TS - Letter to the Editor
On July 11, District Attorney Paul Gallegos appeared before Humboldt County's Code Enforcement Task Force and shared what the press reported as “his frustrations about” a “mutant” structure where he has no authority over code officers, yet all the responsibility for their actions in the field” (Eureka Reporter, 7-12), and he isn't “comfortable with deputizing code enforcement investigators if they are not his employees” (Times-Standard, 7-12). As is often the case with Mr. Gallegos, the truth is otherwise.
For over seven years I was employed by the California District Attorneys Association as a “circuit prosecutor,” in which I was deputized by elected district attorneys in three counties, including by Gallegos. As my legal authority flowed from these elected DA's to me, at all times I answered in my actions as a deputy DA directly to them. On numerous occasions I pointed out this fact to my supervisors in Sacramento, who sometimes felt that they, as my employer, could direct me in my exercise of the DA's authority.
Mr. Gallegos seeks to have it both ways. He has deputized these peace officers, who act under his authority as code enforcement officers, yet claims he cannot control them as his deputies. This is hogwash. The solution is obvious: Insist that these deputies operate subject to his oversight or remove their authority.
It remains unfortunate that our chief law enforcement officer refuses to take responsibility for his actions, placing blame elsewhere. Citizens should rightly expect leadership and honesty, not platitudes and excuses.
Paul Hagen
Eureka
***
Update: July 22, 2008 Well! That drew a response from the long dormant Salzman Communications Director, once again struggling to defend Paul Gallegos. What don't you know? The Emperor's clothes are spun of the finest silk! With 24 karat gold embroidery on the hem, and the finest jewels on the bodice. Can't you see it? If you can't, according to the chief deceptor Michael Twombly, you must be a "disgruntled" ex-employee. One who was FIRED thanks to Gallegos. Michael Twombly must be the last rat on this sinking ship. Looks like he's trying to thwart anyone running against his boy.
Hagen should do his homework - Letter to the Editor
Mr. Hagen's screed about the District Attorney's problems with Humboldt's code officers (Hogwash, Mr. Gallegos) a is little but a disgruntled ex-employee's self-serving run-up to challenging Gallegos in the next DA election.
Mr. Hagen's circuit prosecutor position with the DA's Association in years past is not comparable to the “mutant structure” in which Gallegos has no legal authority over code enforcers, but as DA has official responsibility for their irresponsible, dangerous and provocative activities.
This is an obviously intolerable position for any district attorney and needs to be fixed.
In fact, Gallegos states that that deputies must either operate responsibly under his authority or lose their deputy status under the DA's office.
This seems pretty reasonable.
Mr. Hagen needs to do his homework before throwing his hogwash hat in the ring.
Michael Twombly
Bayside
Scared, Mr. Twombly. So quick to jump to the defense. Of the utterly indefensible.
Showing posts with label Michael Twombly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Twombly. Show all posts
7.22.2008
3.24.2007
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Finally: The Truth about PL/Maxxam's Lies
A Titan of Logging Threatens to Topple [L.A. Times]
'Room to Grow?' for Local Housing
Pacific Lumber Tries to Cut It Both Ways [LTE]
Maxxam Machinations Demand Local Solutions
[ More in News Section ]
The Alliance for Ethical Business
Humboldt County is one of the greatest places on earth. With our dramatic seascapes, our temperate climate, our magnificent forests and our small-town culture, Humboldt is truly one of America's hidden gems. But for the people of Humboldt to retain our high quality of life we need a strategy to create good, new jobs that protect our communities and respect the natural environment. For too long we have allowed outside companies to abuse our trust and disrespect the community. The Alliance for Ethical Business believes that Humboldt can grow and attract ethical businesses in a range of industries, including agriculture, manufacturing, sustainable forestry, crafts, and tourism. Sign-up here for action alerts so you can take action today for a prosperous and beautiful Humboldt County. And visit Healthy Humboldt for updates and information about the General Plan Update process at: http://www.HealthyHumboldt.org.
Finally: The Truth about PL/Maxxam's Lies
May 5, 2005
Responding to Pacific Lumber Company’s claims of financial crisis, the State Water Resources Control Board has released what is quite likely the most thorough and authoritative analysis of the PL’s finances ever made public, finding that the company’s dire predicatment “is the result of the risky business model that (parent company)MAXXAM has chosen to follow.”
This study was commissioned by the State Water Board to determine whether increased regulation by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB) may be responsible for PL’s proclaimed economic crisis. The study specifically responds to various claims made by Pacific Lumber in a March 15, 2005 Economic White Paper, and analyzes Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings by Pacific Lumber, Scotia Pacific, and MAXXAM going back to 1993.
