In recent years, America has seen the collapse of several major corporations in a seeming explosion of corruption and fraud. Worldcom, Global Crossing, Tyco, and, of course, Enron have become watchwords for corporate corruption, and capitalism as a white collar crime. Few people understand how these frauds were perpetrated and, more importantly, why. The leaders of these companies had already reached the pinnacles of their professions, and would have made sums unimaginable to most people if they had just run their businesses honestly and competently. Why did they throw it all away when the surety of eventually being caught and called to account seems, in hindsight, so obvious?
I can't really speak to the psychology of control fraud; I don't know that the psychology at its core is well understood, other than to posit elements of sociopathic behavior by the perpetrators. However, the methodology of white collar crime on the scale of these recent scandals is well documented and is known as control fraud. Control fraud occurs when conspirators are able to take control of an institution in order to exploit the trust and authority of the institution to convert its assets to personal use.
Control fraud relies upon holding off any accountability or scrutiny through a combination of bribery, deception, co-optation or subornation of the mechanisms of checks and balances either intrinsic and extrinsic to the corporation such as auditors, government regulators, the board of directors, and shareholders. The longer the charade of business as usual, or more often, fantastically better than usual, is able to be maintained, the more damage is done to the institution on which the control frauds are preying. If it goes on long enough, as in the case of Enron, there may be nothing left at the end but a smoking crater of debt and broken lives.
The recent wave of high-flying control frauds, who claimed to be rewriting the rules of business, while actually just laying down a thick smokescreen of lies and complex accounting to throw the market off the scent of their fraud, is by no means an aberrational chapter in business history. Control fraud has a rich and complex history stretching back as far as the legal fiction of the corporation itself. Many might recall the last great wave of control fraud in our own life-times: the S&L scandal.
The deregulation of the savings and loan industry and changes in regulatory requirements created a perfect environment for control fraud. The result was the insolvency of hundreds of S&L's a glut in commercial construction that took the construction industry more than a decade to recover from, and a staggering cost to tax-payers to make whole those whom control frauds had harmed.
Like the latest crop of high-fliers, the S&L frauds claimed to be rewriting the rules of finance in ways that the stodgy regulators, and even the traditional bankers in their industry, couldn't begin to comprehend. They were reporting profits at rates tens, hundreds, even thousands of times the rate the industry ever reported before. Politicians, especially those inclined to reflexively worship free markets, loved this example of free markets set free from stultifying regulation and championed and abetted the crimes of the control frauds. Most famously, Jim Wright, the powerful Democratic Speaker of House put his prestige behind the industries worst frauds, as did the "Keating Five", including Senator John McCain. These men went to bat for criminals, not because they were corrupt, but because they wanted to believe so badly. Unfortunately, it was all a lie. We would have saved billions of taxpayers’ dollars if the fraudsters had not been able to recruit political influence to protect them from regulators for so long.
Control frauds rely on abusing their relationships with other trusted institutions (such as auditors, industry interest groups, high profile figures from politics and business) to vouch for their claims and to ensure no one looks too closely at the fine print. They bank on willful ignorance, the desire to believe, greed, and the grandiose audacity of the fraudsters' claims.
What does this have to do with government? you might ask. I'm sure many of you can recognize certain patterns and modus operandi of the control fraud in the Bush Administration. When all is said and done, history will view the Bush Administration as the first modern American control fraud government. For a control fraud, there is no juicier target than the U.S. Government: unlimited credit, massive cash flow, highly complex, mostly internally regulated, and it even has its own army. Bonus!
A group of sharps, all with a history of a degree of control fraud (think about Cheney and Rumsfeld's fusion of governmental and corporate positions to lay the groundwork for privatizing swathes of our national defense infrastructure, and Bush's parlaying of a minor stake in a baseball team into millions of dollars and instant credibility with Texas voters, not to mention his ability to make his Texas Administration appear to have been sound though smoke and mirrors long enough to be a viable candidate for President), gained control of our Federal government under very questionable circumstances and proceeded to use it to their own ends at the expense of the public welfare and the nation's well-being.
