At a brief 10-minute press conference Monday afternoon at Goodwill’s nearly-empty warehouse, CEO Keiko Nakamura told the media she was “thinking about” the 430 employees who suddenly found themselves out of work due to an apparent cash flow crisis.

“I’m doing everything I can to bring clarity to this situation as soon as possible... I humbly ask for your patience during this tremendously difficult time,” she said, her eyes welling up with crocodile tears.

I say crocodile tears because almost five years ago to the day, I saw the same pathetic performance from the same woman who refused to concede that she — as CEO, making upwards of $220,000 — had anything to do with the spending abuses at Toronto Community Housing Corp. (TCHC) which were so ably revealed in a scathing report from then Auditor-General Jeff Griffiths — even though she was part of the executive team when the abuses occurred.

At the time, she insisted she conducted herself “with complete integrity” and refused to resign, until forced out the door, to the self-righteous howls of indignation from leftist councillors, like Pam McConnell.

Nakamura walked out the door with a scandalous $320,000 severance package, revealed to me a year later by an incensed TCHC insider.

As often happens in the poverty industry — which tends to recycle the same questionably competent people for six-figure jobs — she landed on her feet a year later at Goodwill Industries, making virtually the same six-figure salary. She promptly seconded David Chu, son of Gordon Chu (who left TCHC just before the A-G’s report under heavy criticism for sole source deal from China) to work with her as vice-president of business services. Chu made $137,532 in 2014.

So pardon me if I suggest Nakamura is a classic case of failing upwards, considering that only the 16 Goodwill stores, 10 donation centres and two offices managed by her — and not any other operations in Ontario or beyond — find themselves closed due to what she characterized as a business model with “low margins and increasing competition” in the retail space.

She also mentioned that their occupancy costs are higher than what Goodwill operations pay in areas not under her control.

Never mind that all the product sold is donated, salary costs accounted for twice the occupancy costs and her operations got more than $4-million in government funding in 2014.

History has indeed repeated itself with Nakamura.

For one thing, like with TCHC, she has refused to resign, telling me when I asked that the board has given her “clear instructions” to “move forward” and she has a duty as CEO to do everything she can. When I suggested the board had resigned and weren’t in a position to run the show, she insisted they met and gave her “clear instructions ... on an intensive work plan.”

For someone who talked about “clarity,” she also refused to say whether she continues to collect her salary even though all other staff salaries were suspended as of last Saturday and severance payments are up in the air.

She did say Goodwill’s cash problems did not crop up Sunday and it had come to a point where they realized they couldn’t cover their costs that easily. But before she could offer any further explanation, she was shooed away by a consultant from Brown&Cohen Communications, a firm run by well-known Liberal Howard Cohen.

I did not get an answer, either, to my question on how much Brown&Cohen is being paid to stage manage Nakamura.

About Nakamura:

Years at TCHC: Five

Axed as TCHC CEO: March, 2011

Salary in 2010 as CEO: $220,500 (25% increase)

Severance given by TCHC after she was axed: $320,000 (included her bonus for 2011 and

Hired as CEO of Goodwill Industries for Toronto, Eastern, Central and Northern Ontario: Spring of 2012

an education allowance)

Salary in 2012: $217,348

Salary in 2014: $230,538 (a 6% increase despite cash flow issues)

sue-ann.levy@sunmedia.ca