The report concludes that “MAXXAM has taken money out of PALCO in subtle and complex ways and has directed PALCO to harvest trees at rates that greatly exceeds sustainable forest practices. MAXXAM has put PALCO at risk by borrowing large sums of money, not paying down its long-term debt, and thereby keeping PALCO a highly leveraged company.” (Read More...)
Maxxam Machinations Demand Local Solutions
My Word by Michael Twombly
Times Standard - February 8, 2005
The Los Angeles Times reported last week on a closed-door meeting between Charles Hurwitz, CEO of Maxxam (parent of Pacific Lumber) and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. They conferred on the likelihood of Pacific Lumber’s impending bankruptcy. The meeting included Undersecretary of CAL-EPA James Branham, formerly of PL and “broker of the Headwaters deal.? The Times editorialized “Californians may get to see up close how well or ill the revolving door of public service/private industry serves the public’s purpose.?
Hurwitz, through his myriads of shell companies, took many hundreds of millions of dollars from this once proud, sustainable and responsible company by mortgaging PL’s vast timber assets. He intentionally burdened PL and its spin offs with so much debt that they cannot legally cut enough timber to pay off the approximately $100 million in annual interest on the debt while still covering operating costs, Rather than make up for this shortfall from the hundreds of millions he has taken from PL, Hurwitz has found it eminently more profitable and expedient to threaten PL’s bankruptcy and the termination of hundreds of its loyal employees. (Read More...)
Pacific Lumber Tries to Cut It Both Ways [LTE]
Letters to the Editor - L.A. Times
Pacific Lumber Tries to Cut It Both Ways
January 29, 2005
Re "Bankruptcy Threat With an Edge," Jan. 25: Perhaps Pacific Lumber Co. is "running out of logs" because timber companies such as Pacific Lumber have already deforested the vast majority of virgin forest in the United States.
Permits to cut protected stands should not be issued. Do we want to silt more streams, create more flooding and lose the last of our first-generation forests? To halt financial losses, Pacific Lumber should implement more sustainable business practices (i.e. don't clear-cut everything in sight).
Bjorn Fredrickson
Seattle (Read More...)
A Titan of Logging Threatens to Topple [L.A. Times]
By Tim Reiterman
Times Staff Writer
February 21, 2005
REDCREST, Calif. — Whenever Pacific Lumber Co. planned to dispatch helicopters to log its nearby redwood groves, the company would phone Christine Rising at her vine-draped bungalow above the Eel River.
After finding someone to care for her horses, dogs, cats and pot-bellied pig, Rising, 51, would pack her clothes and head down the dirt road toward a Eureka hotel about an hour's drive away. Then for days or weeks, she could escape the beat of helicopter blades that she says wreak havoc with her surgically repaired left ear, causing nausea, dizziness and even blackouts.
For Pacific Lumber, paying Rising's hotel bills for a few years was a cost of doing business — a relatively inexpensive goodwill gesture by a company that could ill afford more enemies or more obstacles to harvesting its valuable Humboldt County timberlands.
But early last year, Rising says, she had to start fending for herself. Although Pacific Lumber says it will help her out with her medical expenses, it has stopped paying to relocate her.
For Rising, who lives on an $850-a-month government disability payment, the development was a heartless move by one of California's most powerful natural resource companies. But it also was one more sign that a company that has been a pillar of California's north coast economy for nearly a century and a half is in trouble. (Read More...)
Palco's bad deal is everyone's bad deal [Times-Standard]
Sunday, February 13, 2005 -
The Times-Standard
The Pacific Lumber Co. has on many occasions warned courts, critics and boards that it rests on the verge of bankruptcy if things don't go its way. In this latest round, it offers what seems to be its most desperate cry.
Everyone is taking the company seriously this time. Employees are worried. Businesses are worried. Contractors are worried. Bondholders are worried. Standard and Poors is worried enough to put Palco's $750 million worth of timber notes on watch for another decline in rating.
And lots of people are worried that Palco's intonations that it might slip out from under the provisions of the Headwaters Forest agreement might be for real. Indeed, it already has skirted these requirements in some ways. When the Environmental Protection Information Center finally won its case against Palco's 100-year plan to cut timber, the logging didn't come to a grinding halt. Palco submitted plans under little-known state rules, and has been cutting in some areas without such a plan since. (Read More...)
Headwaters Headache [San Francisco Chronicle]
ONE OF CALIFORNIA'S biggest environmental deals is near a breaking point. A giant redwood lumber company wants speeded-up timber-cutting approvals -- or it may go out of business.
In 1999, the Pacific Lumber Co. sold 6,000 acres of primeval redwoods to the government in a landmark transaction that averted logging and saved cathedral-like stands of the world's largest trees. Now the company claims that restrictions on timber cutting are putting it in jeopardy of bankruptcy.
