Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)

Especially given that various journalists' records were spied on by HP, the story looks unlikely to die any time soon.

That leaves HP's fudged response to the crisis, which gives Mr. Hurd the chairmanship starting in January 2007, looking increasingly misjudged. Investors want him to run the business. HP's board should have tried to ring-fence him as far as possible from the boardroom shenanigans and brought in a heavy-hitting, external chairman—untainted by the problems—to restore order.

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Instead, they now face the threat of him taking over as chairman with the scandal still rumbling—and soaking up a lot of his time. Even worse, there is the outside possibility that the ongoing investigations recast him as the blundering Hurd and threaten his ability to continue running the company effectively. Shareholders are right to be nervous. (End of text based on The Financial Times article.)

The primary purpose of our Chairman and Board of Directors is to protect shareholders' interests by providing independent oversight of management, including our Chief Executive Officer. Separating the roles of Chairman and CEO can promote greater management accountability to shareholders and lead to a more objective evaluation of our CEO.