Ed Hall loses another client
By Alan Gardner
December 2, 2008
Ed Hall, who I reported last week as losing one of his client newspapers due to a cartoon that criticized the local school district, has lost St. Augustine Record permanently as a client (before the relationship was “temporarily” suspended). Ed reports on his blog that the paper ran a semi-apologetic letter to sooth the locals as well as a letter that condemned the cartoon as offensive.
Ed sums up the insanity of the situation.
At the same time, this weekend, a local online publication wrote a short column praising my work, and asking why I should be let go for doing my job. The irony here of course is that I’m not even a staffer at this paper. I provide them with INEXPENSIVE, quality local commentary that they can’t get from any syndicate.
In other Ed Hall news, he’s lost another paper - The Times Union due to budget cuts. Regarding this he writes,
This is as bad as I’ve ever seen things, and I know it’s not easy for my editors. They have to let go photographers, reporters, cartoonists, et al. My question is, who’s gonna put the paper together when everybody is gone? The janitor? The editor? Alone? There’s no one left. But they all say they’re going to do what they have to to keep the papers published.
Tools
Link to this story The URL for this story is: Select URL
Print This Post
Email This Post
Related Stories
Ed Hall loses freelance client after controversial cartoon
Latest In Focus article is posted; read about Ed Hall’s new book
Boondock loses two-thirds of client list during hiatus
If Italy loses match, cartoonist loses job!
Book Review: “Diversions” by Ed Hall
Ed Hall joins blogosphere
Is Aaron McGruder AWOL?
Paul Fell, Bob Hall speak at drawing workshop
Moustache to star in cartoon series
Johnston inducted into Doug Wright Hall of Fame
Community Comments
#1 Paul Fell
December/2/2008 @ 11:57 am
I was joking with a journalist friend about the continuing cutbacks in newspaper staff and observed that the bean counters who run newspapers these days won’t be happy until the entire staff consisted of 1 editor and 1 other guy who takes pictures.
My friend said that arrangement would only last until management figured out how to teach that editor to take pictures.
Its a pretty sad scene at most newspapers these days. Those who have survived the cutbacks thus far are now expected to assume the workload of those who have been let go.
#2 Turbulent Ted Dawson
December/2/2008 @ 8:57 pm
In order for media conglomerates to stop firing editorial cartoonists, there has to be a repercussion of some sort. When they think about letting a staff editorial cartoonist go, there has to be something that makes them pause for a moment, because they know X could happen. There is no X.
What X could be?
#3 Bill Hinds
December/2/2008 @ 11:05 pm
Do the corporations make the decision to layoff the editorial cartoonists, or do they make a decision to cut staff, and let the editors work it out how they want? They can cut the staff cartoonist job and still have plenty of editorial cartoons in the paper.
This is an area, like the lineup of comic strips, where the lack of newspaper competition in a town has affected the makeup of the paper. If one paper had an editorial cartoonist, the other paper, or papers, wanted one.
I think a popular motivation to hire an editorial cartoonist on the staff these days, is to try to win a Pulitzer prize for the paper.
I think Turbulent Ted may have it backward. X won’t happen if they don’t run local cartoons, but X (a different X) could happen if they DO run local cartoons. The truth is, people are pretty clueless about the politics in their own community. It’s easier to get a point across with a cartoon than it is with a series of articles.
I think a high profile award for local editorial cartooning might help. Maybe the Fischetti Award would fit that bill.
#4 Mike Peterson
December/3/2008 @ 5:10 am
The lack of cross-town competition is at the heart of the decline of editorial cartooning, as well as the issues on the comics page. It’s not even the arrogance of a monopoly — it’s not “So what if we have Ann Landers instead of Dear Abby? We’re the only paper in town!”
The days of slugging it out are so far behind us that today’s editors have no sense of that competition. The few places that have two papers are, for the most part, either locked in JOAs or so massive that they don’t really feel the competitive urge. And Boston and Washington aren’t competitive — they’re runaways.
Chuck Asay was a tremendous asset for the Colorado Springs Sun in the late 70s and early 80s, not just for his local cartoons but for the other illustrations he provided throughout the paper. Plus he was always willing to go to public events and sketch for people. He really branded the Sun. Which failed anyway, but that’s life — I think Chuck remained their greatest asset right to the end. Like the Boston Herald or the Washington Times, the Sun just never achieved traction against the Big Established Paper in town.
And that’s the problem — even with an asset like Chuck, the competitive advantage doesn’t kick in if you’re down by a 3-to-1 margin. Until you’re really toe-to-toe, there aren’t a lot of individual things you can do to shift the basic inequalities, which is what advertisers look at. (I’m not saying you shouldn’t try. Just stating how it works.)
#5 Ed Hall
December/3/2008 @ 7:46 am
This is all a mute point when they’re not just getting rid of the cartoonists, but the photographers, columnists, receptionists, et al. I was released with a photographer in one of these instances,and a columnist in another; and I asked the editor, point blank “who is going to put this thing together now?” And he said, quote, “I’ve kept our star reporter, we’ll manage; but we’re counting every penny that goes out the door.” Looks like advertising might be drying up now as well. And, that’ll kill it for sure.
I didn’t think that this would hapen so suddenly at the local level, but it has. Having been in the trenches of local editooning for 17 years, I’ve never seen things this bad.
#6 Turbulent Ted Dawson
December/3/2008 @ 9:13 am
Excellent points, Bill.
I would disagree about cartoons on local issues making a difference in saving one’s job, though. It’s almost like laying off editorial cartoonists is the trendy thing, and publishers get together and say, “Hey, dude, you fire your cartoonist yet? Everybody’s doing it!”
By X, I had in mind not repercussions from readers and the like, but something like an angry mob of united editorial cartoonists who go on Good Morning America… or by now there would probably be a bigger mob of laid-off editorial cartoonists. What about people who have professed themselves leaders of the group? There doesn’t seem to be much leadership.
In my view, this is a crisis situation. It’s not like we are wondering IF any more editorial cartoonists will lose their jobs, but WHEN… and how long till there are ONLY syndicated cartoonists? It seems like a time to take drastic measures.
What would the cartoonists who have been let go in the past two years have done, if they had known for sure? That’s what everybody who is currently an editorial cartoonist should do, as it seems likely another dozen or more will be gone soon.
All this carnage without a fight. I don’t understand it.
#7 Bill Hinds
December/3/2008 @ 9:46 am
I disagree. My points weren’t excellent–average, really. I will, however, stand by them.
I see no point in a cartoonist in a mid-size city newspaper, even some large city papers, making a comment about national politics unless it relates to that city somehow. An example of why can be seen at Daryl Cagle’s web site where he posts themes with the takes of editorial cartoonists from around the country. Sure, some are clever, but many are redundant. I doubt if the reader cares where the cartoonist lives who is making comments about national news and politics. Also, it’s easy to make comments about national politics. Local politics requires doing homework.
But I would like to watch that episode of Good Morning America. It has a sort of Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney, “Let’s put a on show in the barn, and raise the money to get our parents out of jail!” feel to it. Those were innocent times. Putting on a show in the barn sounds completely different today. Sigh
#8 Telegenic Ted Dawson
December/3/2008 @ 10:39 am
There was actually an editorial cartoonist who got in trouble for “putting on a show in the barn,” but we should let bygones be bygones…
For me, one of the things that is frustrating about the cartooning fields is that logic doesn’t apply much anymore. I would think that concentrating on local issues would be an important way to secure one’s job. Yet we’ve seen cartoonists who do just that, and they get fired just the same. The layoffs don’t have anything to do with job performance.
We all wonder if the specific decision is coming from corporate or the local editor. That bit of information seems paramount to dealing with this situation. Somebody should have figured that out by now.
Even newspaper carriers represent themselves better than cartoonists. Editorial cartoonists are generally very intelligent and creative people. They have strong opinions and stand behind their beliefs and their cartoons. But as long as I’ve been a cartoonist, I’ve never seen cartoonists pull together on any issue. The only thing that comes to mind at all, is Neal Adams standing up for poverty-stricken Seigel and Schuster, but that was mostly Adams and not the community of cartoonists.
Several years ago the NCS came up with the lovely idea of establishing Cartoonist Appreciation Day. That quickly bombed. But comic book cartoonists took it and turned it into something positive: Free Comic Book Day, which has been a very effective and expanding promotion. I think there’s something to learn from things like this.
#9 Bill Hinds
December/3/2008 @ 11:02 am
“Logic doesn’t apply much anymore.” That pretty much says it for everything in the world these days.
#10 Ed Hall
December/3/2008 @ 11:04 am
From my last post, I meant to say “moot” point (damn you spell checker!) But, since I’m here, I’ll also mention that regardless of everything else, when advertising revenue starts dropping, due to a soured economy, the axe is gonna swing on local papers. It’s inevitable and because we’ve got people with little or no experience making these decisions, it’s indiscriminate.
As for cartoonists putting up a fight - there’s no one left to fight. In one of these cases an editor was let go with me, and the paper was absorbed by another periodical. Who am I gonna complain to when the paper goes away? This thing is drying up before our eyes (and it’s in slow motion - which makes it worse).
#11 Ted "Diphthong" Dawson
December/3/2008 @ 11:14 am
We could sure use more Mute points around here! :^)
Ed, it seems to me the fight needs to take place on the corporate level, with the handful of companies that together own hundreds of periodicals. The scenario is different with different papers, to be sure. Some are actually hurting financially; some are independently owned and value cartoonists (like the Tulsa World); but many are owned by media conglomerates who can and do affect the entire newspaper industry.
#12 Ed Hall
December/3/2008 @ 11:20 am
TDD wrote: “but many are owned by media conglomerates who can and do affect the entire newspaper industry.”
You think you’re gonna fight those guys, I’ve got some property to sell you. The days of The Hearsts are loooong gone. We’ve got to stop thinking like they’re here or that they are going to come back. The paradigm was changed completely with rise of the internet.
#13 Bill Hinds
December/3/2008 @ 11:54 am
Here’s a thought. Regional self-syndication. If an editorial cartoonist could resist showing how perceptive he is about national politics, and try to sell regional cartoons to a number of newspapers, they might buy them. Just because they can’t afford a staff cartoonist doesn’t mean they don’t want to run cartoons. And I think cartoons with a regional (state or multi-state depending on the size) focus would be attractive to an editor. I don’t think it would take long to figure out it wasn’t working.
And I honestly don’t think cartoonists would be hired because they went on TV and complained.
#14 Tongue-tied Ted Dawson
December/3/2008 @ 11:59 am
That’s the spirit!!
#15 Paul Fell
December/3/2008 @ 1:27 pm
Bill:
The idea of a cartoonist self-syndicating local/regional cartoons has been tried before, and indeed, some are doing this as we speak. However, if you think you’re going to make a living at it, think again. When I self-syndicated, I decided to peddle my cartoons on Nebraska subjects to papers around the state. I charged them $25 per month, regardless of circulation size and they received 3 cartoons each week.
Our state has something like 125 papers if you count all the weeklies, bi-weeklies, and dailies. The most I ever had was about 20 client papers, and that didn’t last more than a couple of years. Even $25 per month was way more than many of these guys were willing to spend for editorial cartoons. Many of the smaller papers don’t even bother to have an editorial page. Peddling the cartoons on a per-use basis just wasn’t worth the time and effort. I finally gave up and went on to other things that paid better.
#16 Bill Hinds
December/3/2008 @ 1:38 pm
Paul, I appreciate your experience, but when you were doing that had so many cartoonist jobs been eliminated? Maybe there are more potential clients now.
I’m glad you’ve found things that paid better.
#17 Ed Hall
December/3/2008 @ 2:02 pm
Bill wrote: “Maybe there are more potential clients now.”
There are less. And it’s shrinking as we speak. I can attest to this. I’m currently trying to fill the holes that were just opened up in my little self-syndicate, and there’s just nothing there. No budget, no money - anywhere.
BTW, I was making substantially more than $25 per toon. Paul, you were giving it away. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why they canned me. DOH!
#18 Telegenic Ted Dawson
December/3/2008 @ 2:28 pm
Bill, my point wasn’t that editorial cartoonists would be hired because they went on TV and complained, but that there are currently NO repurcussions felt by the media conglomerates when they let go editorial cartoonists. I’m saying there is currently no reason for them to have them think twice before axing cartoonists. There needs to be at least some reason, that makes sense to corporate board members, to reconsider firing cartoonists.
I have no idea what would cause them to do so. It could be public attention on national TV. It could be a study conducted by the AAEC showing real effects on newspaper readership by editorial cartoonists. Bags of flaming doggie poop on their porches after each firing. Cartoonists buying up shares of the media conglomerates. Throwing a barbeque for the stockholders and schmoozing them with malt liquor. I don’t know.
I’m sure editorial cartoonists have done many things to try to improve the situation. I just haven’t heard of any of them because I’m not in the loop. All I see is lots of editorial cartoonists being laid off with no end in sight.
#19 Paul Fell
December/3/2008 @ 2:48 pm
Ted, you keep saying that you haven’t heard of editorial cartoonists trying to do anything in the face of continuing job cuts. If you’ve got some great ideas as to what should be done, feel free to share them with the rest of us.
Part of why everyone in journalism, not just cartoonists, feels so powerless to fight these personnel reductions is that newspapers are no longer run by newspapermen. Now they are run by investors and “businessmen”. When they have finally sucked every drop of money from newspapers they will simply discard the husk and move on, as parasites do, to find another victim to feed on.
On a related note, in the online version of Editor and Publisher there’s a story about how it is expected that newspapers will continue to struggle with decreasing ad revenue in 2009 and then in 2010, some cities could start to see daily papers disappear altogether.
Finally, I just heard that longtime Des Moines Register cartoonist Brian Duffy has become the latest to join the ranks of ex-staff cartoonists.
#20 Mike Lester
December/3/2008 @ 2:50 pm
I’m uncomfortable w/ any artificial demand for any service and I can’t think of any occupation where it’s been successful. I’m all ears.
#21 Wiley Miller
December/3/2008 @ 3:41 pm
“Now they are run by investors and “businessmen”. ”
This is the problem in virtually every industry today, including the auto industry being discussed in the other thread. In a bygone era, CEO’s came from within the industry and in many cases had spent 20 or 30 years in the company. They had a vested, personal interest in the company and felt responsibility to the long term health of the company and the welfare of the employees. Not today. There is a detachment by today’s CEO’s who are only interested in garnering as much personal wealth as possible. They have little or no understanding of the industry they’re presiding over, only looking at the bottom line… their bottom line… giving themselves bonuses as the corporation they’re running goes bankrupt. Any wonder why all these industries are going down the tubes?
#22 Ed Hall
December/3/2008 @ 4:02 pm
I think Wiley just defined the apocalypse.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Notice the difference between the St. Augustine Record and Times Union stories on informants on THOMAS GLAIZE MANUEL BRIBERY?
Peter Guinta once again shows his bias by inserting his comments that GEORGE McCLURE is "well-respected" and involved in "charitable activities." So is every other white collar criminal. This was not the first time that GEORGE McCLURE has been the beneficiary of biased coverage from the St. Augustine Record. Was it the first time he ever handed money to a politician? From the way that Commissioners bow and scrape andd allow McCLURE excessive time for his oleaginous clients, allowing him to purport to speak for citizens he doesn't represent, allowing him to put on unsworn testimony since JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. became Mayor of St. Augustine, and habitually allowing him the last word, it seems like GEORGE McCLURE runs the country store we call the City of St. Augustine.