The firm is pressing state and regional regulators for logging permits, claiming better science and logging practices allow for more cutting on its 210,000 acres along the foggy North Coast. If the firm doesn't get its way, layoffs and possible bankruptcy are possible, its executives hint.
Coming from a company known for bare-knuckled bargaining, it's an offer that Sacramento should resist. Pacific Lumber must learn to live with logging rules that it crafted and signed barely six years ago. The public expects careful regulation in exchange for $480 million paid by federal and state government for the Headwaters groves. (Read More...)
Loggers' Sneak Play [L.A. Times]
Two questions: Why did Pacific Lumber Co. sign on to a deal with California six years ago if it was not going to be able to honor the agreement? And is it too late to get our $480 million back?
For that money, the state bought 7,000 acres of old-growth redwoods in the Headwaters area of Humboldt County, along with the logging company's agreement to follow strict conservation rules on 200,000 acres it kept. Now the company is demanding to log beyond what the deal allows in flood-prone watersheds. Pacific Lumber warns that if not given its way it will go bankrupt, laying off hundreds and, it says, leaving all environmental agreements dead. "We are running out of logs," one company exec said. That does happen when logging isn't accompanied by a good land-management plan. If there had been a plan, it would have forecast this problem. Which makes the company either incompetent or dissembling in accepting the half-billion-dollar handout. (Read More...)
Taxpayers League should disclose finances
Times Standard
Friday, December 17, 2004 -
My Word
by Richard Salzman
The Alliance for Ethical Business (AEB) applauds the Times-Standard for its Dec. 15 editorial calling for legislation to close the loophole in campaign finance disclosure laws that allowed contributors to the Eureka Coalition for Jobs to hide behind their Sacramento lobbyist Wayne Ordos. In this case, we agree that the law is inadequate and needs to be fixed so that we all know who is responsible.
But in the case of Leo Sears and the Humboldt Taxpayers' League, we feel the League continues to violate clear and well-understood campaign disclosure laws in an attempt to hide the identities of those who put up the money to defeat Measure L. It defies belief that Leo Sears, a former sales tax auditor, does not know who contributed the sudden infusion of $20,000 into the League's coffers, just in time to pay for their ads. Mr. Sears, are you willing to testify to that in court? Why not come clean now? (Read More...)
©2005 Alliance for Ethical Business • Web Site Design by Antinomia
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Main Menu
Home Page
Contact Us
Recent News
About Our Campaigns
Offer Your Support
Sign the Petition
Join eMail Newsletters
Make a Donation
Visit Other Sites
Latest News
Finally: The Truth about PL/Maxxam's Lies
A Titan of Logging Threatens to Topple [L.A. Times]
'Room to Grow?' for Local Housing
Pacific Lumber Tries to Cut It Both Ways [LTE]
Maxxam Machinations Demand Local Solutions
[ More in News Section ]
The Alliance for Ethical Business
Humboldt County is one of the greatest places on earth. With our dramatic seascapes, our temperate climate, our magnificent forests and our small-town culture, Humboldt is truly one of America's hidden gems. But for the people of Humboldt to retain our high quality of life we need a strategy to create good, new jobs that protect our communities and respect the natural environment. For too long we have allowed outside companies to abuse our trust and disrespect the community. The Alliance for Ethical Business believes that Humboldt can grow and attract ethical businesses in a range of industries, including agriculture, manufacturing, sustainable forestry, crafts, and tourism. Sign-up here for action alerts so you can take action today for a prosperous and beautiful Humboldt County. And visit Healthy Humboldt for updates and information about the General Plan Update process at: http://www.HealthyHumboldt.org.
Finally: The Truth about PL/Maxxam's Lies
May 5, 2005
Responding to Pacific Lumber Company’s claims of financial crisis, the State Water Resources Control Board has released what is quite likely the most thorough and authoritative analysis of the PL’s finances ever made public, finding that the company’s dire predicatment “is the result of the risky business model that (parent company)MAXXAM has chosen to follow.”
This study was commissioned by the State Water Board to determine whether increased regulation by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB) may be responsible for PL’s proclaimed economic crisis. The study specifically responds to various claims made by Pacific Lumber in a March 15, 2005 Economic White Paper, and analyzes Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings by Pacific Lumber, Scotia Pacific, and MAXXAM going back to 1993.
The report concludes that “MAXXAM has taken money out of PALCO in subtle and complex ways and has directed PALCO to harvest trees at rates that greatly exceeds sustainable forest practices. MAXXAM has put PALCO at risk by borrowing large sums of money, not paying down its long-term debt, and thereby keeping PALCO a highly leveraged company.” (Read More...)
