Was Mark Hurd ouster an over-reaction?

Hard of know since we still don't have the full story of his relationship with actress/reality show contestant/Congressional staffer/marketing consultant/real estate executive Jodie Fisher. Nor is there much clarity about the circumstances in which the ex-CEO of H-P falsified expense accounts. Corporate governance advocate Nell Minow isn't sympathetic. From the Corporate Library:

In the post-Enron, post-meltdown world, the government is not impressed with color brochures and fat books of guidelines. They insist on seeing how violators are treated. And if a middle manager would be fired for fiddling with his reimbursements, then the guy who's been paid more than $100 million has to be fired, too. Beyond that is the actual (not just apparent) tone at the top, which is the board's responsibility. They cannot keep in place an executive who has demonstrated such a failure of judgment and responsibility. They cannot keep in place an executive they cannot trust.

Many people are objecting to Hurd's severance package, which may be worth as much as $50 million. This is indeed appalling. While most CEO contracts exempt poor performance as a reason for "termination for cause," there is no reason to permit a departure following an ethics violation to be characterized as a resignation - when the result is a $50 million payout that would otherwise stay in the corporate bank account.
Hurd's contract makes it clear that he is an "at-will" employee who can be terminated at any time. It describes the consequences of termination for cause (eliminating most severance payments) without defining it. There is nothing to prevent the board from sending Hurd a letter telling him he has been fired and then stopping payment on all those severance checks.