The Raytheon board of directors’ decision to dock nearly $1 mm of Chief Executive William Swanson’s mammoth 2006 compensation package is a joke, nothing more than a symbolic slap on the wrist.

Swanson, who overtly plagiarized multiple sources to "write" a management guidebook, should have been fired. Period.

Whenever a CEO’s behavior pre-empts the day-to-day business operations of his or her organization, it’s time for that individual to pack up his or her tent and head home. I don’t know who to be more angry with: the board for not living up to its fiduciary responsibility, the CEO for not owning up to his obvious thievery and resigning, or Raytheon spokesperson, Pamela A. Wickham, for issuing bland and bogus statement after bland and bogus statement in support of her boss.

This scandal is so wrong from so many standpoints, I just don’t know where to begin. The bottom line, though, for all concerned should be Swanson’s credibility. It’s been shot to hell. If he’s lied about his "unwritten management rules" book, what else has he lied about?

For the sake of customers, employees, the Street and every other constituent audience, the board should step in and can this guy ASAP. And if, for whatever reason, the Raytheon board needs to cite a precedent to support its difficult decision, it need look no further than Radio Shack. Those board members immediately deep-sixed their lying CEO for inventing a college degree.

Let’s dump these bogus CEOs and find people who don’t make up college pedigrees or rip off other authors to write a book. America needs leaders right now. Swanson and his ilk are the just the latest incarnation of Messrs. Ebbers, Lay and Skillings. We need honest, competent CEOs to lead Corporate America. I’m sure they’re out there, but they sure seem to be harder and harder to find.