Maxxam Machinations Demand Local Solutions
My Word by Michael Twombly
Times Standard - February 8, 2005
The Los Angeles Times reported last week on a closed-door meeting between Charles Hurwitz, CEO of Maxxam (parent of Pacific Lumber) and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. They conferred on the likelihood of Pacific Lumber’s impending bankruptcy. The meeting included Undersecretary of CAL-EPA James Branham, formerly of PL and “broker of the Headwaters deal.? The Times editorialized “Californians may get to see up close how well or ill the revolving door of public service/private industry serves the public’s purpose.?
Hurwitz, through his myriads of shell companies, took many hundreds of millions of dollars from this once proud, sustainable and responsible company by mortgaging PL’s vast timber assets. He intentionally burdened PL and its spin offs with so much debt that they cannot legally cut enough timber to pay off the approximately $100 million in annual interest on the debt while still covering operating costs, Rather than make up for this shortfall from the hundreds of millions he has taken from PL, Hurwitz has found it eminently more profitable and expedient to threaten PL’s bankruptcy and the termination of hundreds of its loyal employees. (Read More...)
Pacific Lumber Tries to Cut It Both Ways [LTE]
Letters to the Editor - L.A. Times
Pacific Lumber Tries to Cut It Both Ways
January 29, 2005
Re "Bankruptcy Threat With an Edge," Jan. 25: Perhaps Pacific Lumber Co. is "running out of logs" because timber companies such as Pacific Lumber have already deforested the vast majority of virgin forest in the United States.
Permits to cut protected stands should not be issued. Do we want to silt more streams, create more flooding and lose the last of our first-generation forests? To halt financial losses, Pacific Lumber should implement more sustainable business practices (i.e. don't clear-cut everything in sight).
Bjorn Fredrickson
Seattle (Read More...)
A Titan of Logging Threatens to Topple [L.A. Times]
By Tim Reiterman
Times Staff Writer
February 21, 2005
REDCREST, Calif. — Whenever Pacific Lumber Co. planned to dispatch helicopters to log its nearby redwood groves, the company would phone Christine Rising at her vine-draped bungalow above the Eel River.
After finding someone to care for her horses, dogs, cats and pot-bellied pig, Rising, 51, would pack her clothes and head down the dirt road toward a Eureka hotel about an hour's drive away. Then for days or weeks, she could escape the beat of helicopter blades that she says wreak havoc with her surgically repaired left ear, causing nausea, dizziness and even blackouts.
For Pacific Lumber, paying Rising's hotel bills for a few years was a cost of doing business — a relatively inexpensive goodwill gesture by a company that could ill afford more enemies or more obstacles to harvesting its valuable Humboldt County timberlands.
But early last year, Rising says, she had to start fending for herself. Although Pacific Lumber says it will help her out with her medical expenses, it has stopped paying to relocate her.
For Rising, who lives on an $850-a-month government disability payment, the development was a heartless move by one of California's most powerful natural resource companies. But it also was one more sign that a company that has been a pillar of California's north coast economy for nearly a century and a half is in trouble. (Read More...)
Palco's bad deal is everyone's bad deal [Times-Standard]
Sunday, February 13, 2005 -
The Times-Standard
The Pacific Lumber Co. has on many occasions warned courts, critics and boards that it rests on the verge of bankruptcy if things don't go its way. In this latest round, it offers what seems to be its most desperate cry.
Everyone is taking the company seriously this time. Employees are worried. Businesses are worried. Contractors are worried. Bondholders are worried. Standard and Poors is worried enough to put Palco's $750 million worth of timber notes on watch for another decline in rating.
And lots of people are worried that Palco's intonations that it might slip out from under the provisions of the Headwaters Forest agreement might be for real. Indeed, it already has skirted these requirements in some ways. When the Environmental Protection Information Center finally won its case against Palco's 100-year plan to cut timber, the logging didn't come to a grinding halt. Palco submitted plans under little-known state rules, and has been cutting in some areas without such a plan since. (Read More...)
Headwaters Headache [San Francisco Chronicle]
ONE OF CALIFORNIA'S biggest environmental deals is near a breaking point. A giant redwood lumber company wants speeded-up timber-cutting approvals -- or it may go out of business.
In 1999, the Pacific Lumber Co. sold 6,000 acres of primeval redwoods to the government in a landmark transaction that averted logging and saved cathedral-like stands of the world's largest trees. Now the company claims that restrictions on timber cutting are putting it in jeopardy of bankruptcy.
The firm is pressing state and regional regulators for logging permits, claiming better science and logging practices allow for more cutting on its 210,000 acres along the foggy North Coast. If the firm doesn't get its way, layoffs and possible bankruptcy are possible, its executives hint.
Coming from a company known for bare-knuckled bargaining, it's an offer that Sacramento should resist. Pacific Lumber must learn to live with logging rules that it crafted and signed barely six years ago. The public expects careful regulation in exchange for $480 million paid by federal and state government for the Headwaters groves. (Read More...)