The Florida Times-Union: Witnesses in bribery case ID'd
The Florida Times-Union
December 3, 2008
Witnesses in bribery case ID'd
By PAUL PINKHAM and DEIRDRE CONNER,
The Times-Union
Before St. Johns County Commission Chairman Tom Manuel was indicted on bribery charges, the FBI recorded 42 conversations between him and its informants - a developer and his attorney- a judge was told Tuesday.
--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
Atlantic Beach developer Bruce Robbins and St. Augustine land-use attorney George McClure are the only two witnesses against Manuel, charged in October with accepting bribes of $50,000 in June and $10,000 in April, a prosecutor said.
In between, Manuel and his fellow commissioners voted unanimously to pay Robbins' real estate company $2.15 million for the work it had done on an interchange at Interstate 95 and County Road 210.
The identities of the two previously confidential government witnesses surfaced as Manuel's lawyer argued before a federal magistrate that he wanted transcripts of all 42 conversations recorded by the FBI. Attorney Bill Sheppard said he needs to understand the motives and methods of the informants to defend his client. Both are major players in the St. Johns County real estate arena.
"We were entrapped. This was a setup," Sheppard told U.S. Magistrate Howard Snyder. "Everybody has a price, including a lawyer and his client, and we have a right to know what that price was."
Robbins, a partner with The Falcone Group based in Boca Raton, didn't return calls and e-mails. A message on his cell phone said he was on vacation until January and to call back then. His number was on a list of Manuel's contacts obtained from the county under Florida's public records law.
The Falcone Group was the developer of Twin Creeks, a development of regional impact so large that it carries mandated growth-management measures, including safety improvements to the congested intersection at 210 and I-95.
But as the real estate slump hit, Twin Creeks foundered. So the county decided to complete the intersection project itself and pay the company for the work done so far - including time-consuming studies, materials and other plans - with a 5-0 vote of the commission on April 29.
McClure, Robbins' attorney, told the Times-Union he has been asked to refer all inquiries about his cooperation to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Savell described the informants as "noble citizens" who came forward to help the government prosecute a crime.
But former Commissioner Ben Rich, who frequently voted with Manuel, questioned their motives when contacted by the Times-Union after Tuesday's hearing.
"I know each of these men to have close associations in our county with people that I believe are of low moral strength, poor reputation and questionable ethics," said Rich, who lost his re-election bid this fall. "However, as a retired federal special agent, I know that snitches are not generally recruited from the student body of Notre Dame and Holy Cross."
Manuel, 63, was indicted Oct. 16 on the two bribery counts and was suspended from office by Gov. Charlie Crist the next day. The government has remained secretive about the substance of the case.
Manuel pleaded not guilty and is free on unsecured bail. His trial is scheduled next month, but Sheppard said he plans to ask for a postponement.
Sheppard said he's been overwhelmed by the quantity of electronic surveillance and needs transcripts of the recordings to help him prepare for trial.
But Savell said the government has no obligation to transcribe every conversation. She said the case isn't as complex as Sheppard described.
"Basically, there are two witnesses," Savell said. "There are a number of recordings, and Mr. Sheppard has been given all of them."
paul.pinkham@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4107
deirdre.conner@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4504
This story can be found on Jacksonville.com at http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/120308/met_362917398.shtml.
Manuel informants named
Manuel informants named
Prominent local attorney, Jacksonville developer expected to testify
By PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 12/03/08
JACKSONVILLE -- Two confidential informants who will be expected to testify in the coming bribery trial of former St. Johns County Commission Chairman Tom Manuel were named Tuesday at a hearing in U.S. District Court.
Manuel's defense attorney, William Sheppard of Jacksonville, said in open court that the two informants are attorney George McClure of McClure Bloodworth, St. Augustine, and Atlantic Beach developer Bruce Robbins of Falcon Development Group, Jacksonville.
Neither man could be reached Tuesday for confirmation of that charge, but prosecutors did not challenge Sheppard's statement.
At the hearing, Sheppard said Manuel, 63, was set up. But he left unsaid whether the sting was initiated by the informants or the FBI, and he wondered aloud what McClure and Robbins got out of their informant actions.
"Everybody has a price, including a lawyer and his client," Sheppard said. "We're entitled to know what that price was."
McClure is a well-respected land use attorney in St. Johns County who is active in charitable causes, has represented many developers and is a former board attorney for St. Augustine Airport Authority.
His client, Robbins and the Falcon Group, won approval in 2005 to build the 5,000-home Twin Creeks project on 3,000 acres in St. Johns County, with part of the project spilling over into Duval County. That property was once part of 5,460 acres purchased from the Cummer Land Trust.
To gain approval by the County Commission, the Falcon Group promised to pay for substantial improvements to congested County Road 210 and Interstate 95 before structures were erected. Those improvements were not made because the project began foundering.
Manuel was elected to the County Commission in 2006.
In April 2007, Manuel and fellow commissioners voted 5-0 to purchase documents, permits, plans and engineering studies for $2.15 million that had already been completed by Falcon over the course of a year. Adding in property the county wanted, and the cost rose to $3.5 million, county engineers said Tuesday.
But federal prosecutors say that only weeks before that vote, Manuel had accepted $60,000 -- $10,000 in one case, $50,000 in another -- "to influence county business."
Sheppard said he needs the printed transcripts of all Manuel's recorded conversations. If he doesn't get them, he won't be able to give a proper defense, and the trial might need to be delayed again, he said.
"I don't know how anybody can analyze a year-plus of surveillance without having (the words) in print first," Sheppard said.
Manuel's trial has already been continued once -- from December to January.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard Snyder said, if the trial date must change again, it probably will be set for March.
Sheppard said the FBI began recording Manuel's conversations in April 2007. It was 14 months later, in June 2008, when news leaked that the FBI was investigating his financial dealings.
He pleaded not guilty on Oct. 17 this year and immediately took a leave of absence from his commission post. Later that day, Gov. Charlie Crist suspended him from office.
Manuel has continued to declare his innocence.
Former St. Johns County Commissioner Ben Rich, who encouraged Manuel to run against incumbent Bruce Maguire in District 4 and voted with him on the board to control growth, told the Florida Times-Union that he believes the informants have "low moral strength, poor reputation and questionable ethics. However, as a retired federal agent, I know that snitches are not generally recruited from the student body of Notre Dame and Holy Cross."
County sources said, if Manuel is acquitted, he may be able to collect full back pay and benefits. But if convicted, he could be sentenced to serve up to 20 years in federal prison.
Sheppard said there were 47 taped conversations given to him, but only 14 written transcripts were offered.
"This is the only (federal) district in Florida that doesn't require the government to turn over disclosure materials," he complained to the judge. "(I) was given a stack of compact discs three to four inches high, more than my kids have for their CD players."
Paying to transcribe them all would "bankrupt the defense," he said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie H. Savell said Sheppard has all the evidence she has, but she offered to open her evidence list to Sheppard to let him see first hand that he has everything.
"I'm not hiding anything. I'll provide whatever I have," Savell said. "The FBI transcribed some of (recordings) and parts of others. We're under no obligation to provide transcripts for Mr. Sheppard."
Contributing: Paul Pinkham and Deidre Conner of The Florida Times-Union
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/120308/news_1203_016.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
DOJ PRESS RELEASE: GUILTY PLEA IN INTERNATIONAL MARINE HOSE BID-RIGGING CONSPIRACY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRM
MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2008 (202) 514-2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888
BRITISH MARINE HOSE MANUFACTURER AGREES TO PLEAD GUILTY AND PAY $4.5 MILLION FOR PARTICIPATING IN WORLDWIDE BID-RIGGING CONSPIRACY
WASHINGTON — A British marine hose manufacturer has agreed to plead guilty and pay $4.54 million in criminal fines for participating in a conspiracy to rig bids, fix prices and allocate market shares of marine hose sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today.
A one-count felony charge was filed today in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., against Dunlop Oil & Marine Ltd. (Dunlop), a manufacturer of marine hose located in Grimsby, England. Under the terms of the plea agreement, which is subject to court approval, Dunlop has agreed to pay a criminal fine of $4.54 million and to cooperate fully in the Department’s ongoing antitrust investigation. Dunlop is the second corporation to be charged in the investigation.
“This conspiracy victimized companies involved in the off-shore extraction and transportation of petroleum products and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD),” said Deborah A. Garza, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department’s Antitrust Division. “Ultimately U.S. consumers were left holding the tab. The Antitrust Division will seek stiff penalties for those who participate in price-fixing conspiracies.”
Marine hose is a flexible rubber hose used to transfer oil between tankers and storage facilities. During the conspiracy, the cartel affected prices for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of marine hose and related products worldwide.
Dunlop is charged with participating in the conspiracy from at least as early as 1999 until as late as May 2007. The Department charged that during the conspiracy the defendants and their co-conspirators:
Attended meetings or otherwise engaged in discussions in the United States and elsewhere by telephone, facsimile and electronic mail regarding the sale of marine hose
Agreed during those meetings and discussions to allocate shares of the marine hose market among the conspirators;
Agreed during those meetings and discussions to a price list for marine hose in order to implement and monitor the conspiracy;
Agreed during those meetings and discussions not to compete for one another’s customers either by not submitting prices or bids to certain customers or by submitting intentionally high prices or bids to certain customers;
Submitted bids in accordance with the agreements reached;
Provided information received from customers in the United States and elsewhere about upcoming marine hose jobs to a co-conspirator who was not an employee of any of the marine hose manufacturers, but who served as the coordinator of the conspiracy, acted as a clearinghouse for information to be shared among the conspirators, and was paid by the manufacturers for coordinating the conspiracy;
Received marine hose prices for customers in the United States and elsewhere from the co-conspirator coordinator of the conspiracy;
Sold marine hose to customers in the United States and elsewhere at collusive and noncompetitive prices under the agreements reached;
Accepted payment for marine hose sold in the United States and elsewhere at collusive and noncompetitive prices;
Authorized or consented to the participation of subordinate employees in the conspiracy; and
Concealed the conspiracy and conspiratorial contacts through various means, including code names and private email accounts and telephone numbers.
Dunlop is charged with violating the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum fine of $100 million for corporations. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.
Dunlop executives Bryan Allison and David Brammar pleaded guilty in December 2007 to participating in the marine hose conspiracy. Under the terms of their plea agreements, Allison was sentenced to pay a $100,000 criminal fine and agreed to serve 24 months in prison and Brammar was sentenced to pay a $75,000 criminal fine and agreed to serve 20 months in prison. Another arrested executive, Peter Whittle, a former Dunlop executive and now the sole proprietor of PW Consulting (Oil & Marine) Ltd., pleaded guilty for his leadership role in the conspiracy in December 2007, was sentenced to pay a $100,000 criminal fine and agreed to serve 30 months in prison.
Allison, Brammar and Whittle also were arrested and criminally charged with cartel offenses by U.K. authorities. On Nov. 14, 2008, the U.K. Court of Appeal sentenced Allison to serve 24 months in jail, Brammar to serve 20 months in jail, and Whittle to serve 30 months in jail. The U.S. plea agreements in effect provided for concurrent prison sentences in the United States and in the U.K. Thus, because the U.K. prison sentences either matched or exceeded the sentences recommended in the U.S. plea agreements, the defendants were not required to serve prison sentences in the United States.
In addition, Uwe Bangert, a German national and former executive with Dunlop’s former parent company, Phoenix AG, was indicted on July 19, 2007, for his participation in the marine hose cartel. A trial date has not been set.
Eight foreign executives, including Allison, Brammar and Whittle, were arrested on May 2, 2007, in Houston and San Francisco and charged for their roles in the marine hose cartel, following a cartel meeting in Houston.
Manuli Rubber Industries SpA (Manuli), Robert L. Furness, the former president of Manuli’s former Plantation, Fla.-based subsidiary, and Charles J. Gillespie, a former Manuli regional sales manager have pleaded guilty for their roles in this conspiracy. Under the terms of the plea agreements, which are subject to court approval, Manuli has agreed to pay a criminal fine of $2 million, Furness has agreed to serve 14 months in prison and pay a $75,000 criminal fine, and Gillespie has agreed to serve 12 months and one day in jail and pay a $20,000 criminal fine. Manuli, Furness and Gillespie also have agreed to cooperate fully in the Department’s ongoing antitrust investigation. Francesco Scaglia, the deputy manager of Manuli’s Oil & Marine Division, and Val M. Northcutt, another regional sales manager, were acquitted on Nov. 11, 2008, in the Southern District of Florida after being charged with participating in the conspiracy.
Executives with Trelleborg Industrie S.A.S., Christian Caleca and Jacques Cognard, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from their roles in the conspiracy. In December 2007, each was sentenced to serve 14 months in prison. Caleca was sentenced to pay a $75,000 criminal fine and Cognard was sentenced to pay a $100,000 criminal fine. Caleca and Cognard also have agreed to cooperate fully in the Department’s ongoing antitrust investigation.
Giovanni Scodeggio, an Italian citizen who is the manager of Parker ITR S.r.l.’s Oil & Gas Business Unit, pleaded guilty to a one-count felony charge in U.S. District Court in Houston in August 2008. Scodeggio was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $20,000, to serve six months of house arrest and to cooperate with the Department’s ongoing antitrust investigation.
In May 2007, Misao Hioki, an executive involved in the sale of marine hose for Bridgestone Corporation in Japan, was charged for his involvement in the conspiracy. The charges involving Hioki are pending in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida.
The investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) of the Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Navy Criminal Investigative Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Law enforcement agencies from multiple foreign jurisdictions are investigating or assisting in the ongoing matter.
“Price fixing and bid rigging are serious crimes that drain resources from the Department of Defense and the American taxpayer. The Defense Criminal Investigative Service takes very seriously all violations of U.S. antitrust laws that affect products and services procured for our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. DCIS aggressively investigates those who seek to cheat the DOD and the public by conspiring to suppress competition,” said Sharon Woods, Director, DCIS.
Today’s charge is an example of the Department’s commitment to protect U.S. taxpayers from public procurement fraud through its creation of the National Procurement Fraud Task Force. The National Procurement Fraud Initiative, announced in October 2006, is designed to promote the early detection, identification, prevention and prosecution of procurement fraud associated with the increase in contracting activity for national security and other government programs.
Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or other anticompetitive conduct in the marine hose industry is urged to call the National Criminal Enforcement Section of the Antitrust Division at 202-307-6694, or the Long Beach, Calif., Resident Agency of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service at 562-256-2501.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2008 (202) 514-2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888
BRITISH MARINE HOSE MANUFACTURER AGREES TO PLEAD GUILTY AND PAY $4.5 MILLION FOR PARTICIPATING IN WORLDWIDE BID-RIGGING CONSPIRACY
WASHINGTON — A British marine hose manufacturer has agreed to plead guilty and pay $4.54 million in criminal fines for participating in a conspiracy to rig bids, fix prices and allocate market shares of marine hose sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today.
A one-count felony charge was filed today in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., against Dunlop Oil & Marine Ltd. (Dunlop), a manufacturer of marine hose located in Grimsby, England. Under the terms of the plea agreement, which is subject to court approval, Dunlop has agreed to pay a criminal fine of $4.54 million and to cooperate fully in the Department’s ongoing antitrust investigation. Dunlop is the second corporation to be charged in the investigation.
“This conspiracy victimized companies involved in the off-shore extraction and transportation of petroleum products and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD),” said Deborah A. Garza, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department’s Antitrust Division. “Ultimately U.S. consumers were left holding the tab. The Antitrust Division will seek stiff penalties for those who participate in price-fixing conspiracies.”
