully by Rajat Gupta (HBS of course) who just got out of jail. He was not jail because he read and followed Spinoza’s Ethics.
2
There is a line, a ledge, here that Pete needs to cross, just as every candidate has had to and should have to before America risks our trust.
2
Releasing your own health records and violating a valid NDA with a former employer are not the same thing. The first is a choice. The second is breaking a contract. As much as I hate McKinsey and wish they were out of business, if Mayor Pete has a valid NDA with the firm that they won't release him from, it would wrong of him to breach it. If he DID breach it, that would be the story. As it is, there's no story here.
7
I have worked in consulting for 20 years, and don't understand Pete's problem. He doesn't need to disclose the name of his clients to tell us the type of work he dd or which practice he was a part of. If he were preparing a resume for job with a new consulting firm, he would do just that. What's the big deal, Pete?
Why are we willing to grade some candidates on a very generous curve while we hold others' feet to the fire on every aspect of their backgrounds and proposals?
4
Disagree. A consulting firm will have some clients who do things you like, some things you don't like. Consulting firms aren't paid to make moral judgments, and Buttigieg worked for them right out of college, so he was certainly not deciding which clients to work for anyway. It says more about him that he left and went into the public sector.
20
I wish this level of suspicion had been directed at Trump four years ago---a person who actually committed criminal acts, was an admitted molester, and a "highly successful" businessman who filed for bankruptcy multiple times.
13
@SLB
Was this paper not suspicious of Trump?
What is an NDA anyway but a way for a corporation, or in Trump's case a con man, to try and keep something illegal or that they are ashamed of, quiet? Employees have to choose between possibly doing something wrong and not being able to talk about it, or not getting a job at all. As more and more companies use them the choice of not taking the job on principle becomes more difficult. An NDA is a way to manipulate people, nothing else. They should be illegal.
3
Is that the same as the untenable wholesale obstruction of everything coming from Trump from the very first day he declared his candidacy?
2
Times is dead wrong. When you are at a company esp consulting company you get involved in many projects and do what the client wants (of course with in legal bounds). Who are the clients do not matter... I can imagine both sides of the aisle including this paper using the client information in a wrong way. Focus your energies in analyzing his policy positions which do require some more depth.
7
Wrong. This is why Democrats lose. Because they believe they are bound by rules that Republicans don't trouble themselves with. The Democrat candidate does not need to release any more information than the Republican candidate does. Stop playing by the old rules and learn how to navigate the new ones. Or lose again.
19
I believe that's called a "race to the bottom".
The problem isn't Pete. The problem is the proliferation of NDAs. They are so common now that almost no one is able to talk about any involvement of a legal, business and in some cases even a personal nature, they ever had with anybody else. It's getting to the point that they need to be regulated, at least completely disallowed in a governmental context (no one in government should be required to sign an NDA with an elected official). Unfettered capitalism - and NDAs are part of that - is killing us.
15
I don’t understand the defensive tone of some of the comments. Pete can’t have it both ways. He can’t brag about his experience in the private sector and then refuse to give any details about what he did and who his clients were. His excuse is that a non-disclosure agreement seals his lips, Then.he should probably withdraw his candidacy. A private company’s policies should not be allowed to outweigh the public’s right to know who the candidates are and what their experience was. He made a decision in life. It may well reflect on the decisions he will make as President. He simply can’t be allowed not to answer the tough questions.
8
@Edward Would you ask a doctor running on their medical experience to violate HIPPA and disclose the details of their cases? At some point there needs to be respect for the right to privacy. And honestly if you are making a voting decision based on someone's job from age 23-26, I would respectfully suggest that you adjust your criteria. These attacks on mayor Pete seem in bad faith and not focused on transparency, but rather trying to find a gotcha
8
@Edward A decision fresh of college to take a good-paying job for three years should mean that he is now unqualified to run for president? Really??
He can't say ANYTHING? Surely he could discuss the nature of his assignments without naming client names or vice versa.
9
No, he can’t. NDA’s are usually very broad and air tight. Buttegieg should not be castigated because he is bound by an NDA that he had to sign as a junior employee in his first job.