Loggers' Sneak Play [L.A. Times]
Two questions: Why did Pacific Lumber Co. sign on to a deal with California six years ago if it was not going to be able to honor the agreement? And is it too late to get our $480 million back?
For that money, the state bought 7,000 acres of old-growth redwoods in the Headwaters area of Humboldt County, along with the logging company's agreement to follow strict conservation rules on 200,000 acres it kept. Now the company is demanding to log beyond what the deal allows in flood-prone watersheds. Pacific Lumber warns that if not given its way it will go bankrupt, laying off hundreds and, it says, leaving all environmental agreements dead. "We are running out of logs," one company exec said. That does happen when logging isn't accompanied by a good land-management plan. If there had been a plan, it would have forecast this problem. Which makes the company either incompetent or dissembling in accepting the half-billion-dollar handout. (Read More...)
Taxpayers League should disclose finances
Times Standard
Friday, December 17, 2004 -
My Word
by Richard Salzman
The Alliance for Ethical Business (AEB) applauds the Times-Standard for its Dec. 15 editorial calling for legislation to close the loophole in campaign finance disclosure laws that allowed contributors to the Eureka Coalition for Jobs to hide behind their Sacramento lobbyist Wayne Ordos. In this case, we agree that the law is inadequate and needs to be fixed so that we all know who is responsible.
But in the case of Leo Sears and the Humboldt Taxpayers' League, we feel the League continues to violate clear and well-understood campaign disclosure laws in an attempt to hide the identities of those who put up the money to defeat Measure L. It defies belief that Leo Sears, a former sales tax auditor, does not know who contributed the sudden infusion of $20,000 into the League's coffers, just in time to pay for their ads. Mr. Sears, are you willing to testify to that in court? Why not come clean now? (Read More...)
©2005 Alliance for Ethical Business • Web Site Design by Antinomia
Privacy Policy Page Generation: 0.0466 Seconds and 28 DB Queries in 0.0254 Seconds
Interactive software released under GNU GPL 2, Code Credits
:: Behind the Redwood Curtain ::
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News, Events and Commentary Concerning Humboldt County Politics
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Archives:
11 HELP Tries to Hit the County Where it Hurts
Sent July 8th, 2005
10 Appeal the Maxxam/PL Decision: Corporate Personhood Perverts our Democracy
Sent July 7th, 2005
9 NEWS: Humboldt Exchange/Community Currency Project
Sent July 6th, 2005
8 Key Workshop on Planning July 5th: County Supervisors
Sent July 1st, 2005
7 Forward From our Friends at Healthy Humboldt
Sent June 27th, 2005
6 Happy with the PL/Maxxam "Right to Lie" Ruling?
Sent June 22nd, 2005
5 Tuesday's Eureka City Council meeting: Design Review Update
Sent June 21st, 2005
4 Land Use and Development in Humboldt County
Sent June 19th, 2005
3 Great Blog on PL/MAXXAM
Sent June 17th, 2005
2 Finally: The Truth about PL/Maxxam's Lies
Sent May 5th, 2005
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.: Dada Mail
:: Behind the Redwood Curtain ::
<< All Lists...
Behind the Redwood Curtain
News, Events and Commentary Concerning Humboldt County Politics
Subscribe | Unsubscribe
Archives:
11 HELP Tries to Hit the County Where it Hurts
Sent July 8th, 2005
10 Appeal the Maxxam/PL Decision: Corporate Personhood Perverts our Democracy
Sent July 7th, 2005
9 NEWS: Humboldt Exchange/Community Currency Project
Sent July 6th, 2005
8 Key Workshop on Planning July 5th: County Supervisors
Sent July 1st, 2005
7 Forward From our Friends at Healthy Humboldt
Sent June 27th, 2005
6 Happy with the PL/Maxxam "Right to Lie" Ruling?
Sent June 22nd, 2005
5 Tuesday's Eureka City Council meeting: Design Review Update
Sent June 21st, 2005
4 Land Use and Development in Humboldt County
Sent June 19th, 2005
3 Great Blog on PL/MAXXAM
Sent June 17th, 2005
2 Finally: The Truth about PL/Maxxam's Lies
Sent May 5th, 2005
Search This list's archives
Administration
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1.22.2007
AEB promotes Kerrigan's campaign events
This message is not flagged. [ Flag Message - Mark as Unread ]
To:
aeb_humboldt@topica.com
From:
"Michael Twombly" Add to Address Book
Subject:
AEB List Serve: Kerrigan Event Announcement
Date:
Tue, 6 Jul 2004 23:36:10 +0000
From the Alliance for Ethical Business (AEB) List serve:
In the spirit of inclusiveness, this posting was offered by one of
AEB's
strongest supporters. We will post event announcements for all
candidates.