Marine hose is a flexible rubber hose used to transfer oil between tankers and storage facilities. During the conspiracy, the cartel affected prices for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of marine hose and related products worldwide.
Dunlop is charged with participating in the conspiracy from at least as early as 1999 until as late as May 2007. The Department charged that during the conspiracy the defendants and their co-conspirators:
Attended meetings or otherwise engaged in discussions in the United States and elsewhere by telephone, facsimile and electronic mail regarding the sale of marine hose
Agreed during those meetings and discussions to allocate shares of the marine hose market among the conspirators;
Agreed during those meetings and discussions to a price list for marine hose in order to implement and monitor the conspiracy;
Agreed during those meetings and discussions not to compete for one another’s customers either by not submitting prices or bids to certain customers or by submitting intentionally high prices or bids to certain customers;
Submitted bids in accordance with the agreements reached;
Provided information received from customers in the United States and elsewhere about upcoming marine hose jobs to a co-conspirator who was not an employee of any of the marine hose manufacturers, but who served as the coordinator of the conspiracy, acted as a clearinghouse for information to be shared among the conspirators, and was paid by the manufacturers for coordinating the conspiracy;
Received marine hose prices for customers in the United States and elsewhere from the co-conspirator coordinator of the conspiracy;
Sold marine hose to customers in the United States and elsewhere at collusive and noncompetitive prices under the agreements reached;
Accepted payment for marine hose sold in the United States and elsewhere at collusive and noncompetitive prices;
Authorized or consented to the participation of subordinate employees in the conspiracy; and
Concealed the conspiracy and conspiratorial contacts through various means, including code names and private email accounts and telephone numbers.
Dunlop is charged with violating the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum fine of $100 million for corporations. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.
Dunlop executives Bryan Allison and David Brammar pleaded guilty in December 2007 to participating in the marine hose conspiracy. Under the terms of their plea agreements, Allison was sentenced to pay a $100,000 criminal fine and agreed to serve 24 months in prison and Brammar was sentenced to pay a $75,000 criminal fine and agreed to serve 20 months in prison. Another arrested executive, Peter Whittle, a former Dunlop executive and now the sole proprietor of PW Consulting (Oil & Marine) Ltd., pleaded guilty for his leadership role in the conspiracy in December 2007, was sentenced to pay a $100,000 criminal fine and agreed to serve 30 months in prison.
Allison, Brammar and Whittle also were arrested and criminally charged with cartel offenses by U.K. authorities. On Nov. 14, 2008, the U.K. Court of Appeal sentenced Allison to serve 24 months in jail, Brammar to serve 20 months in jail, and Whittle to serve 30 months in jail. The U.S. plea agreements in effect provided for concurrent prison sentences in the United States and in the U.K. Thus, because the U.K. prison sentences either matched or exceeded the sentences recommended in the U.S. plea agreements, the defendants were not required to serve prison sentences in the United States.
In addition, Uwe Bangert, a German national and former executive with Dunlop’s former parent company, Phoenix AG, was indicted on July 19, 2007, for his participation in the marine hose cartel. A trial date has not been set.
Eight foreign executives, including Allison, Brammar and Whittle, were arrested on May 2, 2007, in Houston and San Francisco and charged for their roles in the marine hose cartel, following a cartel meeting in Houston.
Manuli Rubber Industries SpA (Manuli), Robert L. Furness, the former president of Manuli’s former Plantation, Fla.-based subsidiary, and Charles J. Gillespie, a former Manuli regional sales manager have pleaded guilty for their roles in this conspiracy. Under the terms of the plea agreements, which are subject to court approval, Manuli has agreed to pay a criminal fine of $2 million, Furness has agreed to serve 14 months in prison and pay a $75,000 criminal fine, and Gillespie has agreed to serve 12 months and one day in jail and pay a $20,000 criminal fine. Manuli, Furness and Gillespie also have agreed to cooperate fully in the Department’s ongoing antitrust investigation. Francesco Scaglia, the deputy manager of Manuli’s Oil & Marine Division, and Val M. Northcutt, another regional sales manager, were acquitted on Nov. 11, 2008, in the Southern District of Florida after being charged with participating in the conspiracy.
Executives with Trelleborg Industrie S.A.S., Christian Caleca and Jacques Cognard, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from their roles in the conspiracy. In December 2007, each was sentenced to serve 14 months in prison. Caleca was sentenced to pay a $75,000 criminal fine and Cognard was sentenced to pay a $100,000 criminal fine. Caleca and Cognard also have agreed to cooperate fully in the Department’s ongoing antitrust investigation.
Giovanni Scodeggio, an Italian citizen who is the manager of Parker ITR S.r.l.’s Oil & Gas Business Unit, pleaded guilty to a one-count felony charge in U.S. District Court in Houston in August 2008. Scodeggio was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $20,000, to serve six months of house arrest and to cooperate with the Department’s ongoing antitrust investigation.
In May 2007, Misao Hioki, an executive involved in the sale of marine hose for Bridgestone Corporation in Japan, was charged for his involvement in the conspiracy. The charges involving Hioki are pending in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida.
The investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) of the Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Navy Criminal Investigative Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Law enforcement agencies from multiple foreign jurisdictions are investigating or assisting in the ongoing matter.
“Price fixing and bid rigging are serious crimes that drain resources from the Department of Defense and the American taxpayer. The Defense Criminal Investigative Service takes very seriously all violations of U.S. antitrust laws that affect products and services procured for our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. DCIS aggressively investigates those who seek to cheat the DOD and the public by conspiring to suppress competition,” said Sharon Woods, Director, DCIS.
Today’s charge is an example of the Department’s commitment to protect U.S. taxpayers from public procurement fraud through its creation of the National Procurement Fraud Task Force. The National Procurement Fraud Initiative, announced in October 2006, is designed to promote the early detection, identification, prevention and prosecution of procurement fraud associated with the increase in contracting activity for national security and other government programs.
Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or other anticompetitive conduct in the marine hose industry is urged to call the National Criminal Enforcement Section of the Antitrust Division at 202-307-6694, or the Long Beach, Calif., Resident Agency of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service at 562-256-2501.
USDOJ Press Release: Bayer Pleads Guilty to Paying Kickbacks to Liberty Medical Supply and other Diabetic Suppliers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2008 (202) 514-2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888
BAYER HEALTHCARE TO PAY U.S. $97.5 MILLION TO SETTLE ALLEGATIONS OF PAYING KICKBACKS TO DIABETIC SUPPLIERS
WASHINGTON - Bayer HealthCare LLC (Bayer) has agreed to pay the United States $97.5 million plus interest to settle allegations that it paid kickbacks to a number of diabetic suppliers and caused those suppliers to submit false claims to Medicare, the Justice Department announced today. The settlement resolves allegations that Bayer engaged in a cash-for-patient scheme through which the company paid 11 diabetic suppliers to convert their patients to Bayer’s products from supplies manufactured by its competitors.
The Tarrytown, N.Y.- based company manufactures diabetic self-testing supplies, including glucose monitors and testing strips. Bayer contracts with direct-to-patient diabetic suppliers who market and sell these products to beneficiaries and submit claims for reimbursement to Medicare.
Between 1998 and 2002, Bayer allegedly paid Liberty Medical Supply Inc., one of the largest direct-to-patient diabetic suppliers, approximately $2.5 million to convert its patients to Bayer supplies. The alleged kickbacks were based on the number of patients that Liberty successfully converted to Bayer supplies and were disguised as payments for advertising. In addition, Bayer allegedly paid kickbacks of approximately $375,000 to 10 other diabetic suppliers to convert patients to Bayer supplies.
“If medical device manufacturers want to serve Medicare beneficiaries they must follow the law,” said Gregory G. Katsas, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division. “Paying healthcare suppliers to place a particular brand of device with Medicare beneficiaries violates the law and will not be tolerated.”
The settlement resolves claims submitted to Medicare by the 11 suppliers for Bayer supplies from 1998 through 2007. Under the terms of the settlement, Bayer agreed to enter into a corporate integrity agreement with the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“Device manufacturers who pay illegal kickbacks should expect to be held accountable,” said Daniel R. Levinson, HHS Inspector General. “OIG's compliance agreement with Bayer includes specific requirements for the board of directors and management that will enable OIG to closely monitor company practices affecting Federal health care programs and beneficiaries.”
The investigation was referred to the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, by the FBI and the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, in West Palm Beach, Fla.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2008 (202) 514-2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888
BAYER HEALTHCARE TO PAY U.S. $97.5 MILLION TO SETTLE ALLEGATIONS OF PAYING KICKBACKS TO DIABETIC SUPPLIERS
WASHINGTON - Bayer HealthCare LLC (Bayer) has agreed to pay the United States $97.5 million plus interest to settle allegations that it paid kickbacks to a number of diabetic suppliers and caused those suppliers to submit false claims to Medicare, the Justice Department announced today. The settlement resolves allegations that Bayer engaged in a cash-for-patient scheme through which the company paid 11 diabetic suppliers to convert their patients to Bayer’s products from supplies manufactured by its competitors.
The Tarrytown, N.Y.- based company manufactures diabetic self-testing supplies, including glucose monitors and testing strips. Bayer contracts with direct-to-patient diabetic suppliers who market and sell these products to beneficiaries and submit claims for reimbursement to Medicare.
Between 1998 and 2002, Bayer allegedly paid Liberty Medical Supply Inc., one of the largest direct-to-patient diabetic suppliers, approximately $2.5 million to convert its patients to Bayer supplies. The alleged kickbacks were based on the number of patients that Liberty successfully converted to Bayer supplies and were disguised as payments for advertising. In addition, Bayer allegedly paid kickbacks of approximately $375,000 to 10 other diabetic suppliers to convert patients to Bayer supplies.
“If medical device manufacturers want to serve Medicare beneficiaries they must follow the law,” said Gregory G. Katsas, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division. “Paying healthcare suppliers to place a particular brand of device with Medicare beneficiaries violates the law and will not be tolerated.”
The settlement resolves claims submitted to Medicare by the 11 suppliers for Bayer supplies from 1998 through 2007. Under the terms of the settlement, Bayer agreed to enter into a corporate integrity agreement with the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“Device manufacturers who pay illegal kickbacks should expect to be held accountable,” said Daniel R. Levinson, HHS Inspector General. “OIG's compliance agreement with Bayer includes specific requirements for the board of directors and management that will enable OIG to closely monitor company practices affecting Federal health care programs and beneficiaries.”
The investigation was referred to the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, by the FBI and the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, in West Palm Beach, Fla.
San Francisco Chronicle: Killed cartoons -- Censorship is a threat not only to speech but to satirical images that sting targets or offend
CATO THE CENSOR (f/k/a Cato the Elder)
Killed cartoons -- Censorship is a threat not only to speech but to satirical images that sting targets or offend
David Wallis
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Adolf Hitler understood the power of cartoons. They made him crazy ... crazier. Long before World War II, David Low of Britain's Evening Standard routinely depicted Hitler as a dolt, which infuriated the thin-skinned fuhrer so much that the Gestapo put the British cartoonist on a hit list.
The CIA also appreciated the huge influence of little drawings. Declassified documents detailing the 1953 U.S. overthrow of Iran's Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq reveal that something called the "CIA Art Group" produced cartoons to turn public opinion against the democratically elected leader.
Meanwhile, over at the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover placed Alfred E. Neuman under surveillance. According to Britain's Independent newspaper, after a 1957 spoof in Mad magazine mocked Hoover, two FBI agents turned up at the magazine's office to "insist that there be no repetition of such misuse of the Director's name." More than a decade later, in the Summer of Love, Hoover proposed commissioning cartoons in a memo titled "Disruption of the New Left."
"Consider the use of cartoons," he wrote. "Ridicule is one of the most potent weapons which we can use."
As Art Buchwald observed, "Dictators of the right and the left fear the political cartoonist more than they do the atomic bomb." The political cartoon acts as a democracy barometer, and when despots rule, cartoonists die. In the 1970s, during Argentina's "Dirty War," Hector Oesterheld enraged leaders of the military junta that ruled his country by depicting them as space aliens. He and his four daughters disappeared in 1976.
In 1987, unknown assailants murdered Palestinian cartoonist Naji Salim al-Ali on the streets of London. As a kind of tribute to al-Ali, both Yasser Arafat and Israel's Mossad are suspected of ordering the hit. More recently, the Danish cartoonists who created the infamous Muhammad cartoons in 2005 were forced into hiding because of death threats from the likes of Osama bin Laden. Incidents of cartoonists being intimidated, imprisoned and exiled are too numerous to mention.
In America, cartoonists don't face banishment, jail cells or assassinations. Suffering for art here means killed cartoons, not killed cartoonists. Still, just like their colleagues in more repressive parts of the world, our editorial artists frequently struggle with censorship. It's not as if we're in Soviet times when the government totally controlled what readers could and could not see. Here, it's the newspapers and magazines that do most of the censoring. Work deemed controversial, sacrilegious, risqué, politically incorrect or simply bad for business often gets killed before publication.
It merits mention that understandable motives can drive editors to kill. The world changes so fast that a political cartoon drawn today can become dated tomorrow, and sometimes a promising idea just doesn't work on paper. Editors also keep their creative types from breaking libel laws, flouting industry ethics and gratuitously offending people. Insult should be a byproduct of a reasoned argument rather than a goal in itself.
Too often, editors fail to make that critical distinction. They squelch compelling cartoons out of fear -- fear of angering advertisers, the publisher's golf partners, the publisher's wife, the local police chief or the president of the United States, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, homophobes, gays, pro-choice advocates and anti-abortion protesters, Catholics, Jews, Muslims and Midwest grannies -- especially Midwest grannies. They even fear getting noticed. Cartoonist Milt Priggee remembers what an editor told him soon after he joined the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash.: "If you want to survive at this paper, you've got to stay under management's radar. Don't do anything good. Don't do anything bad."
Internal politics dooms many compelling cartoons. Consider Kirk Anderson's 2002 cartoon on the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal, which portrays a Vatican "fireman" rescuing a priest from a burning church while ignoring a screaming child trapped in the flames. Anderson's paper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota had irked the local diocese for several years. But it repaired relations with the church after publishing an essay by the city's new archbishop. Anderson, who was later downsized, believes his editor spiked his cartoon rather than risk "rocking the boat" even though that is arguably the cartoonist's job brief.
Admittedly, religion and cartoons can make a volatile cocktail. In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten unleashed an unimaginable fury by publishing 12 cartoons featuring the prophet Muhammad. Fleming Rose, the editor who conceived the project, intended to bring attention to increasing intimidation of the free press by Islamic extremists. He never imagined what would follow.
The Muhammad cartoons sparked riots that caused more than 100 deaths worldwide. Mobs torched the Danish embassies in Lebanon and Syria. Protesters in Nigeria destroyed more than a dozen churches. Palestinian gunmen chased Danish aid workers from Gaza. Arabs boycotted Danish cheese. Even Iranian bakers registered their anger, renaming the sticky Danish pastry the "Rose of the Prophet Mohammed."
Islamic extremists in Denmark fanned the flames by taking the cartoons on what amounted to an outrage tour of the Middle East. But these bad-will ambassadors did something else that's not been widely reported. They not only circulated the 12 controversial Danish cartoons but also three appalling drawings that had nothing to do with Jyllands-Posten. One portrayed Muhammad as a pedophile; another placed a pig snout on the Prophet's face; the third cartoon depicted a dog raping a praying Muslim. By reproducing the three foul images, one blogger noted that the Muslim activists "have managed to out-blaspheme the infidel Danes."
