When the FBI raided the homes of Harriet Walters and her accomplices, they found extravagant goodies that might have put a blush on Paris Hilton’s cheeks.

There were more than 100 handbags by Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Chanel.

There were 76 pairs of shoes by designers such as Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik and Ferragamo, according to affidavits filed by the FBI in our burgeoning tax scam.

No one has been convicted, and we don’t know exactly who was involved in the scam or how bureaucrats in the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue were able to siphon off tens of millions of dollars in the past decade, but we do know one thing: These women knew how to steal and shop.

This story continues below
Advertisement

Are we surprised?

We witnessed a similar orgy of corruption by women in high places a few years ago.

How can we forget Barbara Bullock, president of the Washington Teachers Union, who ripped off an estimated $5 million in dues?

Just as the feds were taking an inventory of items in our current tax scam — Walters and crew dropped $1.4 million at Neiman Marcus — some goodies from Bullock’s union scam were going on sale to raise funds for the union.

Bullock fancied Tiffany’s, where she used union dues to buy a 288-piece sterling silver flatware set, valued at $100,000.

When Bullock was testifying in court, the judge asked whether she liked to shop.

“No, that’s not fair,” she answered. “I love to shop.”

The Walters and Bullock corruption cases raise a more serious set of questions:

» Why are women the masterminds of the two most high-profile, high-dollar corruption cases in D.C. history? Men were reduced to clerks in their schemes.

» Why are we so shocked at their particular practice of conspicuous consumption?

The World Bank has produced a few studies concluding that women are less corrupt than men. Women are “less likely to sacrifice the common good for personal gain,” one study says. Baloney, American University professor Rita Simon says.

“Women are no more honest, decent or moral than men,” she tells me. “In the past there were fewer cases of corruption by women because there were fewer opportunities. Now, more women have entered the work force. They have the opportunity, the training and the skill to embezzle.”

Half of all cases of embezzlement in 2001 were by women, Simon says.

As for our ridiculing women for buying high heels, rather than playing Robin Hood with the dough, George Washington University professor Fran Buntman prefers to level the field. “Male criminals use their ill-gotten gains for the same kind of conspicuous consumption,” she says. “Enron’s Ken Lay bought cars and clothes and houses.

“When men engage in yucky behavior,” she says, “we’re less horrified.”

True enough. Men are supposed to be brutes and can’t be trusted; women, especially as public officials, should be more nurturing and trustworthy.

Another myth bites the dust.

Harry Jaffe has been covering the Washington area since 1985. E-mail him at hjaffe@washingtonian.com.