Friends of Chris Kerrigan
Cordially invite you and your family
To a very special
Pancake Breakfast
With Eureka City Councilman and
Re-election Candidate
Chris Kerrigan
Saturday, July 10, 2004
8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Wharfinger Building
1 Marina Way, Eureka, CA
The cost is $10 per person* and will go toward
Chris's re-election campaign.
Please bring your family and friends!
Stop by on your way to Blues by the Bay!
*Children under six years old are more than welcome at no additional
cost.
This message came to you from the Alliance for Ethical Business. This
list is intended to serve exclusively as an information and organizing
tool for building a strong volunteer base to promote corporate and
civic responsibility.
We are currently maintaining this as a moderated list.
Anyone can subscribe by sending a blank email to:
aeb_humboldt-subscribe@topica.com:
To unsubscribe, send a blank email to
aeb_humboldt-unsubscribe@topica.com:
To post a message to the list, send it as an email to
aeb_humboldt@topica.com:
To read this list on the web, visit the following url (this is
unneccessary but allows archive
readings and requires joining topica's member list):
http://www.topica.com/lists/aeb_humboldt
Michael Twombly, Alliance list co-ordinator
mailto:twomblym@cwo.com
To:
aeb_humboldt@topica.com
From:
"Michael Twombly"
Subject:
AEB List Serve: Kerrigan Event Announcement
Date:
Tue, 6 Jul 2004 23:36:10 +0000
From the Alliance for Ethical Business (AEB) List serve:
In the spirit of inclusiveness, this posting was offered by one of
AEB's
strongest supporters. We will post event announcements for all
candidates.
Friends of Chris Kerrigan
Cordially invite you and your family
To a very special
Pancake Breakfast
With Eureka City Councilman and
Re-election Candidate
Chris Kerrigan
Saturday, July 10, 2004
8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Wharfinger Building
1 Marina Way, Eureka, CA
The cost is $10 per person* and will go toward
Chris's re-election campaign.
Please bring your family and friends!
Stop by on your way to Blues by the Bay!
*Children under six years old are more than welcome at no additional
cost.
This message came to you from the Alliance for Ethical Business. This
list is intended to serve exclusively as an information and organizing
tool for building a strong volunteer base to promote corporate and
civic responsibility.
We are currently maintaining this as a moderated list.
Anyone can subscribe by sending a blank email to:
aeb_humboldt-subscribe@topica.com:
To unsubscribe, send a blank email to
aeb_humboldt-unsubscribe@topica.com:
To post a message to the list, send it as an email to
aeb_humboldt@topica.com:
To read this list on the web, visit the following url (this is
unneccessary but allows archive
readings and requires joining topica's member list):
http://www.topica.com/lists/aeb_humboldt
Michael Twombly, Alliance list co-ordinator
mailto:twomblym@cwo.com
1.01.2007
TS - Local Solutions by Michael Twombly
The activists learned to use the local media to their advantage, and used it to present a consistent front, masquearading as grassroots, ordinary citizens. This piece introduced the new talking points for Richard Salzman and his crew, who had shed the "Alliance for Ethical Business" cloak, and morphed into "localsolutions.org." The "new" organization meant new opportunities for fund-raising, as well as the advantage of lumping it together with the AEB, and proclaiming a growing coalition of activist groups - a commonly used tactic. In fact, Salzman's empire included many names. (see below)
Maxxam machinations demand local solution
Tuesday, February 08, 2005 The Times-Standard
My Word by Michael Twombly
The Los Angeles Times reported recently on a closed-door meeting between Charles Hurwitz, CEO of Maxxam (parent of Pacific Lumber) and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. They conferred on the likelihood of Pacific Lumber's impending bankruptcy. The meeting included Undersecretary of CAL-EPA James Branham, formerly of PL and "broker of the Headwaters deal." The Times editorialized, "Californians may get to see up close how well or ill the revolving door of public service/private industry serves the public's purpose."
Hurwitz, through his myriad of shell companies, took many hundreds of millions of dollars from this once proud, sustainable and responsible company by mortgaging PL's vast timber assets. He intentionally burdened PL and its spin-offs with so much debt that they cannot legally cut enough timber to pay off the approximately $100 million in annual interest on the debt while still covering operating costs. Rather than make up for this shortfall from the hundreds of millions he has taken from PL, Hurwitz has found it eminently more profitable and expedient to threaten PL's bankruptcy and the termination of hundreds of its loyal employees.
His strategy is win/win; if the North Coast Water Quality Control Board holds to the protections of the Headwater's agreement, PL goes bankrupt and Hurwitz walks away with his hundreds of millions (and probably sues the state). If the Water Quality Control Board gives in and allows the Eel and Freshwater cuts, Hurwitz takes the trees and prepares for bankruptcy a year later.