Some of the cartoons dealing with the controversy that ran in the American media could have been stronger; others fulfilled the journalist's mission: confronting insanity with honesty. One clever cartoon showed Muhammad in heaven, warning a long line of suicide bombers "Stop, stop, we ran out of virgins," an allusion to the deadly sales pitch given to potential "martyrs."
Unquestionably, the so-called intoonfadah prompted many publications to soften coverage of Islamic extremism. Several cartoons about the controversy -- that in no way depicted Muhammad -- were nevertheless killed.
At the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the paper's publisher took the unprecedented step of vetting all work about the controversy by staff cartoonist R.J. Matson. His first cartoon on the topic was a send-up of art schools that advertise on the back of matchbooks. The "Fatwa Art Instruction School" -- which tested prospective "infidel cartoonists" by having them not draw Muhammad -- failed to make the grade at his paper despite its lack of jihad-worthy images.
As the violence intensified, Matson started receiving angry letters from readers demanding that he draw Muhammad to "stick it to the Muslims." While Matson personally deplored the attack on free speech by extremists, he didn't approve of the Danish cartoons, viewing them as an unnecessary provocation.
To express his ambivalence, Matson drew a self-portrait of himself straddling a pen-shaped missile.
Initially, "Suicide Cartoonists" was also spiked. But Matson persuaded his publisher to reconsider. He argued that he had a duty to address the biggest story about cartooning since Thomas Nast took down Tammany Hall. Pulitzer Prize-winner Doug Marlette felt less conflicted about the Muhammad cartoons. He likens cartoonists to "canaries in the coal mine." Once mob rule silences cartoonists, who's next?
"Those who have attacked my work," Marlette told Jylland-Posten, "whether ... Protestant, Catholic, Jewish or Muslim, all experience comic or satirical irreverence as hostility and hate, when all it is, really, is irreverence. Ink on paper is only a thought, an idea. Such people fear ideas. Those who mistake themselves for the God they claim to worship tend to mistake irreverence for blasphemy."
Enraged readers, as many editors have learned, freely express their fury through the Internet. The Web is a double-edged sword, providing cartoonists with a way to distribute censored cartoons, but also making it easy for offended parties to register protests out of proportion to their numbers.
Perhaps the specter of full in-boxes factored into the Los Angeles Times' decision to quash Paul Conrad's 1999 cartoon of an angry elephant mounting a startled donkey to symbolize the reality of "congressional bipartisanship." To slip the "Wild Kingdom" humping past his paper's decency patrol, Conrad omitted any hint of genitalia. His editor, who called it "thigh-slapping fun" in an interview with a local alterative weekly, killed it anyway. In doing so, the prudish paper deprived readers of a vintage Conrad spanking of Republicans, who were bellowing about bipartisanship while impeaching Bill Clinton over a sex scandal.
Also instructive is the 2004 decision by the clients of Continental Features, a consortium that produces a Sunday comics section for a few dozen newspapers, to drop Doonesbury. The company's president, Van Wilkerson, asked clients to vote on whether to keep or cancel the controversial strip. In a letter before the ballot, Wilkerson made his position quite clear: "I have fielded numerous complaints about Doonesbury," he wrote "and feel it is time to drop this feature and add another in its place." Papers voted 21 to 15 to replace Garry Trudeau's award-winning political strip with Get Fuzzy, which chronicles the misadventures of an advertising executive and his pets.
The silencing of editorial artists -- historically a progressive voice in the press -- comes at a time when the American media bends over backward to appease conservatives. The rightward shift became apparent after Republicans won Congress in 1994. The boot-licking increased when George W. Bush took office, and it only intensified after 9/11. In the upsurge of flag-waving after 9/11, some editorial artists lost their jobs because of their progressive politics. In North Carolina, a daily newspaper told its cartoonist that he could dissent from the paper's conservative policies only on Sundays. That once-a-week autonomy did not last long; the cartoonist was soon fired. In Pennsylvania, a paper punished its liberal cartoonist by ordering a moratorium on Bush cartoons. The cartoonist was soon out of a job.
Other cartoonists know they must pull their punches when covering the Bush administration.
J.D. Crowe of the Mobile Register, a conservative paper in Alabama -- or what Crowe calls "the Bush Belt" -- admits he treads carefully when taking on the White House and its cronies. "Any time I do a cartoon that questions the administration ... it's almost (viewed) like blasphemy," said Crowe. In 2003, amid the BALCO revelations, Crowe pitched a cartoon representing Halliburton as a bulked up baseball player shooting up from a syringe labeled "no-bid government contracts." Crowe's jab at Dick Cheney's former employer proved too sharp for the Register.
When war flares, the media tends to cover the military (and even its contractors) with extreme caution. "And it stays that way for a good long time," says political cartoonist and illustrator Steve Brodner," until there's such overwhelming evidence ... that the war was a mistake and based on lies. Then people can start to really be critical."
Mike Luckovich, the cartoonist at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, had to wait awhile to truly express doubts about the Bush administration's honesty. In 2003, he was prevented from publishing a sketch, spelling out "W LIED" with military coffins. Luckovich's editor told a trade magazine that she thought "it was too early in the war to lay these deaths firmly at the president's feet."
By 2005, as public support for the war plummeted, Luckovich's paper approved a heart-wrenching cartoon to mark the loss of the 2,000th U.S. soldier in Iraq. Luckovich hand-wrote the names of every dead soldier to craft the word
"WHY."
The Why cartoon, which helped Luckovich win his second Pulitzer Prize last year, reminds us that, when freed to deploy the potent weapon of ridicule by supportive editors, cartoonists matter. Powerful editorial art reaches out from the pages of newspapers and magazines, and now the screens of the Web, to poke readers in the eyes. Cartoons sting us in a primitive place, forcing us to question our leaders, our neighbors, our values.
David Wallis, founder of Featurewell.com, a syndication service, is the editor of "Killed Cartoons: Casualties From the War on Free Expression," published this month by W.W. Norton, from which this article was adapted. Contact us at insight@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/11/INGU4OGDT11.DTL
This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
St. Augustine Record Publisher Says He Ignores Concerted Protected Activity
St. Augustine Record Publizher Derek May wrote (see below) that he ignores concerted protected activity, e.g., E-mail "campaigns" by persons who agree.
When people get together to express similar opinions, we call it concerted protected activity. Whether under the First Amendment or the National Labor Relations Act, that's protected activity.
Our St. Augustine Record publisher says he deletes such opinions from his E-mails.
That's a pity. He should read the quotes on censorship, below:
When people get together to express similar opinions, we call it concerted protected activity. Whether under the First Amendment or the National Labor Relations Act, that's protected activity.
Our St. Augustine Record publisher says he deletes such opinions from his E-mails.
That's a pity. He should read the quotes on censorship, below:
Here are a few quotations on censorship
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. ~John F. Kennedy
We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859
The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion. ~Henry Steele Commager
The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen. ~Tommy Smothers
Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. ~Potter Stewart
We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard. ~Voltaire, Dictionnaire Philosophique, 1764
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. ~Voltaire
I am thankful for all the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech. ~Nancie J. Carmody
The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859
Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. ~Alfred Whitney Griswold, New York Times, 24 February 1959
Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one. ~Abbott Joseph Liebling, "Do You Belong in Journalism?" New Yorker, 4 May 1960
A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad. ~Albert Camus
To reject the word is to reject the human search. ~Max Lerner, 1953, on book purging
Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them. ~Mark Twain, Notebook, 1935
What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books. ~Sigmund Freud, 1933
Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings. ~Heinrich Heine, Almansor, 1823
Every burned book enlightens the world. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
The paper burns, but the words fly away. ~Akiba ben Joseph
Did you ever hear anyone say, "That work had better be banned because I might read it and it might be very damaging to me?" ~Joseph Henry Jackson
If you don't have this freedom of the press, then all these little fellows are weaseling around and doing their monkey business and they never get caught. ~Harold R. Medina
Obscenity is not a quality inherent in a book or picture, but is solely and exclusively a contribution of the reading mind, and hence cannot be defined in terms of the qualities of a book or picture. ~Theodore Schroeder
Assassination is the extreme form of censorship. ~George Bernard Shaw, "The Rejected Statement, Part I," The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, 1911
The test of democracy is freedom of criticism. ~David Ben-Gurion
If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859
To choose a good book, look in an inquisitor’s prohibited list. ~John Aikin
To limit the press is to insult a nation; to prohibit reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be either fools or slaves. ~Claude-Adrien Helvétius
God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide. ~Rebecca West
If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all. ~Noam Chomsky
Every human being has a right to hear what other wise human beings have spoken to him. It is one of the Rights of Men; a very cruel injustice if you deny it to a man! ~Thomas Carlyle
Books won't stay banned -
Ideas won't go to jail.
~Alfred Whitney Griswold
You can cage the singer but not the song. ~Harry Belafonte, in International Herald Tribune, 3 October 1988
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. ~Voltaire
We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859
The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion. ~Henry Steele Commager
The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen. ~Tommy Smothers
Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. ~Potter Stewart
We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard. ~Voltaire, Dictionnaire Philosophique, 1764
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. ~Voltaire
I am thankful for all the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech. ~Nancie J. Carmody
The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859
Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. ~Alfred Whitney Griswold, New York Times, 24 February 1959
Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one. ~Abbott Joseph Liebling, "Do You Belong in Journalism?" New Yorker, 4 May 1960
A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad. ~Albert Camus
To reject the word is to reject the human search. ~Max Lerner, 1953, on book purging
Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them. ~Mark Twain, Notebook, 1935
What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books. ~Sigmund Freud, 1933
Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings. ~Heinrich Heine, Almansor, 1823
Every burned book enlightens the world. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
The paper burns, but the words fly away. ~Akiba ben Joseph
Did you ever hear anyone say, "That work had better be banned because I might read it and it might be very damaging to me?" ~Joseph Henry Jackson
If you don't have this freedom of the press, then all these little fellows are weaseling around and doing their monkey business and they never get caught. ~Harold R. Medina
Obscenity is not a quality inherent in a book or picture, but is solely and exclusively a contribution of the reading mind, and hence cannot be defined in terms of the qualities of a book or picture. ~Theodore Schroeder
Assassination is the extreme form of censorship. ~George Bernard Shaw, "The Rejected Statement, Part I," The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, 1911
The test of democracy is freedom of criticism. ~David Ben-Gurion
If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859
To choose a good book, look in an inquisitor’s prohibited list. ~John Aikin
To limit the press is to insult a nation; to prohibit reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be either fools or slaves. ~Claude-Adrien Helvétius
God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide. ~Rebecca West
If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all. ~Noam Chomsky
Every human being has a right to hear what other wise human beings have spoken to him. It is one of the Rights of Men; a very cruel injustice if you deny it to a man! ~Thomas Carlyle
Books won't stay banned -
Ideas won't go to jail.
~Alfred Whitney Griswold
You can cage the singer but not the song. ~Harry Belafonte, in International Herald Tribune, 3 October 1988
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. ~Voltaire
Those obscene, racist, sexist, misogynist, anti-union, anti-Gay energumen at Plazabum.com have gone underground!
Mirabile dictu, those obscene, racist, sexist, misogynist, anti-union, anti-Gay energumen at Plazabum.com have gone underground.
Disappeared.
Gone South.
Run away.
Now, if you want to read their hatred gibberish, you have to enter a password.
This may keep children from reading their obscenities.
This may keep tourists from getting the wrong impression that St. Augustine is one big homeless camp -- exactly the sort of message the Chamber of Commerce and the Tourist Development Council and the Convention and Visitors Bureau spend millions of dollars NOT to create.
Boy are the Plazabummers dumb and dumber -- these unsuccessful businesspeople are like dirty birds messing up their own nests.
Maybe someone finally gave them a clue.
Good riddance to bad rubbish -- let the harridans bay at the moon in their Doctor Dentons and leave decent people alone.
For those who still may care, here's the St. Augustine Record column by MICHAEL GOLD, announcing the formation of this hate-the-homeless and hate-liberals site two days before Christmas, 2006:
Guest column: Don't feed the freeloaders
MICHAEL GOLD
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 12/23/06
It is time for the citizens of St. Augustine to say "enough". Our community and it's viability as a prime tourism destination is threatened by gypsy panhandlers who have been informed that our city is an "easy mark."
You might be surprised to learn that the increased number of bums and freeloaders inhabiting the plaza and historic district are not just here by accident. There is an organized anarchist group known as the "Squatter Culture" who exists primarily to make what they consider a political statement.
Their manifesto message is anti-establishment, anti-government and anti-police, but, oddly enough, they are very well informed about social programs and services which we make available through government subsidies, taxes, and donations.
The refusal of the Squatter Culture to work has nothing to do with their ability to work. They should not be confused with honest citizens who find themselves unemployed; in financial stress but able bodied and looking for new jobs. Squatters do not qualify for unemployment benefits because they weren't working in the first place.
Squatters should not be confused with the handicapped. They do not qualify for disability benefits because they are not disabled.
Simply put they do not work to support themselves because they refuse to support "the system." Rather, they spend their energies plotting ways to exhaust the services and programs "the system" can manage to provide.
These parasites and leeches did not randomly target St. Augustine. Their organization provides information to members through sophisticated means like the public Internet. The hobos that you see loitering around our public libraries and in cyber cafes where Internet access is freely provided are there for a reason. Once again, they use our resources to their benefit.
Tourism and travel Web sites are now issuing "travel advisories" cautioning travelers about the possibility of being approached by panhandlers who squat in our historic district. That is unconscionable.
St. Augustine is a "park and walk" tourist community and we have spent a king's ransom building a new parking facility to promote that concept. Our best efforts will be for naught if we do not take the necessary steps to rid ourselves of vagrant beggars in the historic district.
We need to send a strong message to the "Squatter Culture" that St. Augustine is no longer a "squatter-friendly" town for everyone with their hand out. We need to close down their wooded campsites along the railroad tracks and raise our voices to those who have the responsibility to enact and enforce any required ordinances.
We need to say -- in no uncertain terms -- that as a community, we are doing everything that we possibly can to protect the safety, convenience and enjoyment of visitors to America's Oldest City and that we will continue providing a premier vacation destination.
For those who are interested in this discussion or would like to add comments, a downtown merchant started a Web site where he intends to expose the problem and what some feel is the inaction of certain commissioners to address the problem properly. His site is PLAZABUM.COM and is free.
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/122306/opinions_4282284.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
DOES ST. AUGUSTINE RECORD VIOLATE CARTOONIST'S RIGHTS AT BEHEST OF SCHOOL SUPT., PHIL MCDANIEL, CULTURAL COUNCIL?
DEREK MAY
Why is this man smiling?
See below.
Florida newspapers are badly in need of Newspaper Guild union organizers.
When an award-winning published cartoonist is treated shabbily by a publisher whose main life experience is in marketing, something is wrong.
When public officials get to censor the news -- the same way the Tennessee Valley Authority did for decades with the Knoxville News-Sentinel and Knoxville Journal, something is rotten.
What do you reckon?
PUBLISHER POUTS: I will not respond to email campaigns (sic) ... no matter how many people you copy. Please don't waste your time ... I delete ....
Ed,
My cup of coffee offer still stands. I will not respond to email campaigns of
any kind, no matter how many people you copy. Please don't waste your time...I
delete emails like that.
But I will discuss things with you face to face. Let me know when you're ready
for that cup.