They utilize with a vengeance that greatest of all weapons of the control fraud - secrecy. Above all, this Administration withholds vital information that would tend to reveal or discredit their schemes and deceptions. This Administration is unprecedented in its zeal for secrecy, classifying as secret a much greater range and number of government documents than any before it. They run prisons in secret through the CIA. They secretly kidnap, then render to foreign jurisdictions persons for torture. They secretly began a program to monitor without warrants the international calls of American citizens. In all cases, the purpose of the secrecy is claimed to be operational security, when in fact, it is all for the purpose of keeping the shareholders, the American people, in the dark. This Administration even sued the Government Accounting Office to keep the list of attendees at the Vice President's energy planning group a secret. When the policy process is a secret, no one can tell if your policy is a fraud.
In a control fraud, knowledge is power. It can also be the death knell of the control fraud. So information is handled like a commodity, or like a weapon. This Administration is notorious for its message discipline, it's ability to manipulate the press through selective access and threats of discontinued access. This President and Vice President have had fewer public press conferences in which they could be questioned freely than any in modern history. They consistently appear only before pre-screened, ideologically compatible audiences at think tanks, industry groups, and military bases.
This Administration has also become quite Orwellian in their efforts to control information emerging from what were once professional and non-ideological government sources. They demand the right to edit final documents for public release, and even bully and bribe Executive branch officials into lying to Congress about the cost projections of key legislation. I have no doubt that if the entirety of this Administration's archives were to made public, they would be tarred and feathered and lynched in short order.
Control frauds seek to co-opt, undermine, and even bribe their organization's natural checks and balances. In the case of a corporation, the Board of Directors, government regulators, the company's own outside auditing firm, the financial press, institutional investors, and shareholders are the target of these efforts. In the Presidency, the targets of such efforts are the Congress and Judiciary primarily, but also the professional bureaucracy within the Executive, the media, and most importantly the voting public.
In Congress, this Administration's blindly enthusiastic supporters for several years precluded any over-sight and investigation of the Executive's actions, even when they were plainly illegal. The President treated the GOP majority in Congress like a Parliament, not a co-equal branch, using strict party discipline to rubber stamp decisions made in the White House to further their control fraud.
In the Judiciary, the Bush Administration sought enthusiastically to pack the federal judiciary with political partisan on whom they could rely to approve their frauds and reject any checks upon their authority. Fortunately, this was a task the Administration has so far failed at completing in the nation's highest court. Their most outrageous grab for power was stymied with the ‘gang of 14’ forestalled the possibility of the 'Nuclear Option' to remove the filibuster from judicial nominees. This last is an example of just how far a control fraud will go to wreck the apparatus of oversight and accountability in the system.
The assault on the judiciary extended well beyond the mechanics of the formal governmental system itself, however, and into the realm of public opinion and propaganda. We all recall the ‘Justice Sunday’ frenzy when the GOP gathered nationally for a 5 minutes of hate for the 'activist judges' who are ruining our nation, and incidentally, possibly providing some modicum of oversight which could impede the Bush control fraud. Any source of resistance to the Bush control fraud's policies brings swift and sure retribution. Whether it is labeling Iraq war critics the objective allies of terrorists, or whether it is outing a covert agent of the CIA working to control proliferation of WMD because her husband wrote a critical op-ed piece, this Administration has been merciless and unscrupulous, even felonious, in its efforts to destroy all opposition and criticism.
In all control frauds, the bureaucracy of the institution becomes packed with yes men, ideological hacks, and incompetent hangers-on, rather than professionals who have the ability and will to question or expose or question the fraud. Competence becomes dangerous and merit becomes a danger to the ongoing fraud. The Administration also follows this rule: throwing up incompetents like Michael Brown (the infamous Brownie of FEMA); mouth-pieces willing to say whatever the fraudsters want like Alberto Gonzales, Harriet Myers, and Condoleeza Rice; persons with obvious conflicts of interest like extractive industry lobbyist J. Stephen Grilles being put at the head of the Interior Department, and; completely inexperienced children placed in command of the reconstruction effort in Iraq solely because of their connection to a prominent ideological think tank. None of this is designed to do the business of government. It is solely to enable further control fraud on behalf of the conspiracy and their allies, and to prevent uncomfortable questions.
Finally, and most importantly, the control fraud is designed to misappropriate to the greatest extend practicable the profits and assets of the target institution to the benefit of the conspirators. Detecting this aspect of a control fraud in a context of government is less linear than in a for-profit corporation.
