Ed Mueller, CEO of Qwest Communications, won the 2007 award for "the worst footnote of the year" in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The head of the traditional phone company that serves Arizona won the questionable honor from nearly 60 percent of about 600 readers of the website footnote.org.

The footnote, filed in September, noted Mueller’s employment agreement was amended to allow his wife and stepdaughter to use Qwest’s corporate jet, a Falcon 2000, to travel between the company’s headquarters in Denver and her high school in California.

Michelle Leder, who specializes in writing about corporate governance issues, said that based on normal charter rates for such a jet, the perk could cost as much as $600,000 a year. Leder noted that coincidentally - "or perhaps not" - Qwest’s stock is down almost 30 percent since Mueller’s employment agreement was amended.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the subprime mortgage collapse was part of the No. 2 worst footnote for 2007. Countrywide Financial gave its second highest ranking executive, chief operating officer David Sambol, a bunch of perks, including a personal country club membership and a $2.62 million "promotional bonus."