Derek
Derek May
Publisher
The St. Augustine Record
904.819.3421
Letter to the St. Augustine Record Publisher Derek May -- Please Reinstate Cartoonist Ed Hall
Dear Mr. May:
Will you please reinstate Ed Hall as St. Augustine Record cartoonist today?
He's done excellent work that I have enjoyed since the 20th Century. It would be a sham and a shame to let a few soreheads (e.g., School Board minions and Phil McDaniel) induce the Record to violate Ed Hall's civil rights.
The clever Halltoons November 23, 2008 cartoon was about a generic Florida school superintendent -- it bears no reference to Supt. Joyner or St. Johns County. McDaniel's November 30, 2008 Op Ed column reads like it was written by someone whose purpose in life is defending a political machine, rather than advancing artistic freedom.
Phil McDaniel's pejoratives are as unthinking as they are emotional -- obviously McDaniel has deep-seated emotional problems with First Amendment protected activity. McDaniel is chair of the putative Cultural Council and should hang his head in shame -- his twisted column bears no relation to the cartoon that appeared. Let Phil McDaniel go soak his sore head.
Let Ed Hall be Ed Hall, without further harassment and intimidation at the behest of officious hangers-on like Phil McDaniel, a would-be politician who obviously knows nothing about editorial cartooning (or artistic license or First Amendment values.
Let freedom ring.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Clean Up City of St. Augustine Florida
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
P.O. Box 3084
St. Augustine, FL 32085-3084
904-829-3877 (o)
904-471-9918 (fax)
Will you please reinstate Ed Hall as St. Augustine Record cartoonist today?
He's done excellent work that I have enjoyed since the 20th Century. It would be a sham and a shame to let a few soreheads (e.g., School Board minions and Phil McDaniel) induce the Record to violate Ed Hall's civil rights.
The clever Halltoons November 23, 2008 cartoon was about a generic Florida school superintendent -- it bears no reference to Supt. Joyner or St. Johns County. McDaniel's November 30, 2008 Op Ed column reads like it was written by someone whose purpose in life is defending a political machine, rather than advancing artistic freedom.
Phil McDaniel's pejoratives are as unthinking as they are emotional -- obviously McDaniel has deep-seated emotional problems with First Amendment protected activity. McDaniel is chair of the putative Cultural Council and should hang his head in shame -- his twisted column bears no relation to the cartoon that appeared. Let Phil McDaniel go soak his sore head.
Let Ed Hall be Ed Hall, without further harassment and intimidation at the behest of officious hangers-on like Phil McDaniel, a would-be politician who obviously knows nothing about editorial cartooning (or artistic license or First Amendment values.
Let freedom ring.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Clean Up City of St. Augustine Florida
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
P.O. Box 3084
St. Augustine, FL 32085-3084
904-829-3877 (o)
904-471-9918 (fax)
LETTER TO SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT JOSEPH JOYNER ON ATTACK ON RECORD CARTOONIST ED HALL
December 2, 2008
Superintendent Joseph Joyner
St. Johns County Schools via fax to 547-7515
St. Augustine, Florida
Dear Superintendent Joyner:
1. Will you please E-mail me to EASlavin@aol.com copies of all E-mails and other documents regarding the November 23, 2008 HallToons cartoon published in the St. Augustine Record, including your E-mails to staff and communications with Philip A. McDaniel and the St. Augustine Record? F.S. 119.
2. Did you or anyone acting in concert with you ever suggest or ask that cartoonist Ed Hall be fired or disciplined by the St. Augustine Record for his November 23, 2008 cartoon?
3. Do you condone anyone who may have done so (e.g., Philip A. McDaniel)?
4. Were you aware that Ed Hall has been indefinitely suspended by the Record?
5. Did you or anyone else consider the November 23, 2008 cartoon to be aimed at St. Johns County Schools? If so, why? Please provide all documents pursuant to ¶ 1.
6. Do you understand the cartoon to portray a generic Florida school superintendent?
7. Will you call/write the St. Augustine Record and ask for the immediate reinstatement of Ed Hall and reject any retaliation against him for First Amendment protected activity?
8. Does our School Board insurance cover the cost of punitive damages in civil rights and tortious interference with contractual relations lawsuits? Does your own insurance?
9. Has the School Board counsel ever given you legal advice on this situation or any training on First Amendment rights? Please supply all documents pursuant to ¶ 1.
10. If you learn that your actions under color of law as the St. Johns County School Superintendent – and/or those of others acting in concert with you -- have had the effect of causing the indefinite suspension of Ed Hall by the St. Augustine Record, will you:
A. Apologize publicly (before or after pickets arrive)?
B. Acknowledge the higher power of the First Amendment as controlling legal authority?
C. Issue a statement supporting artistic freedom for political cartoonists?
D. Reach into your pocket and compensate Ed Hall for any lost income until his reinstatement?
E. Include a summary of this event in the "Character Counts" curriculum as an example of why thin-skinned public officials who violate First Amendment principles need to have their consciousness raised -- and why students and other American citizens must be constantly on guard against violations of First Amendment values?
F. Invite Ed Hall to speak to arts and political science classes?
G. Propose a whistleblower and employee rights policy, as the Commissioners of the Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County adopted on November 20, 2008?
Finally, as to items 10 A-G, if not, why not?
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
ED SLAVIN
Clean Up City of St. Augustine, Florida
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
904-829-3877 (o)
904-471-9918 (fax)
USDOJ PRESS RELEASE: JACKSONVILLE MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN MORTGAGE FRAUD SCHEME
United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton
Middle District of Florida
Tampa Orlando Jacksonville Fort Myers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: STEVE COLE
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 PHONE: (813) 274-6136
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/flm/pr FAX: (813) 274-6300
JACKSONVILLE MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN MORTGAGE FRAUD SCHEME
Jacksonville, Florida - United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton today announced
that Juan Carlos Gonzalez, a 51-year-old resident of Jacksonville, pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud. The maximum penalties that Gonzalez face are 30 years' imprisonment, a fine in the amount of $1 million, and a term of supervised release of five years.
According to the plea agreement, Gonzalez negotiated the purchase of residential
real estate properties in 2004 and 2005. Gonzalez retained a licensed real estate
appraiser to fraudulently appraise the properties at significantly inflated values.
At Gonzalez's direction, false financial information pertaining to third-party buyers, including altered financial documents such as bank statements, was submitted to lenders, along with the fraudulent appraisal. The loans that were obtained with the fraudulent information significantly exceeded the actual purchase price. At the closings on the properties, Gonzalez received the difference between the loan amount, which was based on the inflated appraisal, and the actual purchase price. This difference was the proceeds of the fraud.
Over the course of the scheme, Gonzalez fraudulently obtained loans on at least
42 properties, victimizing numerous lenders, including federally insured financial
institutions. The fraudulent acts resulted in lenders extending more than $22 million in mortgage loans, which would not have been approved but for the fraud. Gonzalez, who had no other source of significant income, was the primary beneficiary of the scheme, which grossed more than $5 million.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was
prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier.
Middle District of Florida
Tampa Orlando Jacksonville Fort Myers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: STEVE COLE
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 PHONE: (813) 274-6136
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/flm/pr FAX: (813) 274-6300
JACKSONVILLE MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN MORTGAGE FRAUD SCHEME
Jacksonville, Florida - United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton today announced
that Juan Carlos Gonzalez, a 51-year-old resident of Jacksonville, pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud. The maximum penalties that Gonzalez face are 30 years' imprisonment, a fine in the amount of $1 million, and a term of supervised release of five years.
According to the plea agreement, Gonzalez negotiated the purchase of residential
real estate properties in 2004 and 2005. Gonzalez retained a licensed real estate
appraiser to fraudulently appraise the properties at significantly inflated values.
At Gonzalez's direction, false financial information pertaining to third-party buyers, including altered financial documents such as bank statements, was submitted to lenders, along with the fraudulent appraisal. The loans that were obtained with the fraudulent information significantly exceeded the actual purchase price. At the closings on the properties, Gonzalez received the difference between the loan amount, which was based on the inflated appraisal, and the actual purchase price. This difference was the proceeds of the fraud.
Over the course of the scheme, Gonzalez fraudulently obtained loans on at least
42 properties, victimizing numerous lenders, including federally insured financial
institutions. The fraudulent acts resulted in lenders extending more than $22 million in mortgage loans, which would not have been approved but for the fraud. Gonzalez, who had no other source of significant income, was the primary beneficiary of the scheme, which grossed more than $5 million.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was
prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier.
DOJ PRESS RELEASE:SCHOOL BOARD BRIBERY CONSPIRATOR SENTENCED TO 6 YEARS IN PRISON ON FELONY CHARGES INCLUDING FRAUD AND OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
District of Maryland
Rod J. Rosenstein
United States Attorney
Vickie E. LeDuc
Public Information Officer
36 South Charles Street
4th Floor
Baltimore, Maryland 21201 410-209-4800
TTY/TDD:410-962-4462
410-209-4885
FAX 410-962-3091
Vickie.LeDuc@usdoj.gov
November 25, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md CONTACT AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at (410) 209-4885
ANDRE HORNSBY SENTENCED TO 6 YEARS IN PRISON ON FELONY CHARGES INCLUDING FRAUD AND OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte sentenced Andre J. Hornsby, age 55, formerly of Mitchellville, Maryland, today to six years in prison followed by three years of supervised release, in connection with his conviction by a federal jury of honest services wire fraud, witness and evidence tampering and obstruction of justice arising from a scheme to cause the Prince George's County Public Schools to award lucrative contracts to benefit close associates and himself, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Judge Messitte also ordered Hornsby to pay fines totaling $20,000 and restitution of $70,000.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, "The evidence in this case demonstrated that Andre Hornsby abused his power for private financial gain, tampered with witnesses and obstructed a federal investigation. Public officials must pursue the public interest and not line their own pockets at taxpayer expense."
Special Agent in Charge of the Baltimore FBI Field Office, Amy Jo Lyons stated, "Mr. Hornsby exploited his position as Chief Executive Officer of the Prince George's County Public Schools for his own personal financial gain which came at the expense of the children he was entrusted to serve. We in the FBI are committed to addressing public corruption at every level, and are pleased to have been instrumental in this case."
"All financial crimes add to the underground economy which erodes the integrity of our tax system and threatens the financial health of our communities. Crimes committed by public officials violate the public trust. IRS-Criminal Investigation is united with the rest of the law enforcement community to ensure public officials comply with the same laws as the citizens they serve. No one is above the law!" stated C. Andre' Martin, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge.
The Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS), one of the 20 largest school districts in the nation in 2004, with a budget of more than $1 billion, employed Hornsby as Chief Executive Officer and Secretary and Treasurer of the Board of Education for Prince George's County (Board) beginning in June 2003 until his resignation in May 2005.
Kickback from E-Rate Contracts
Hornsby owned and operated Quality Schools Consulting, Inc. (QSCi), which assisted schools in preparing applications to secure funds under the federal E-Rate program. E-Rate provides schools and libraries with substantial discounts on telecommunications services, Internet access and internal connections. Cynthia Joffrion, who had worked for Hornsby in other school districts, assisted Hornsby in providing these services.
According to testimony in the five week trial, in the fall of 2003 PGCPS sought assistance with its E-Rate applications. Hornsby directed PGCPS employees to seek proposals from outside E-Rate consulting companies by issuing a request for proposal (RFP). Joffrion provided Hornsby with a draft RFP which Hornsby provided to PGCPS personnel. Using that draft, PGCPS published an RFP for two weeks starting in October of 2003 to solicit bids. The mandatory deadline for the return of bids was November 3, 2003.
After evaluating the proposals submitted within the deadline, PGCPS recommended awarding the contract to a Maryland-based certified minority contractor, which submitted a bid for $59,675. Hornsby directed PGCPS personnel not to award the contract to the recommended contractor, and instead steered the contract to a non-existent company, "Erate Managers D.B. Inc. (Erate Managers)," purportedly operated by Joffrion, who transmitted a proposal after the deadline for bids had expired. Joffrion initially quoted a flat fee of $48,550, but after Hornsby privately complained about the price, on December 14, Joffrion submitted another proposal to PGCPS that substantially increased the quote by adding a fee of 1% of the E-Rate funds awarded in addition to the flat fee of $48,550.
Testimony at trial showed that as a result of Hornsby's intervention, on December 19, 2003, PGCPS issued a purchase order to Erate Managers requiring the school system to pay $48,550 plus 1% of the value of the E-Rate funds awarded in excess of $2 million. Pursuant to the contract for 2004, PGCPS paid Erate Managers more than $80,000.
For the 2005 year, PGCPS again awarded Erate Managers a contract for E-Rate consulting services, requiring the school to pay $60,500 plus a fee of 1% of the value of the funds awarded up to $10 million and 1.5% of the value of the funding award in excess of $10 million, not to exceed $300,000. Under the 2005 contract, PGCPS paid Erate Managers $40,900 before the contract was terminated by the Board.
Hornsby and Joffrion agreed that Hornsby would receive half the proceeds from the E-Rate contracts. Joffrion contacted law enforcement and began cooperating with the FBI in October 2004. She then allowed the FBI to monitor her telephone conversations and meetings with Hornsby between November 2004 and June 2005. A videotape of a meeting at a hotel in Bowie, Maryland, on December 20, 2004, showed that Hornsby arranged to receive more than $100,000 from Joffrion, which represented about half of the fees to be paid by PGCPS. During the meeting, Hornsby took $1,000 in cash as a down payment. Hornsby proposed various methods to evade detection of the payments, including arranging for Joffrion to purchase valuable items for him such as property, a truck, art and a yacht.
Kickback from LeapFrog Contract
LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. (LeapFrog) developed and marketed technology-based educational products. Sales commissions were generally paid to the representative assigned to the territory in which the sale was made. The sales representative for sales to customers in Virginia was Sienna Rochelle Owens. According to trial testimony, during his tenure as CEO, Hornsby and Owens were engaged in a long-term romantic relationship, and shared the same residence in Mitchellville, Maryland. Another sales representative was responsible for sales to customers in Maryland.
In May 2004, Hornsby directed that PGCPS establish a summer program for kindergarten students who were being held back, and suggested using LeapFrog products. After receiving proposals from the Maryland sales representative for LeapFrog, PGCPS personnel recommended using a LeapFrog package for 33 classrooms.
Meanwhile, Hornsby advised Owens that he wanted to purchase LeapFrog products for 216 classrooms. Owens dealt directly and exclusively with Hornsby, who finalized the LeapFrog contract on June 10, 2004. At Owens' request, Hornsby called her supervisor and agreed that PGCPS would purchase the LeapFrog products for $956,280. This transaction was one of the largest sales ever made by LeapFrog's SchoolHouse Division to public schools. At Hornsby's direction, PGCPS mailed a check dated July 30, 2004, for $956,280 to LeapFrog to pay for the deal.
On June 4, 2004 Owens demanded 70-75% of the projected sales commission of $40,689, or a flat fee of $25,000 from the Maryland LeapFrog sales representative. Owens later agreed to accept $20,000 in commission and on June 11, 2004 she executed a commission share agreement with the Maryland sales representative using a Compaq Presario computer and software registered to Hornsby. On August 4 Owens received $20,000 by money order from the Maryland sales representative. Owens then paid Hornsby $10,000 in cash for his assistance in securing the LeapFrog contract. Hornsby instructed Owens to eliminate emails and other records that would reveal her involvement in the LeapFrog contract.