Obviously, to stay in power in a democratic republic the control fraud has to have a much broader group of supporters than does even the largest corporate control fraud. Thus the control fraud has to provide economic and affective benefits to a substantial number of people. But some folks are more equal than others. Bush probably was not really joking at all when he told a room full of some of the world's wealthiest people that they were his base. Through unequal tax policies, changes in regulatory laws, changes in bankruptcy, and limits on industry liability, and many other subtle and not-so-subtle means, Bush has managed to significantly alter the division of the economic pie to favor the wealthiest among us; and the wealthy have certainly returned the favor by working and advocating and, most importantly, extolling his legitimacy and promoting the idea that he is a legitimate President, not a control fraud.
But where Bush really comes through is for that small number of companies who's competitive advantage is a close connection to core members of the Bush control fraud conspiracy and an ability to win and keep government contract, especially in defense-related missions. Bush was able to turn on a nearly unlimited spigot of money when he invaded Iraq without cause. Some $660 billion dollars have already been spent on that war and more is sure to come. A growing slice of that bonanza is landing in the pockets of such companies as Haliburton, Bechtel, Fluor, Blackwater, the Carlyle Group, and others who now gorge at this fabulous outpouring of patronage. Meanwhile, the deficit grows, the dollar sinks, our national interest is permanently damaged, our military is broken, our trade imbalance rages out of control - but none of that matters to the Bush control fraud. The business of the state is not the business of the Bush control fraud: this massive, back-breaking patronage which our grandchildren will be paying off, is the entire purpose of the control fraud.
Why did Bush take us to war on false premises and lies? Not because he believed those lies. Not because he wanted revenge. Not because he had an ideological or religious mission to make the Middle East safe for democracy. He did it for only one reason: the wealth and power that invasion would bring his co-conspirators.
The whole point of the Bush Presidency was to commit control fraud, he never intended to govern as we understand the concept. He had no mandate. No program. No goals as President. The government was turned over to a control fraud following the election of 2000 by the Supreme Court, and the goal of that criminal enterprise was to bleed as much out of the massive coffers and credit of the Federal Government of the United States as possible for their friends, allies, and himself. Geroge W. Bush’s goal as President was what the Proconsuls of the Roman Empire aspired to in the provinces they were awarded: to squeeze out every drop of profit possible.
The best way to do that in modern America was a war - preferably a long, sustained, grinding, quagmire of a war against a despised enemy that no one could doubt was hostile to us. A war in which unlimited amounts of cash could be dumped into single source and no bid contracts with little or no oversight and even worse accounting (remember that over $8 billion is said to have just disappeared in Iraq due to poor accounting and cash controls). If you are going to take over a government as a control fraud in a democratic society with an advanced legal system and a professional bureaucracy, there is really no other way to convert sufficient amounts of wealth to private use without being detected or questioned. Better to do the deed under cover of a wild and woolly foreign war, where the rules are made by the guy with the most guns, and massive incompetence and fraud can be passed off as the inevitable result of the fogs and fortunes of war.
So the question of why we are in Iraq, and why Bush is so loathe to leave it, even though it is an obvious failure, must be viewed in the context of the Bush Administration as a control fraud to make any sense. The longer Bush can keep America in Iraq, the longer the goal of the Bush control fraud is fulfilled. This isn't about what is best for America. This isn't about fighting terrorism. It isn't even about the Iraqis. It is about feeding the control fraud Bush created upon his invasion of Iraq. Bush will never withdraw, and the next GOP President (and possibly even a Democratic President) will continue the control fraud under the same terms unless stopped.
Only the forceful and uncompromising action of the Congress and the people of the United States can force an end to this criminal enterprise. Luckily for us, the American government cannot collapse, but there can be no doubt, the Bush control fraud will leave a figurative smoking crater of debt that makes Enron's look like a pothole. Unfortunately for all of us, unlike the financial lives left in ruins by Enron's collapse, Bush's control fraud has cost hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Americans their actual lives and those of their loved ones. For that crime, Bush and his conspiracy should pay the ultimate price.
