NATIONWIDE : United Way Leader Gets $292,500 Gift

The outgoing president of the United Way will receive a parting gift of $292,500--the equivalent of 18 months’ pay--from board members who say they appreciate her efforts to lift the charity out of the controversy created by her predecessor. Elaine L. Chao, 42, the wife of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), is receiving the cash from “between six and eight” board members, not from the charity, said member Paula Harper Bethea, one of those contributing. In 1992, when Chao took over, the charity was reeling from revelations about the free-spending habits of its ex-president, William Aramony, who was convicted of defrauding the charity of $1 million.