Concealment of the Kickbacks
In October 2004, following newspaper reports of the LeapFrog contract and the relationship between Hornsby and Owens, the FBI opened an investigation into PGCPS contracts with Erate and LeapFrog, leading to a federal grand jury investigation. Hornsby was aware in late 2004 of the federal investigations. He was also aware that the Board hired a forensic accounting firm, Huron Consulting Group (Huron), to investigate the contracts.
Testimony at trial showed that Hornsby made false statements to Huron auditors and in his written response to Huron's June 3, 2005 written report. Hornsby falsely stated that: Joffrion did not work for, or provide services to any clients of, QSCi; he did not know who developed the RFP; PGCPS personnel did not select any of the five bidders for the initial E-Rate because their proposals did not respond to the RFP; after he assumed leadership of PGCPS he did not accept any new E-Rate business and that he had secured two E-Rate contracts with a Houston, Texas school district before his tenure with PGCPS; he was not aware that Owens played any role in the LeapFrog contract; he did not have any role in negotiations to finalize the LeapFrog contract; and he did not personally benefit from the E-Rate and LeapFrog contracts.
Obstruction of Justice
On the heels of the news of the federal investigation, Hornsby instructed PGCPS personnel to destroy back-up computer tapes containing his and other employee email. Additionally, Hornsby attempted to persuade Joffrion, who was cooperating with the FBI, not to produce the computer files from the Compaq computer used by Owens to create the commission-share agreement, which had subsequently been sent to Joffrion, as requested by a grand jury subpoena.
The jury acquitted Hornsby on two other counts and did not reach agreement on 14 charges.
Sienna Owens, who testified at trial, pleaded guilty to endeavoring to impede the internal revenue laws for failing to report the commission income from the LeapFrog contract. She faces a maximum penalty of 3 years in prison followed by a year of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael R. Pauze and Stuart A. Berman, who prosecuted the case.
United States Attorney
District of Maryland
Rod J. Rosenstein
United States Attorney
Vickie E. LeDuc
Public Information Officer
36 South Charles Street
4th Floor
Baltimore, Maryland 21201 410-209-4800
TTY/TDD:410-962-4462
410-209-4885
FAX 410-962-3091
Vickie.LeDuc@usdoj.gov
November 25, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md CONTACT AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at (410) 209-4885
ANDRE HORNSBY SENTENCED TO 6 YEARS IN PRISON ON FELONY CHARGES INCLUDING FRAUD AND OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte sentenced Andre J. Hornsby, age 55, formerly of Mitchellville, Maryland, today to six years in prison followed by three years of supervised release, in connection with his conviction by a federal jury of honest services wire fraud, witness and evidence tampering and obstruction of justice arising from a scheme to cause the Prince George's County Public Schools to award lucrative contracts to benefit close associates and himself, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Judge Messitte also ordered Hornsby to pay fines totaling $20,000 and restitution of $70,000.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, "The evidence in this case demonstrated that Andre Hornsby abused his power for private financial gain, tampered with witnesses and obstructed a federal investigation. Public officials must pursue the public interest and not line their own pockets at taxpayer expense."
Special Agent in Charge of the Baltimore FBI Field Office, Amy Jo Lyons stated, "Mr. Hornsby exploited his position as Chief Executive Officer of the Prince George's County Public Schools for his own personal financial gain which came at the expense of the children he was entrusted to serve. We in the FBI are committed to addressing public corruption at every level, and are pleased to have been instrumental in this case."
"All financial crimes add to the underground economy which erodes the integrity of our tax system and threatens the financial health of our communities. Crimes committed by public officials violate the public trust. IRS-Criminal Investigation is united with the rest of the law enforcement community to ensure public officials comply with the same laws as the citizens they serve. No one is above the law!" stated C. Andre' Martin, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge.
The Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS), one of the 20 largest school districts in the nation in 2004, with a budget of more than $1 billion, employed Hornsby as Chief Executive Officer and Secretary and Treasurer of the Board of Education for Prince George's County (Board) beginning in June 2003 until his resignation in May 2005.
Kickback from E-Rate Contracts
Hornsby owned and operated Quality Schools Consulting, Inc. (QSCi), which assisted schools in preparing applications to secure funds under the federal E-Rate program. E-Rate provides schools and libraries with substantial discounts on telecommunications services, Internet access and internal connections. Cynthia Joffrion, who had worked for Hornsby in other school districts, assisted Hornsby in providing these services.
According to testimony in the five week trial, in the fall of 2003 PGCPS sought assistance with its E-Rate applications. Hornsby directed PGCPS employees to seek proposals from outside E-Rate consulting companies by issuing a request for proposal (RFP). Joffrion provided Hornsby with a draft RFP which Hornsby provided to PGCPS personnel. Using that draft, PGCPS published an RFP for two weeks starting in October of 2003 to solicit bids. The mandatory deadline for the return of bids was November 3, 2003.
After evaluating the proposals submitted within the deadline, PGCPS recommended awarding the contract to a Maryland-based certified minority contractor, which submitted a bid for $59,675. Hornsby directed PGCPS personnel not to award the contract to the recommended contractor, and instead steered the contract to a non-existent company, "Erate Managers D.B. Inc. (Erate Managers)," purportedly operated by Joffrion, who transmitted a proposal after the deadline for bids had expired. Joffrion initially quoted a flat fee of $48,550, but after Hornsby privately complained about the price, on December 14, Joffrion submitted another proposal to PGCPS that substantially increased the quote by adding a fee of 1% of the E-Rate funds awarded in addition to the flat fee of $48,550.
Testimony at trial showed that as a result of Hornsby's intervention, on December 19, 2003, PGCPS issued a purchase order to Erate Managers requiring the school system to pay $48,550 plus 1% of the value of the E-Rate funds awarded in excess of $2 million. Pursuant to the contract for 2004, PGCPS paid Erate Managers more than $80,000.
For the 2005 year, PGCPS again awarded Erate Managers a contract for E-Rate consulting services, requiring the school to pay $60,500 plus a fee of 1% of the value of the funds awarded up to $10 million and 1.5% of the value of the funding award in excess of $10 million, not to exceed $300,000. Under the 2005 contract, PGCPS paid Erate Managers $40,900 before the contract was terminated by the Board.
Hornsby and Joffrion agreed that Hornsby would receive half the proceeds from the E-Rate contracts. Joffrion contacted law enforcement and began cooperating with the FBI in October 2004. She then allowed the FBI to monitor her telephone conversations and meetings with Hornsby between November 2004 and June 2005. A videotape of a meeting at a hotel in Bowie, Maryland, on December 20, 2004, showed that Hornsby arranged to receive more than $100,000 from Joffrion, which represented about half of the fees to be paid by PGCPS. During the meeting, Hornsby took $1,000 in cash as a down payment. Hornsby proposed various methods to evade detection of the payments, including arranging for Joffrion to purchase valuable items for him such as property, a truck, art and a yacht.
Kickback from LeapFrog Contract
LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. (LeapFrog) developed and marketed technology-based educational products. Sales commissions were generally paid to the representative assigned to the territory in which the sale was made. The sales representative for sales to customers in Virginia was Sienna Rochelle Owens. According to trial testimony, during his tenure as CEO, Hornsby and Owens were engaged in a long-term romantic relationship, and shared the same residence in Mitchellville, Maryland. Another sales representative was responsible for sales to customers in Maryland.
In May 2004, Hornsby directed that PGCPS establish a summer program for kindergarten students who were being held back, and suggested using LeapFrog products. After receiving proposals from the Maryland sales representative for LeapFrog, PGCPS personnel recommended using a LeapFrog package for 33 classrooms.
Meanwhile, Hornsby advised Owens that he wanted to purchase LeapFrog products for 216 classrooms. Owens dealt directly and exclusively with Hornsby, who finalized the LeapFrog contract on June 10, 2004. At Owens' request, Hornsby called her supervisor and agreed that PGCPS would purchase the LeapFrog products for $956,280. This transaction was one of the largest sales ever made by LeapFrog's SchoolHouse Division to public schools. At Hornsby's direction, PGCPS mailed a check dated July 30, 2004, for $956,280 to LeapFrog to pay for the deal.
On June 4, 2004 Owens demanded 70-75% of the projected sales commission of $40,689, or a flat fee of $25,000 from the Maryland LeapFrog sales representative. Owens later agreed to accept $20,000 in commission and on June 11, 2004 she executed a commission share agreement with the Maryland sales representative using a Compaq Presario computer and software registered to Hornsby. On August 4 Owens received $20,000 by money order from the Maryland sales representative. Owens then paid Hornsby $10,000 in cash for his assistance in securing the LeapFrog contract. Hornsby instructed Owens to eliminate emails and other records that would reveal her involvement in the LeapFrog contract.
Concealment of the Kickbacks
In October 2004, following newspaper reports of the LeapFrog contract and the relationship between Hornsby and Owens, the FBI opened an investigation into PGCPS contracts with Erate and LeapFrog, leading to a federal grand jury investigation. Hornsby was aware in late 2004 of the federal investigations. He was also aware that the Board hired a forensic accounting firm, Huron Consulting Group (Huron), to investigate the contracts.
Testimony at trial showed that Hornsby made false statements to Huron auditors and in his written response to Huron's June 3, 2005 written report. Hornsby falsely stated that: Joffrion did not work for, or provide services to any clients of, QSCi; he did not know who developed the RFP; PGCPS personnel did not select any of the five bidders for the initial E-Rate because their proposals did not respond to the RFP; after he assumed leadership of PGCPS he did not accept any new E-Rate business and that he had secured two E-Rate contracts with a Houston, Texas school district before his tenure with PGCPS; he was not aware that Owens played any role in the LeapFrog contract; he did not have any role in negotiations to finalize the LeapFrog contract; and he did not personally benefit from the E-Rate and LeapFrog contracts.
Obstruction of Justice
On the heels of the news of the federal investigation, Hornsby instructed PGCPS personnel to destroy back-up computer tapes containing his and other employee email. Additionally, Hornsby attempted to persuade Joffrion, who was cooperating with the FBI, not to produce the computer files from the Compaq computer used by Owens to create the commission-share agreement, which had subsequently been sent to Joffrion, as requested by a grand jury subpoena.
The jury acquitted Hornsby on two other counts and did not reach agreement on 14 charges.
Sienna Owens, who testified at trial, pleaded guilty to endeavoring to impede the internal revenue laws for failing to report the commission income from the LeapFrog contract. She faces a maximum penalty of 3 years in prison followed by a year of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael R. Pauze and Stuart A. Berman, who prosecuted the case.
USDOJ Press Release: Corrupt Mayor and Lobbyist Arrested and Charged --- 101 Count Federal Indictment Seeks $7.6 Million Forfeiture
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY ALICE H. MARTIN
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 1, 2008
www.usdoj.gov/usao/aln
CONTACT: KAREN NARAMORE
PHONE: (205) 244-2001
FAX: (205) 244-2171
BIRMINGHAM MAYOR LARRY P. LANGFORD, INVESTMENT BANKER WILLIAM B. BLOUNT, AND LOBBYIST ALBERT W. LAPIERRE INDICTED $7.6 MILLION SOUGHT IN FORFEITURE FOR BRIBERY SCHEME
BIRMINGHAM, AL - LARRY P. LANGFORD, 62, Mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, and former President of the Jefferson County, Alabama, Commission, WILLIAM B. BLOUNT, 55, a Montgomery, Alabama, investment banker, and ALBERT W. LAPIERRE, 58, a lobbyist in Birmingham, Alabama, have been indicted on charges of conspiracy, bribery, fraud, money laundering, and filing false tax returns in connection with a long-running bribery scheme related to bond and other financial transactions of Jefferson County. The 101 count federal indictment was unsealed this morning in U.S. District Court according to U.S. Attorney Alice H. Martin, Special Agent in Charge Carmen Adams of the Birmingham Division of the FBI, and Reginael D. McDaniel, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations. This indictment supersedes an indictment returned in June that has remained under seal while the investigation continued.
“Former Commission President Langford owed a duty of loyalty to Jefferson County in the administration of the county’s financial affairs. He sold out his public office to his friends Blount and LaPierre for about $235,000 in expensive clothes, Rolex watches and cash to pay his growing personal debt. All the while, Blount was paid fees topping $7 million,” said U. S. Attorney Alice H. Martin. “Through a web of financing agreements, Langford required many institutions to use Blount as a consultant so Blount would make fees and in turn payoff Langford. It was a classic pay to play scheme.”
LANGFORD conspired to solicit and accept bribes from BLOUNT and LAPIERRE to use his influence as President of the Jefferson County Commission and head of the Department of Finance and General Services to include BLOUNT and his company, Blount Parish & Co., Inc., in Jefferson County financial transactions, primarily bond and swap transactions related to Jefferson County’s multi-billion dollar sewer debt. Some of the financial transactions were handled through JP Morgan which, as a condition for getting the financing business of the county through LANGFORD, had to pay Blount Parrish fees, or associate Goldman Sachs which then paid Blount Parrish consulting fees. Another example of LANGFORD’S assistance to BLOUNT was on Ocotber 20, 2003, when LANGFORD, acting for the Jefferson County Commission, entered into a financial transaction for $110 million that included Bank of America and Lehman Brothers Special Financing, Inc. The agreement required Lehman Brothers to pay a broker’s fee or arrangement fee of $35,000 to Blount Parrish and Co., Inc. Between 2003 and 2006 BLOUNT and his companies received approximately $7.1 million in fees in connection with Jefferson County financial transactions. BLOUNT, in turn, paid LAPIERRE approximately $219,500 in consulting fees. To influence and reward LANGFORD in connection with Jefferson County financial transactions, BLOUNT and LAPIERRE paid, and LANGFORD solicited and accepted, approximately $235,000 in cash, loan pay offs, and expensive clothing and jewelry.
“The message today should be clear. It does not matter what position you hold or what connections you have. If you choose to violate the public’s trust you will be held accountable for your actions,” stated Carmen S. Adams, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Among the items of value offered by BLOUNT and LAPIERRE and solicited and accepted LANGFORD to influence and reward him in connection with financial transactions from which BLOUNT and LAPIERRE were paid substantial fees are:
BLOUNT transferred $69,000 to LAPIERRE, who wrote a check to LANGFORD for that same amount. LANGFORD then deposited the money into his account and used a portion of the money to purchase audio equipment and expensive clothing. (Counts 1-5)
BLOUNT helped LANGFORD obtain a $50,000 six month, unsecured loan from Colonial Bank. When this loan became past due, LAPIERRE obtained a $50,000 loan from Colonial Bank to pay the LANGFORD loan. BLOUNT then transferred $50,000 to LAPIERRE to pay off LAPIERRE’S Colonial Bank loan.(Count 6, paragraphs 8-9, 16-18)
BLOUNT transferred $30,000 to LAPIERRE, who wrote a check to LANGFORD for that same amount. LANGFORD then used the money to obtain an official bank check to pay his personal taxes. (Counts 7-9)
While on trips to New York City with LANGFORD and others related to Jefferson County bond transactions, BLOUNT bought expensive clothing and jewelry for LANGFORD from stores such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Turbell & Asser, Tourneau, Ermenegildo Zegna, and Century 21. Several of these items were mailed to LANGFORD’S county office. BLOUNT and LAPIERRE set up an account at Remon’s Clothiers in downtown Birmingham for LANGFORD. Over the next several years, LANGFORD bought clothing from Remon’s and BLOUNT and LAPIERRE paid LANGFORD’S account. BLOUNT also bought Rolex watches and other expensive jewelry from Bromberg & Co. for LANGFORD. (Counts 10-86).