Getting a student loan can be imposing because there are a lot of rules about loans to understand. Investing time early to plan out your money for college is important, as well as finding out if you can get Arizona student loans or the state program for where you live.
Great post, Michael, impressive work, and couldn't agree more. Hope you get this published beyond your blog.
Mentioned BfA & that wonderful video below in the new Sonora Progressives newsletter, "Pots and Pans" posted on put new blog: http://sonoraprogressives.blogspot.com/
Hey it gets lonesome over there, folks, on a new blog, come talk with me. Smile.
Posted by: revgerry | February 06, 2007 at 05:37 PM
Fabulous post. Using far more simplistic and less thorough analysis, I've merely stated that the entire Bush administration is nothing but a business venture organized to steal unspeakable and unprecedented quantities of money for a small number of robber barons. That they kill thousands, or hundreds of thousands, in the process, does not matter at all.
Posted by: x4mr | February 06, 2007 at 10:41 PM
I am eagerly waiting for the day when we have the "but you can't fool all the people all the time" portion of that famous statement of Lincoln. Well, maybe there is hope - in my lifetime, we have seen a woman become the Speaker of the House - now maybe anything can happen.
White collar crime - which is really what we are talking about here - is somehow more acceptable than when one individual assaults another. In point of fact, white collar crime should have very different and much more extensive punishments. And, better yet, as I used to tell my dog training clients: Shacter's First Law - don't let it happen. We need oversight hearings and new regulation to protect people from these incredibly sophisticated crimes against very large numbers of innocent people. Punishment should not put people in fancy prisons. No way! Take these people, let them live spartan dormitory lives and put them to work! They can empty bed pans and do all the miserable things no one else will do - and for no pay - just to justify their right to exist! They can mentor children in low-income schools and enrich the education of these youngsters. I believe they must truly "pay" for their crimes!!!
I have some recollection that when Michael Milliken was convicted quite some years ago for his crimes, he "saw the light" and when he got out of prison, became involved in activities to expiate his sins - activities that would help the community. Maybe there is an example there.
Posted by: Francine Shacter | February 07, 2007 at 11:38 AM
Well, I agree to a point, but I really don't want GWB, Eric Fastow, Kenny-boy Lay, Charles Keating, or Michael Millikin mentoring anyone's children. I would prefer role-models for kids who are borderline sociopaths. A few stints in the jobs featured on "Worlds' Dirtiest Jobs" would be good for the souls, however.
Posted by: Michael Bryan | February 07, 2007 at 01:43 PM
Michael, look at it this way: who can better tell children what the wages of illegal behavior are! There is no zeal like the zeal of a reformed sinner! In my plan, they would start with the bedpan brigade and then, for good behavior, they could do another menial task and then after enough of that kind of penance, they could move on to telling young people what are the wages of white collar crime (sin).
Posted by: Francine Shacter | February 08, 2007 at 09:06 AM
My family founded Tucson Federal Savings in 1931 and knew alot of the players and the S&L Lincoln Thrift owners one of whom was my good friend Dennis DeConcini. The Four D (Deconcini) Real Estate company was buying land in Arizona that the CAP was then buying for the construction of The Cenral Arizona Project Canal. Dennis as our United States Senator testified under oath that his S&L Lincoln Thrift operated with out his knowledge. Dino DeConcini later became Comptroller of The United States Currency as Dennis was offered the Directorship of The CIA and the FBI buy the Bush 1 and Clinton Administration. You see Senator Harry Reid the Majority Leader of The Senate from Nevada also FLIPPING LAND in Nevada and Arizona from his prestigious Law Firm in Nevada run buy his son.
My take on all of this is Lawyers who are Real Estate Developers should NOT be in politics for there own good. People in politics should NOT be engaged in SWAPPING LAND or PRACTICING LAW while in public office, which overlaps conflicts of interest either intentional or NON intentional, from the best intentioned people!
Posted by: Dwight D. Leister: Chair: Committee To Elect | February 09, 2007 at 07:58 PM
YOUR FAMILY... you mean YOUR INLAWS!! you had NOTHING to do with anything related to the TFSL.
Give it up, Dwight. We don't buy your "I'm well connected" bullshit..
My dad, a Retail Clerks Union leader in his day and his step Father was a Pima County Deputy Sherrif in the 50's and 60's, but my dad does not recall your name at all...