What is clear is that CEO Hurwitz needs to keep our PL timber workers and their families anxiously advocating for Maxxam's interests while he engineers PL's bankruptcy and their termination.
This paper chose to poke fun at "La La Land" in a subsequent editorial, rather than ring the Pacific Lumber bankruptcy alarm bell. But more than 50 citizens, landowners and even former PL employees spoke before the Board of Supervisors last Tuesday, clearly and eloquently detailing Maxxam's bankruptcy strategy. They recounted the number of companies which have been purchased by Maxxam, only to be looted into bankruptcy, their pension plans emptied, their assets mortgaged, and finally their employees terminated. They warned the board that Hurwitz, master of junk bond piracy, had already enriched himself by borrowing on PL's timber assets and then moving the money to Maxxam, anticipating PL's bankruptcy.
It is heartening to see this maturing political awareness of Humboldt citizens just as so many saw through Maxxam's failed attempt to buy the recall of District Attorney Paul Gallegos in 2004. Charles Hurwitz believes that he will be able to obfuscate, frighten, misdirect and divide our community and keep his stolen profits, leaving Pacific Lumber in financial shambles. He believes that Pacific Lumber's past reputation, loyal workers and former positive influence in Humboldt County will cover the stink of his strategy, coupled with his assumption that no one will be able to understand and uncover his financial manipulation and the money trail leading directly to his pockets.
I believe we need to join together to defeat Maxxam's strategy and to make Humboldt County's forests and timber industry permanently sustainable.
To do this, we may need to accept the difficult decision to slow PL's rate of cutting and decrease its workforce to sustainable levels, despite bondholders' demands. Humboldt County must look clearly at the long-term future of Pacific Lumber and take direct control of our collective destinies. One promising option would be to allocate Headwaters Fund money to determine if and how we and PL's own employees could purchase PL through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Another potential worker retraining solution under consideration is nurturing forest and watershed restoration industries in the county.
Our community is coming to better understand what Maxxam has planned for Pacific Lumber and its workers. We are coming to see that we are all in this together against Maxxam, and that, if we are to survive Hurwitz' PL bankruptcy strategy, we must take control of Pacific Lumber's future today, because it is tied to our future.
If and when Hurwitz declares PL's bankruptcy, this community must protect its workers by "piercing the corporate veil" of Pacific Lumber -- by going directly after Maxxam and personally after CEO Charles Hurwitz. The district attorney's lawsuit is one avenue which, if successful, could result in Maxxam being legally forced to assume the liability for the harms it has caused the county, the land, the water and PL workers. Other legal actions may have to be taken against Maxxam and Hurwitz if and when bondholders line up to clear-cut Humboldt County forests in payment for Hurwitz' billion-dollar borrowing.
One thing is for sure, as evidenced by testimony before the Board of Supervisors: The people of Humboldt County are asleep no longer. Are we too late to save PL and our timber industry from Hurwitz? Will we be able come together to defend PL and Humboldt County from Maxxam's "final solution?" Our future as a community and as an economy depends on us finding an alternative (and local) solution.
Michael Twombly is a founder of Local Solutions PAC, a political action committee; www.localsolutions.org He lives and works in Bayside.
The opinions expressed in this My Word piece do not necessarily reflect the editorial viewpoint of the Times-Standard.
***
Salzman's Empire - the progression of morphs:
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Local Solutions related stories:
Salzman's Empire The Local Solutions sham
No connection?
It's in the Headers
Local Solutions' 460 Campaign Statements
Any doubt what Local Solutions' agenda is?
What happened to Local Solutions?
Where is "Local Solutions"?
TS - Local Solutions by Michael Twombly
ER - Another local group decries toxins and big boxes
Maxxam machinations demand local solution
Tuesday, February 08, 2005 The Times-Standard
My Word by Michael Twombly
The Los Angeles Times reported recently on a closed-door meeting between Charles Hurwitz, CEO of Maxxam (parent of Pacific Lumber) and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. They conferred on the likelihood of Pacific Lumber's impending bankruptcy. The meeting included Undersecretary of CAL-EPA James Branham, formerly of PL and "broker of the Headwaters deal." The Times editorialized, "Californians may get to see up close how well or ill the revolving door of public service/private industry serves the public's purpose."
Hurwitz, through his myriad of shell companies, took many hundreds of millions of dollars from this once proud, sustainable and responsible company by mortgaging PL's vast timber assets. He intentionally burdened PL and its spin-offs with so much debt that they cannot legally cut enough timber to pay off the approximately $100 million in annual interest on the debt while still covering operating costs. Rather than make up for this shortfall from the hundreds of millions he has taken from PL, Hurwitz has found it eminently more profitable and expedient to threaten PL's bankruptcy and the termination of hundreds of its loyal employees.