Counts 87-89 charged LANGFORD with filing false tax returns for the years 2003, 2004, and 2005. He is charged with failing to report taxable income, the value of the bribes, totaling $125,356.73 in 2003; $81,419.52 in 2004; and $22,186.97 in 2005. Counts 95-98 charge LAPIERRE with filing false tax returns for the years 2003 - 2006 for under reporting his income by over $280,000.
"Public officials must comply with the same tax obligations as the citizens they were elected to serve. No one is above the law" stated Reginael D. McDaniel, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.
Counts 90-94 charges BLOUNT with mail fraud and bribery in connection with his bribing of former Jefferson County Commission Mary M. Buckelew who served with LANGFORD on the Commission. These bribes arose from the purchase of expensive items from the Salvatore Ferragamo store and spa treatment on New York City trips in 2003 and 2004. Buckelew pleaded guilty earlier this fall and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
Counts 99-101 seek criminal forfeiture in the amount of approximately $7.6 million from each defendant. This amount includes the bribes paid to and accepted by LANGFORD, as well as the fees paid to BLOUNT and LAPIERRE.
LANGFORD is named in 60 counts of the Superseding Indictment, BLOUNT is named in 43 counts, and LAPIERRE is named in 22 counts. The maximum term of imprisonment for each bribery and money laundering count is 10 years, each fraud count is 20 years, the conspiracy count is 5 years, and each tax count is 3 years. In addition to many years in prison, each defendant faces substantial maximum fines.
This case was investigated by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service. Assistant United States Attorneys Matt Hart, Tamarra Matthews Johnson, Scarlett Singleton, and George Martin are prosecuting this case on behalf of the United States.
Members of the public are reminded that the superseding indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
FBI Home Page | Birmingham Press Releases
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 1, 2008
www.usdoj.gov/usao/aln
CONTACT: KAREN NARAMORE
PHONE: (205) 244-2001
FAX: (205) 244-2171
BIRMINGHAM MAYOR LARRY P. LANGFORD, INVESTMENT BANKER WILLIAM B. BLOUNT, AND LOBBYIST ALBERT W. LAPIERRE INDICTED $7.6 MILLION SOUGHT IN FORFEITURE FOR BRIBERY SCHEME
BIRMINGHAM, AL - LARRY P. LANGFORD, 62, Mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, and former President of the Jefferson County, Alabama, Commission, WILLIAM B. BLOUNT, 55, a Montgomery, Alabama, investment banker, and ALBERT W. LAPIERRE, 58, a lobbyist in Birmingham, Alabama, have been indicted on charges of conspiracy, bribery, fraud, money laundering, and filing false tax returns in connection with a long-running bribery scheme related to bond and other financial transactions of Jefferson County. The 101 count federal indictment was unsealed this morning in U.S. District Court according to U.S. Attorney Alice H. Martin, Special Agent in Charge Carmen Adams of the Birmingham Division of the FBI, and Reginael D. McDaniel, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations. This indictment supersedes an indictment returned in June that has remained under seal while the investigation continued.
“Former Commission President Langford owed a duty of loyalty to Jefferson County in the administration of the county’s financial affairs. He sold out his public office to his friends Blount and LaPierre for about $235,000 in expensive clothes, Rolex watches and cash to pay his growing personal debt. All the while, Blount was paid fees topping $7 million,” said U. S. Attorney Alice H. Martin. “Through a web of financing agreements, Langford required many institutions to use Blount as a consultant so Blount would make fees and in turn payoff Langford. It was a classic pay to play scheme.”
LANGFORD conspired to solicit and accept bribes from BLOUNT and LAPIERRE to use his influence as President of the Jefferson County Commission and head of the Department of Finance and General Services to include BLOUNT and his company, Blount Parish & Co., Inc., in Jefferson County financial transactions, primarily bond and swap transactions related to Jefferson County’s multi-billion dollar sewer debt. Some of the financial transactions were handled through JP Morgan which, as a condition for getting the financing business of the county through LANGFORD, had to pay Blount Parrish fees, or associate Goldman Sachs which then paid Blount Parrish consulting fees. Another example of LANGFORD’S assistance to BLOUNT was on Ocotber 20, 2003, when LANGFORD, acting for the Jefferson County Commission, entered into a financial transaction for $110 million that included Bank of America and Lehman Brothers Special Financing, Inc. The agreement required Lehman Brothers to pay a broker’s fee or arrangement fee of $35,000 to Blount Parrish and Co., Inc. Between 2003 and 2006 BLOUNT and his companies received approximately $7.1 million in fees in connection with Jefferson County financial transactions. BLOUNT, in turn, paid LAPIERRE approximately $219,500 in consulting fees. To influence and reward LANGFORD in connection with Jefferson County financial transactions, BLOUNT and LAPIERRE paid, and LANGFORD solicited and accepted, approximately $235,000 in cash, loan pay offs, and expensive clothing and jewelry.
“The message today should be clear. It does not matter what position you hold or what connections you have. If you choose to violate the public’s trust you will be held accountable for your actions,” stated Carmen S. Adams, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Among the items of value offered by BLOUNT and LAPIERRE and solicited and accepted LANGFORD to influence and reward him in connection with financial transactions from which BLOUNT and LAPIERRE were paid substantial fees are:
BLOUNT transferred $69,000 to LAPIERRE, who wrote a check to LANGFORD for that same amount. LANGFORD then deposited the money into his account and used a portion of the money to purchase audio equipment and expensive clothing. (Counts 1-5)
BLOUNT helped LANGFORD obtain a $50,000 six month, unsecured loan from Colonial Bank. When this loan became past due, LAPIERRE obtained a $50,000 loan from Colonial Bank to pay the LANGFORD loan. BLOUNT then transferred $50,000 to LAPIERRE to pay off LAPIERRE’S Colonial Bank loan.(Count 6, paragraphs 8-9, 16-18)
BLOUNT transferred $30,000 to LAPIERRE, who wrote a check to LANGFORD for that same amount. LANGFORD then used the money to obtain an official bank check to pay his personal taxes. (Counts 7-9)
While on trips to New York City with LANGFORD and others related to Jefferson County bond transactions, BLOUNT bought expensive clothing and jewelry for LANGFORD from stores such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Turbell & Asser, Tourneau, Ermenegildo Zegna, and Century 21. Several of these items were mailed to LANGFORD’S county office. BLOUNT and LAPIERRE set up an account at Remon’s Clothiers in downtown Birmingham for LANGFORD. Over the next several years, LANGFORD bought clothing from Remon’s and BLOUNT and LAPIERRE paid LANGFORD’S account. BLOUNT also bought Rolex watches and other expensive jewelry from Bromberg & Co. for LANGFORD. (Counts 10-86).
Counts 87-89 charged LANGFORD with filing false tax returns for the years 2003, 2004, and 2005. He is charged with failing to report taxable income, the value of the bribes, totaling $125,356.73 in 2003; $81,419.52 in 2004; and $22,186.97 in 2005. Counts 95-98 charge LAPIERRE with filing false tax returns for the years 2003 - 2006 for under reporting his income by over $280,000.
"Public officials must comply with the same tax obligations as the citizens they were elected to serve. No one is above the law" stated Reginael D. McDaniel, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.
Counts 90-94 charges BLOUNT with mail fraud and bribery in connection with his bribing of former Jefferson County Commission Mary M. Buckelew who served with LANGFORD on the Commission. These bribes arose from the purchase of expensive items from the Salvatore Ferragamo store and spa treatment on New York City trips in 2003 and 2004. Buckelew pleaded guilty earlier this fall and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
Counts 99-101 seek criminal forfeiture in the amount of approximately $7.6 million from each defendant. This amount includes the bribes paid to and accepted by LANGFORD, as well as the fees paid to BLOUNT and LAPIERRE.
LANGFORD is named in 60 counts of the Superseding Indictment, BLOUNT is named in 43 counts, and LAPIERRE is named in 22 counts. The maximum term of imprisonment for each bribery and money laundering count is 10 years, each fraud count is 20 years, the conspiracy count is 5 years, and each tax count is 3 years. In addition to many years in prison, each defendant faces substantial maximum fines.
This case was investigated by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service. Assistant United States Attorneys Matt Hart, Tamarra Matthews Johnson, Scarlett Singleton, and George Martin are prosecuting this case on behalf of the United States.
Members of the public are reminded that the superseding indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
FBI Home Page | Birmingham Press Releases
LEEANA FREEMAN MISSES HER FIRST CITY COMMISSION MEETING
City Commissioner LEEANA FREEMAN missed her first City Commission meeting last night, following in the distinguished footsteps of her former law partner, SUSAN BURK, who missed dozens of meetings, sometimes nearly dozing off when she did attend meetings, smirking and rolling her eyes when citizens spoke.
So far, FREEMAN has a 100% record of missing City Commission meetings. Last night, FREEMAN was said to be "on safari." LEEANA FREEMAN was elected to fill BURK's place on August 26, 2008, time enough to know she had a meeting on December 1st.
If LEEANA FREEMAN had attended last night, she could have cast her vote for our new Vice Mayor, ERROL JONES (a/k/a ERRONEOUS JONES a/k/a VICE MAYOR IN CHARGE OF VICE).
LEEANA FREEMAN also might have voted on the procedural rules that govern Commission meetings for the next two years. The new ones raise questions she might have asked. In her absence, there was no one with the perspicacity to ask clarification.
LEEANA FREEMAN also might have heard MAYOR JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. acknowledge two persons in the audience -- former County Commissioner BRUCE MAGUIRE (who spent over $16 per vote in his unsuccessful race for re-election in 2006) and retired advertising milliionaire PHIL McDANIEL (a/k/a PHIL THE SHILL, a/k/a PHILISTINE FOSSIL PHIL, the self-annointed head of the Cultural Council, whose attacks on St. George Street artists and entertainers and St. Augustine Record cartoonist bespeak a toady of WILLIAM B. HARRISS' political machine, not a supporter of arts and culture).
See below for more on PHIL THE SHILL a/k/a PHILISTINE PHIL and his attack on a cartoonist for the St. Augustine Record.
So far, FREEMAN has a 100% record of missing City Commission meetings. Last night, FREEMAN was said to be "on safari." LEEANA FREEMAN was elected to fill BURK's place on August 26, 2008, time enough to know she had a meeting on December 1st.
If LEEANA FREEMAN had attended last night, she could have cast her vote for our new Vice Mayor, ERROL JONES (a/k/a ERRONEOUS JONES a/k/a VICE MAYOR IN CHARGE OF VICE).
LEEANA FREEMAN also might have voted on the procedural rules that govern Commission meetings for the next two years. The new ones raise questions she might have asked. In her absence, there was no one with the perspicacity to ask clarification.
LEEANA FREEMAN also might have heard MAYOR JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. acknowledge two persons in the audience -- former County Commissioner BRUCE MAGUIRE (who spent over $16 per vote in his unsuccessful race for re-election in 2006) and retired advertising milliionaire PHIL McDANIEL (a/k/a PHIL THE SHILL, a/k/a PHILISTINE FOSSIL PHIL, the self-annointed head of the Cultural Council, whose attacks on St. George Street artists and entertainers and St. Augustine Record cartoonist bespeak a toady of WILLIAM B. HARRISS' political machine, not a supporter of arts and culture).
See below for more on PHIL THE SHILL a/k/a PHILISTINE PHIL and his attack on a cartoonist for the St. Augustine Record.
Monday, December 01, 2008
CONCEITED REPUBLICAN MILLIONAIRE PHILLIP A. McDANIEL's COLUMN ATTACKS CARTOONIST, SHOWS LACK OF APPRECIATION FOR ARTISTIC LICENSE
PHILIP A. McDANIEL a/k/a "PHIL THE SHILL" -- DID REGISTERED REPUBLICAN PHILIP A. McDANIEL MISREAD CARTOON AS ATTACK ON SUPT. JOYNER, GETTING LONGTIME ST. AUGUSTINE RECORD CARTOONIST CANNED IN RETALIATION FOR FIRST AMENDMENT PROTECTED ACTIVITY?
See below.
Registered Republican PHIL McDANIEL is a retired advertising millionaire who dabbles in the arts and got his wife a $30,000 no-bid contract for art associated with the $25 million parking garage.
Republican PHIL McDANIEL throws his weight around, writing speeches for Commissioners, attacking dissenters, kissing up to City Commissioners at last year's untelevised budget hearing, telling City Commissioners they are doing a great job.
Is it Republican PHIL McDANIEL who is "offensive," trying to cost political cartoonist Ed Hall his job freelancing for the St. Augustine Record? Is it PHIL McDANIEL who is offensive, recently in such a hurry to shake the hand of County Commissioner J. Kenneth Bryan's brother that McDANIEL stuck his elbow in the stomach of someone who was speaking to the Bryans (never apologizing)? (That was me).
We understand that cartoonist Ed Hall has been "temporarily suspended" from working for the Record and may be canned as a result of pressures brought to bear by ST. JOHNS COUNTY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT JOSEPH JOYNER.
Corrupt NYC BOSS WILLIAM MARCY TWEED didn't like cartoonists either -- he and his minions railed at cartoonist's accuracy, too. If it weren't for those "darned pictures" -- Thomas Nast's BOSS TWEED cartoons -- NYC public opinion might not have been aroused against BOSS TWEED, who might never have gone to prison but for Thomas Nast's political cartoons (which we've reprinted on this blog a time or two).
St. Johns County political apparatchiks are pretty insecure to attack cartoonists.
They are no different than dictators everywhere. Republicans are thin-skinned and can't stand criticism, even by editorial cartoonists.
Contrary to PHIL McDANIEL's ukase, the cartoon makes no reference to St. Johns County. None at all. This humorless hyperbolic hick doesn't understand that there's a world outside St. Augustine.
PHIL McDANIEl'S hopelessly provincial.
People should write and call the St. Augustine Record and ask that Ed Hall's cartoon be restored. Call Editor Peter Ellis at 819-3517. Call PHIL McDANIEL, too.
The Herblock Foundation, Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press, Committee to Protect Journalists and other public interest groups should be all over this like a chicken on a junebug.
PHIL A. McDANIEL should hang his head in shame -- this miscreant's the head of the St. Johns County Cultural Council. PHILIP A McDANIEL gets a new nickname -- "PHIL the SHILL." Unless and until he apologizes for being a shill, "PHIL THE SHILL" should consider resigning as head of the Cultural Council.
The word in Russian is "nikulturny" (uncultured). Republican PHIL McDANIEL's mind is uncluttered by complexity and he's no friends of the arts. Call him a Repug thug.
He has no more business doling out money to artists than a bagman has handing out citizenship awards.
People should write and call the St. Augustine Record and ask that Ed Hall's cartoon be restored. Call Editor Peter Ellis at 819-3517. Call PHIL McDANIEL, too.
The Herblock Foundation, Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press, Committee to Protect Journalists and other public interest groups should be all over this like a chicken on a junebug.
PHIL A. McDANIEL should hang his head in shame -- this miscreant's the head of the St. Johns County Cultural Council. PHILIP A McDANIEL gets a new nickname -- "PHIL the SHILL." Unless and until he apologizes for being a shill, "PHIL THE SHILL" should consider resigning as head of the Cultural Council.
The word in Russian is "nikulturny" (uncultured). Republican PHIL McDANIEL's mind is uncluttered by complexity and he's no friends of the arts. Call him a Repug thug.
He has no more business doling out money to artists than a bagman has handing out citizenship awards.
Guest Column: Cartoon offensive, facts inaccurate
Guest Column: Cartoon offensive, facts inaccurate
By PHILIP McDANIEL
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 11/30/08
I was saddened and disappointed to see your artist's cartoon in the Nov. 23 Record regarding the school district administration. The image was as offensive as it was inaccurate.