'he who brags of his ancestry is taking the credit for the deeds of others'
Posted by: AZW88 | February 10, 2007 at 07:02 AM
AZW88:
Do you know Steve Emerine? In the 1960'she was Editor of The Green Valley News and wrote quite a few articles about me and my FAMILY. I do NOT know who your Father-in-Lawis but I suggest he read the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Citizen news articles as well!
Posted by: Dwight D. Leister: Chair: Committee To Elect | February 17, 2007 at 06:07 AM
AZW88:
The reason I speak of my Families History is because of the information and friends that came with knowing THE HISTORY OF TUCSON AND SOUTHERN ARIZONA WITH-OUT HAVING TO READABOUT IT!!!!
Posted by: Dwight D. Leister: Chair: Committee To Elect | February 17, 2007 at 06:10 AM
azw88;
In the 1950's I was in my teens and I did NOT run for Pima County Sheriff until 1968!! I was very active in the Democratic Party as Co-Chair of The Teen Dems for Jack Kennedy! If you do NOT believe that either Jack Schaffer took a photograph of me and my staff at Amphi Plaza in 1960 that appeared in the Arizona Daily Star , pictured me placing a KENNEDY JOHNSON sticker on a 1953 Ford with a woman holding her baby. That picture is also on my web-site under CANDIDATE HISTORY; if you do not have access to old news files.
Sheriff Aurthur Grande , Pima County Sheriff in the 1950's did Deputise me because of an extrodinary deed I had done as a Teen to help The Pima County Sheriff and Law Enforcement break up criminal activities in my neighborhood.
You can deny all you want anything you want, but as the news media can try to change history , you can NOT!
It IS BECAUSE OF MY CAMPAIGN FOR PIMA COUNTY SHERIFF IN 1968 THAT GREEN VALLEY HAS A PIMA COUNTY SHERIFF'S SUBSTATION TODAY,THAT IT STILL USES AS ITS ONLY POLICE DEPARTMENT!
Sheriff Waldon V. Burr REFUSED to build Green Valley a sub-station, but at the end of my campaign for Pima County Sheriff and after exposing his criminal activities on which I was called before A. Bates Butler and a Pima County Grand Jury; he was indited on over 80 counts and resigned. This was the biggest corruption of any elected official in Pima County that I helped expose and you don't know who I'am; Give me a BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Dwight D. Leister: Chair: Committee To Elect | February 17, 2007 at 06:25 AM
azw88;
As for my Father-in-law or Mother-in-law or his Father or Mother NOT to be referred to as FAMILY is beyond me and I hope your wife never hears you talk about your Father-in-Law or Mother-in-Law as NOT IN THE FAMILY???
At our Funeral Homes we have Limousines, but we DO NOT CALL THEM that we call them "FAMILY CARS!!!!"
Posted by: Dwight D. Leister: Chair: Committee To Elect | February 17, 2007 at 06:30 AM
azw88;
As for trying to CLAIM to be well connected?? What are you talking about?? I and my FAMILY tried to STAY OUT OF SIGHT on purpose and work behind the scenes. Anyone in a position that existed between The Tucson City Fathers and giving permission for this project or who did what for whomever, held PRIVATE meetings in The Old Pueblo Club MENS FOOR that was OFF LIMITS to everyone else for a reason, so people like you would NOT know what went on!
I told you before to ask PAUL RUBIN the Secretary of The Retail Clerks Union RIGHT NOW TODAY who Iam, and he can tell you the story! If your Father or Father-in Law does NOT know who Paul Ruben is they surely would NOT know who Iam, and my over 40 year history with The Retail Grocery business!!
Posted by: Dwight D. Leister: Chair: Committee To Elect | February 17, 2007 at 06:46 AM
azw88:
I should nnot have to go into this discussion with you about Family ties and friendships but since you brought it up I will! The business ties of anyones family enables you to have opportunities in anything you may want to do; example when going to make a Bank Loan for a business venture having your family as the Founder of the Bank years later enabled me to make business deals from Tucson Federal Savings in the 1960's from then President Gordon Paris. Also Tucson Federal lent money to Judges and Real Estate Brokers like Tucson Reality and Trust and George Amos who we currently do business with. The Judges include a who's who of history and relationships of Judge Tullar, Evo DeConcini, and up to and including relationships in Phoenix including then Senator Carl Hayden and power brokers of The Savings and Loan days like Kemper Marley. The names would boggle you as to connections and deals made as I have been asked to write a book about The History of " ARIZONA MEN OF HISTORY" that included my Family and myself!
