NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Hey Harvey...pardon my bluntness but...are you stupid?

I don't mean to be insulting, Mr. Pitt. Honest. But geez louise, guy.

You did read the New York Times story Thursday, right? The one that says William Webster, before his appointment as head of the new accounting oversight board, warned you that he had a little corporate governance problem in his past?

Right, that story. Which also says you didn't pass on the information to your fellow commissioners before they voted on the appointment. Apparently you didn't pass on the info to the White House either. (Psst, I've always found it good practice to keep the boss informed about any debatable calls. Just a suggestion.)

Now, if you are taking the stance that Webster's past snafu is small potatoes, I might agree. Sure, he was head of the audit committee at U.S. Technologies, a small Internet equipment company that has fallen on hard times. And in the summer of 2001 that committee -- with Webster at the helm -- fired the company's auditor.

The press -- led by the more-liberal-than-not Times -- is spinning that firing as the result of the auditor being critical of the company's financial control system. But I, no doubt like you, Mr. Pitt, focus on Webster's indication that there was a billing dispute with the auditor at the time. Let's see, would an auditor disgruntled about its pay say something negative about a company's accounting department? Hmmmm...

Well, anyway, I can see how you might dismiss it. And shareholder lawsuits, like the one that followed, are common enough. And Webster's apparent failure to take extensive action on the auditor's criticism? Well, I might dismiss that too. After all, U.S. Technologies did hire a new CFO soon thereafter. And laissez-faire directors were still in vogue at that time. Enron hadn't imploded yet.

But in the here and now, it has. And so has WorldCom. And Tyco. And others (yes, my corporate sugar daddy AOL Time Warner too) are dipping toes in the corporate oversight screw-up waters too.

And as it all unfolds you've received no end of political grief. Democrats, looking to tight mid-term elections next week, have pointed to your past work as an attorney for various accounting firms and tried to portray you as reluctant to thoroughly spank corporate bad guys.

More gore? Click me

Unfortunately, the argument that disciplining an industry and destroying one are two different things doesn't impress some of your critics. They were calling for your head until the Administration -- half-heartedly -- signed onto the Democratic version of the accounting industry overhaul bill, the legislation that created the accounting review board.

To top things off, the Dems tried to squeeze you -- through news leaks and whatnot, to put John Biggs, the squeaky clean, tough-on-auditors chief of pension administrator TIAA-CREF, in as the board's head. Talk about awkward...but is there an easy way to introduce Attila the Hun to the local peasants?

So you go with Webster, who everyone agrees is full of integrity. Maybe a little passive, but full of integrity.

But Harvey, c'mon. Given the past criticism, the looming elections, and the spotlight on the SEC these days, don't you think it would have been wise to alert your fellow commission members -- some of whom were already grousing about being out of the appointment loop -- about Webster's U.S. Technologies situation?

Now you have Democrats calling for your blood again. And you've given them a potent weapon days before voters go to the polls.

Mr. Pitt, I've never met you personally. But I've watched you a lot over the years. While you're a little high-handed, I believe you're a pretty smart guy. Maybe you were at the movies just before Webster told you his problem and you didn't pay close enough attention.

What'd you see? "Jackass"?  

Allen Wastler is Managing Editor of CNN/Money and a commentator on CNNfn. He can be e-mailed here.