Since well before my involvement with the St. Johns Cultural Council, I have known and admired Dr. Joe Joyner. We met in the Leadership St. Johns class of 2004. From our very first conversation, I knew that Joe understood and valued visual and performing arts as an integral part of a high-quality, public education.
For your information, every elementary school in the district offers art and music, along with all our middle and high schools. National studies confirm the correlation between strong arts curriculum and academic achievement.
I firmly believe that this one of the main reasons why St. Johns County schools consistently rank in the top three counties (out of 67) in the state.
To further the point of the district's support of arts and music, we are perhaps the only county of our size in the state to have not one, but two specialized centers for arts learning: St. Augustine High and Murray Middle School Centers for the Arts.
While we may be in for some rough times in the next 12 to 24 months, I sleep well at night knowing our school district's administration will continue to protect and support student access to arts, music, and theater.
On behalf of the St. Johns County Cultural Council, we are proud of our partnership with the county's artists, cultural organizations and, in particular, our school district.
Note to artist: Please check your facts next time before you mislead (sic) the public with a rendering as erroneous as the one in question. It's ironic that you would have used your artistic skills in defamation (sic) of the very subject that is one the most valued in our school district.
Philip McDaniel is a 15-year resident of St. Augustine and has been associated with several quality of life projects including Project SWING, the New Davis Shores Park, and the restoration of the Cultural Center at St. Augustine Beach Pier. He currently serves as board president for the St. Johns County Cultural Council, the local arts agency for St. Johns County.
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/113008/opinions_1130_043.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES -- Still more St. Augustine Record propaganda for Flagler College
See below. They're brazen and not even subtle.
Flagler College has property worth over $120 million.
It pays a pittance -- only some $121,000 (and change) annually to the City of St. Augustine. It should be several millions.
No one else was given a chance at the old FEC buildings -- it was a sweetheart deal that took $25,000 off our tax rolls in the dark of night.
Whenever someone sets up a strawman (about those and them), ask yourself, "Cui bono?"
Who benefits?
Not the people of St. Augustine, who are subsidizing with taxes a radically right-wing school where propaganda reigns, where no professor has tenure, where there are no unions, where everyone fears right-wing Chancellor WILLIAM L. PROCTOR (Republican Lord of all he surveys and our right-wing Representative in the Florida Legislature. Racist statements are made in Flagler College classroom's without professorial rebuttal (sometimes by local law enforcement officers). Flagler College has very few African-American students (subject of a complaint to the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights).
So, Messrs. ABARE and PROCTOR, exactly what is it you claim to do for the City of St. Augustine? Any economic activity (even a nuclear bomb factory), has a multiplier effect. Saying Flagler College has a multiplier effect is as unilluminating as stating that a Superfund site has a multiplier effect.
Any college worthy of the name would be secure enough to grant faculty members tenure and to make Payments in Lieu of Taxex (PILOT) the way Yale does to New Haven.
Until that happens, Flagler College will be a Confederacy of Dunces, exploiting faculty and students and spouting uninformed information from professors afraid of their shadows -- like the one who spends a week on bias in the supposed liberal media (but none on biased in local Florida media).
Thanks to former Count Administrator and County Commissioner Nicholas Meiszner -- on WFOY-AM radio he was asked (and candidly answered) a question about students -- he said the ones he taught at Flagler College couldn't read or write well and had very little to say in their essays.
And that's the way it is when there's no academic and no faculty unions, a fact that many people learn for the first time upon reading this blog (as an increasing number of students and parents across Florida and the USA discover on Internet searches).
So, Flagler College Chancellor WILLIAM L. PROCATOR, tell us why you won't have unions or tenure. Put it on your website. Go ahead, make my day.
Flagler College has property worth over $120 million.
It pays a pittance -- only some $121,000 (and change) annually to the City of St. Augustine. It should be several millions.
No one else was given a chance at the old FEC buildings -- it was a sweetheart deal that took $25,000 off our tax rolls in the dark of night.
Whenever someone sets up a strawman (about those and them), ask yourself, "Cui bono?"
Who benefits?
Not the people of St. Augustine, who are subsidizing with taxes a radically right-wing school where propaganda reigns, where no professor has tenure, where there are no unions, where everyone fears right-wing Chancellor WILLIAM L. PROCTOR (Republican Lord of all he surveys and our right-wing Representative in the Florida Legislature. Racist statements are made in Flagler College classroom's without professorial rebuttal (sometimes by local law enforcement officers). Flagler College has very few African-American students (subject of a complaint to the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights).
So, Messrs. ABARE and PROCTOR, exactly what is it you claim to do for the City of St. Augustine? Any economic activity (even a nuclear bomb factory), has a multiplier effect. Saying Flagler College has a multiplier effect is as unilluminating as stating that a Superfund site has a multiplier effect.
Any college worthy of the name would be secure enough to grant faculty members tenure and to make Payments in Lieu of Taxex (PILOT) the way Yale does to New Haven.
Until that happens, Flagler College will be a Confederacy of Dunces, exploiting faculty and students and spouting uninformed information from professors afraid of their shadows -- like the one who spends a week on bias in the supposed liberal media (but none on biased in local Florida media).
Thanks to former Count Administrator and County Commissioner Nicholas Meiszner -- on WFOY-AM radio he was asked (and candidly answered) a question about students -- he said the ones he taught at Flagler College couldn't read or write well and had very little to say in their essays.
And that's the way it is when there's no academic and no faculty unions, a fact that many people learn for the first time upon reading this blog (as an increasing number of students and parents across Florida and the USA discover on Internet searches).
So, Flagler College Chancellor WILLIAM L. PROCATOR, tell us why you won't have unions or tenure. Put it on your website. Go ahead, make my day.
Big buildings on campus
Big buildings on campus
Henry Flagler's railway towers now part of Flagler College
By MARCIA LANE
marcia.lane@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 12/01/08
When Kathy O'Keefe, head of Flagler College's alumni relations, looks out the windows of her new office, she can see the building where her dad once worked and the corner where she waited for him on playground swings.
"It's emotional for me," she admits, standing in her office on the third floor of A Building, one in the set of three identical towers at the corner of Malaga and King streets that once housed the headquarters of Florida East Coast Railway.
Her father was an executive on the third floor of the building next to her, in the office location that's identical to hers.
"Now it's the women's dorm," O'Keefe says. The third building houses male students.
The three buildings are a local landmark tied to the railway built by Gilded Age industrialist and Florida promoter Henry Flagler.
Now they're home to nearly 200 Flagler College students and workspace for employees displaced from Markland, administration offices for the college and once Henry Flagler's residence.
For students it's a rare opportunity to live in a building of marble walls and floors, egg and dart molding, bronze-trimmed elevators and 15-foot ceilings.
For the college it's a chance to keep building a community.
William Abare, the college's president, credits Florida East Coast Industries CEO Adolfo Henriquez with making the deal possible. The college originally approached the company about some day acquiring parking space between the buildings and a City of St. Augustine fire station.
Two months later Henriquez came back to him and "basically made an offer we couldn't refuse," Abare says.
The offer was a purchase/gift agreement with $7.6 million gifted to the college by FEC. The college paid $10 million for its part of the deal. Abare says it was "the largest single gift that the college ever received in its history."
The company had decided to move its headquarters to Jacksonville. As part of its agreement with the college the exterior of the buildings stay the same and the buildings remain known as FEC buildings A, B and C. The FEC Railway signs will remain in place.
The company, which had done a major building renovation in 2000, also left all the furniture for college use.
Flagler has spent an estimated $9 million more renovating two of the buildings for student use, improving parking and security and enhancing the landscaping.
The parking lot gives students a place for their cars and has helped relieve the ever-present problem of enough parking spaces.
Walk through the marble hallways linking the bottom floors and you wouldn't be surprised to see people in business suits. Instead you'll run into casually dressed Flagler students headed for class or maybe chilling out in the lounge areas. A uniformed security officer mans the security cameras at a desk in the hall.
Popular dorms
Glenn Josephik, head resident adviser for the men's dorm, says the majority of the students in the two floors he oversees are freshmen. Originally, he says, officials were "unsure we'd be able to fill the buildings."
That's turned out not to be a problem.
"We're trying to have more activities to build a sense of community on campus," Josephik says. A new student center a couple of blocks away is helping.
The main drawback students living in the FEC buildings find is "It's a little bit of a walk, especially when it's raining."
Student cards provide access into the buildings and through them, although the cards also limit them to their own areas. Josephik says some students don't like the fact the facilities aren't co-ed, but he notes parents seem to appreciate the division of the sexes and believe the security increases safety.
Moving in
While dorms are filled, the office building is still in a state of flux as officials move in and unpack. Officials quickly discovered the frosted glass windowed offices, while spacious, don't have closets.
"We have a good track record on preservation," notes Leslee Keys, director of the college's Corporate, Foundation and Government Relations Office of Institutional Advancement. After all, Henry Flagler's grand Ponce de Leon hotel is the main building of the college, which was founded 40 years ago.
Keys is also an expert on architecture and speaks with appreciation about the incredible detail and design that make up the three structures.
"Even though it's an office building, they put in a lot of detail," she says. Among the items that are staying, she points out, are the office directories on the first floor that will retain the names of those who once were housed there.
Nicole Pece, who works in the college's advancement office and is now in A building, appreciates the view and the history.
"The view is spectacular," Pece says.
One detail she loves are the marble stairs.
"When you walk on them, you can see where people's shoes have worn them down through the years."
Additional space
Abare says part of the building may be used for classrooms and he can see it as temporary headquarters for the Communications Department if the college decides to rebuild its current offices. "It would be a perfect location," he notes.
FLAGLER COLLEGEA PROPAGANDA: While some protested over the buildings going to the college, Abare points out the college is "very, very responsible in terms of growth. We're trying to utilize the resources we have -- and make the best use of facilities we have."
MORE FLAGLER COLLEGE PROPAGANDA: While the buildings may not be on the tax roll, the college does put money back into the town and has helped preserve a number of buildings, he says, adding the economic impact is substantial.
ABOUT THE BUILDINGS
* Served as Florida East Coast Railway offices from late 1920s until 2006
* Flagler College received them as part of gift/purchase agreement from FEC
* A Building houses college offices
* B building houses women's dorm
* C building houses men's dorm
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/120108/news_120108_001.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Henry Flagler's railway towers now part of Flagler College
By MARCIA LANE
marcia.lane@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 12/01/08
When Kathy O'Keefe, head of Flagler College's alumni relations, looks out the windows of her new office, she can see the building where her dad once worked and the corner where she waited for him on playground swings.
"It's emotional for me," she admits, standing in her office on the third floor of A Building, one in the set of three identical towers at the corner of Malaga and King streets that once housed the headquarters of Florida East Coast Railway.
Her father was an executive on the third floor of the building next to her, in the office location that's identical to hers.
"Now it's the women's dorm," O'Keefe says. The third building houses male students.
The three buildings are a local landmark tied to the railway built by Gilded Age industrialist and Florida promoter Henry Flagler.
Now they're home to nearly 200 Flagler College students and workspace for employees displaced from Markland, administration offices for the college and once Henry Flagler's residence.
For students it's a rare opportunity to live in a building of marble walls and floors, egg and dart molding, bronze-trimmed elevators and 15-foot ceilings.
For the college it's a chance to keep building a community.
William Abare, the college's president, credits Florida East Coast Industries CEO Adolfo Henriquez with making the deal possible. The college originally approached the company about some day acquiring parking space between the buildings and a City of St. Augustine fire station.
Two months later Henriquez came back to him and "basically made an offer we couldn't refuse," Abare says.
The offer was a purchase/gift agreement with $7.6 million gifted to the college by FEC. The college paid $10 million for its part of the deal. Abare says it was "the largest single gift that the college ever received in its history."
The company had decided to move its headquarters to Jacksonville. As part of its agreement with the college the exterior of the buildings stay the same and the buildings remain known as FEC buildings A, B and C. The FEC Railway signs will remain in place.
The company, which had done a major building renovation in 2000, also left all the furniture for college use.
Flagler has spent an estimated $9 million more renovating two of the buildings for student use, improving parking and security and enhancing the landscaping.
The parking lot gives students a place for their cars and has helped relieve the ever-present problem of enough parking spaces.
Walk through the marble hallways linking the bottom floors and you wouldn't be surprised to see people in business suits. Instead you'll run into casually dressed Flagler students headed for class or maybe chilling out in the lounge areas. A uniformed security officer mans the security cameras at a desk in the hall.
Popular dorms
Glenn Josephik, head resident adviser for the men's dorm, says the majority of the students in the two floors he oversees are freshmen. Originally, he says, officials were "unsure we'd be able to fill the buildings."
That's turned out not to be a problem.
"We're trying to have more activities to build a sense of community on campus," Josephik says. A new student center a couple of blocks away is helping.
The main drawback students living in the FEC buildings find is "It's a little bit of a walk, especially when it's raining."
Student cards provide access into the buildings and through them, although the cards also limit them to their own areas. Josephik says some students don't like the fact the facilities aren't co-ed, but he notes parents seem to appreciate the division of the sexes and believe the security increases safety.
Moving in
While dorms are filled, the office building is still in a state of flux as officials move in and unpack. Officials quickly discovered the frosted glass windowed offices, while spacious, don't have closets.
"We have a good track record on preservation," notes Leslee Keys, director of the college's Corporate, Foundation and Government Relations Office of Institutional Advancement. After all, Henry Flagler's grand Ponce de Leon hotel is the main building of the college, which was founded 40 years ago.
Keys is also an expert on architecture and speaks with appreciation about the incredible detail and design that make up the three structures.
"Even though it's an office building, they put in a lot of detail," she says. Among the items that are staying, she points out, are the office directories on the first floor that will retain the names of those who once were housed there.
Nicole Pece, who works in the college's advancement office and is now in A building, appreciates the view and the history.
"The view is spectacular," Pece says.
One detail she loves are the marble stairs.
"When you walk on them, you can see where people's shoes have worn them down through the years."
Additional space
Abare says part of the building may be used for classrooms and he can see it as temporary headquarters for the Communications Department if the college decides to rebuild its current offices. "It would be a perfect location," he notes.
FLAGLER COLLEGEA PROPAGANDA: While some protested over the buildings going to the college, Abare points out the college is "very, very responsible in terms of growth. We're trying to utilize the resources we have -- and make the best use of facilities we have."
MORE FLAGLER COLLEGE PROPAGANDA: While the buildings may not be on the tax roll, the college does put money back into the town and has helped preserve a number of buildings, he says, adding the economic impact is substantial.
ABOUT THE BUILDINGS
* Served as Florida East Coast Railway offices from late 1920s until 2006
* Flagler College received them as part of gift/purchase agreement from FEC
* A Building houses college offices
* B building houses women's dorm
* C building houses men's dorm
Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/120108/news_120108_001.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
TAMPABAY.COM: Our Congressman John Mica, Thrall For CSX Railroad, Tries to Blackmail Hillsborough County To Agree to No-Fault Liability For CSX!
"Mica also used the opportunity to restate his support for the proposed no-fault liability arrangement between the state and CSX for the Central Florida commuter rail project, saying the proposal is 'not outlandish or overreaching.' Mica urged Hillsborough rail supporters to work with the legislature to come to an agreement on the liability issue. 'You're on hold and everybody else is on hold until that gets resolved,' he said."
http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2008/11/micas-stoked-ab.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)