His strategy is win/win; if the North Coast Water Quality Control Board holds to the protections of the Headwater's agreement, PL goes bankrupt and Hurwitz walks away with his hundreds of millions (and probably sues the state). If the Water Quality Control Board gives in and allows the Eel and Freshwater cuts, Hurwitz takes the trees and prepares for bankruptcy a year later.
What is clear is that CEO Hurwitz needs to keep our PL timber workers and their families anxiously advocating for Maxxam's interests while he engineers PL's bankruptcy and their termination.
This paper chose to poke fun at "La La Land" in a subsequent editorial, rather than ring the Pacific Lumber bankruptcy alarm bell. But more than 50 citizens, landowners and even former PL employees spoke before the Board of Supervisors last Tuesday, clearly and eloquently detailing Maxxam's bankruptcy strategy. They recounted the number of companies which have been purchased by Maxxam, only to be looted into bankruptcy, their pension plans emptied, their assets mortgaged, and finally their employees terminated. They warned the board that Hurwitz, master of junk bond piracy, had already enriched himself by borrowing on PL's timber assets and then moving the money to Maxxam, anticipating PL's bankruptcy.
It is heartening to see this maturing political awareness of Humboldt citizens just as so many saw through Maxxam's failed attempt to buy the recall of District Attorney Paul Gallegos in 2004. Charles Hurwitz believes that he will be able to obfuscate, frighten, misdirect and divide our community and keep his stolen profits, leaving Pacific Lumber in financial shambles. He believes that Pacific Lumber's past reputation, loyal workers and former positive influence in Humboldt County will cover the stink of his strategy, coupled with his assumption that no one will be able to understand and uncover his financial manipulation and the money trail leading directly to his pockets.
I believe we need to join together to defeat Maxxam's strategy and to make Humboldt County's forests and timber industry permanently sustainable.
To do this, we may need to accept the difficult decision to slow PL's rate of cutting and decrease its workforce to sustainable levels, despite bondholders' demands. Humboldt County must look clearly at the long-term future of Pacific Lumber and take direct control of our collective destinies. One promising option would be to allocate Headwaters Fund money to determine if and how we and PL's own employees could purchase PL through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Another potential worker retraining solution under consideration is nurturing forest and watershed restoration industries in the county.
Our community is coming to better understand what Maxxam has planned for Pacific Lumber and its workers. We are coming to see that we are all in this together against Maxxam, and that, if we are to survive Hurwitz' PL bankruptcy strategy, we must take control of Pacific Lumber's future today, because it is tied to our future.
If and when Hurwitz declares PL's bankruptcy, this community must protect its workers by "piercing the corporate veil" of Pacific Lumber -- by going directly after Maxxam and personally after CEO Charles Hurwitz. The district attorney's lawsuit is one avenue which, if successful, could result in Maxxam being legally forced to assume the liability for the harms it has caused the county, the land, the water and PL workers. Other legal actions may have to be taken against Maxxam and Hurwitz if and when bondholders line up to clear-cut Humboldt County forests in payment for Hurwitz' billion-dollar borrowing.
One thing is for sure, as evidenced by testimony before the Board of Supervisors: The people of Humboldt County are asleep no longer. Are we too late to save PL and our timber industry from Hurwitz? Will we be able come together to defend PL and Humboldt County from Maxxam's "final solution?" Our future as a community and as an economy depends on us finding an alternative (and local) solution.
Michael Twombly is a founder of Local Solutions PAC, a political action committee; www.localsolutions.org He lives and works in Bayside.
The opinions expressed in this My Word piece do not necessarily reflect the editorial viewpoint of the Times-Standard.
***
Salzman's Empire - the progression of morphs:
Available Lists:
Alliance for Ethical Business
Alliance for Ethical Business mailing list
Behind the Redwood Curtain
News, Events and Commentary Concerning Humboldt County Politics
FOPG-Listserv
Moderated listserv for Friends of Paul Gallegos
Friends of Chris Kerrigan
Friends of Chris Kerrigan
Friends of Paul Gallegos
Friends of Paul Gallegos Mass List
Local Solutions PAC
Local Solutions Political Action Committee News,
Events and Volunteer Opportunities
Matt's Test List
Matt's Test List
Richard's List
Richard Salzman's personal list serve
Local Solutions related stories:
Salzman's Empire The Local Solutions sham
No connection?
It's in the Headers
Local Solutions' 460 Campaign Statements
Any doubt what Local Solutions' agenda is?
What happened to Local Solutions?
Where is "Local Solutions"?
TS - Local Solutions by Michael Twombly
ER - Another local group decries toxins and big boxes