Posted by: Dwight D. Leister: Chair: Committee To Elect | February 17, 2007 at 01:12 PM
Montes Orthopedic
Steven Montes
9000 E. Indian Canyon
Tucson, AZ 85749
520-749-1105
[email protected]
April 11, 2007
“4-Generations of Women Killed by City of Tucson Water Department Employee”
Cover up Story
It is common knowledge, that the State of Arizona is the worst offender of its Citizen Civil Rights, as it is also common knowledge that the City of Tucson is the greatest offender of its “Citizens Civil Rights”
I have a powerful story to tell, I would like to talk to you about the deaths of three generations of women in Tucson, Arizona. This car accident accrued at the hands of a reckless City of Tucson Water employee, while on the job in his City of Tucson Water Department vehicle.
This accident was sure to have bankrupt the City of Tucson due to the over whelming evidence of neglence against the City of Tucson.
If it hadn’t been for a major cover up conducted by high ranking officials with the City Water Department, powerful City, and State politicians that control the Arizona State Motor Vehicle Division, the Tucson Police Department, and the Tucson newspapers, TV stations, and all media concerns. There was just a small morning article that appeared in the back of the newspaper, and nothing else was covered in the news anywhere after that article appeared.
It all started with a man named James D. Wile who everyone called Red, because of his red hair. He was an exceptional employee, he was well liked by all of water department supervisors, in the field, and all Water Department officials.
He was well liked because he was a “Johnnie On The Spot “ or “Speedy Gonzales” he did every thing that was asked of him very quickly. He did not argue with his bosses about a particular job being to hard, or too strenuous to accomplish. He did what was asked, and he was very quick at what he did, as well as reckless. Page 1
His motivation stemmed from his medical condition called “ADHD”, which refers to the extreme hyperrness, and anxiety that is associated with his condition.
Although he was well liked by his bosses, he had an extensive history of traffic citations for speeding before working for the City of Tucson, being involved in minor accidents with his City truck in the yard, and numerous accidents involving damage to City equipment as well.
All of his reported accidents over the years were the common knowledge of his fellow workers, and every supervisor at the Water Department. There was a “look the other way policy, when it came to this employee reckless behavior.
While on his way to a job site that required his immediate attention, at a high speed that is sometimes associated with emergency vehicles, he went over a hill, saw that traffic was backed up at the street light, and could not stop his vehicle in time due to the speed he was traveling at. so to avoid a major accident with cars in front of him, he drove his City truck over a concrete medium to avoid hitting the cars in front of him, and slammed into on coming traffic. Killing three generations of women, an infant baby girl, young mother of baby girl, the mother of daughter of the baby girl.
An investigation had begun immediately with a cover up. It was decided that the damaged City truck driven by Mr. Wile would be taken to a location, other than where the truck had originated from originally.
This diversion was to prevent all City employees from divulging any first hand knowledge to Police Detectives, OSHA, and any other investigating agency involved in this accident. As to the numerous accidents that James D. Wile had been involved in while he was employed with the City of Tucson.
At the location where the truck was taken for further investigation, City employees working on the vehicle had taken the brakes off the vehicle, and had replaced them with worn out brakes to prove that it was break failure that had caused the accident. It was break failure that caused this accident, but only because Mr. Red was speeding at such a high rate of speed to stop his vehicle in time to prevent this accident.
Later all accident reports within the Water Department concerning “Red” were destroyed. As well as other records listed with the Arizona Department of Motor Vehicle, and Public Safety.
Mr. Wile was given monies by high ranking officials in a meeting, to keep quiet, and to start a new life else where. He was given a high recommendation for his performance with the City of Tucson to aid him in finding other work else where as well.
Because the family’s of these unfortunate victims were very poor, it was easy to give them an $800,000 settlement for the lives of their loved ones, from the insurance policy that covered the City of Tucson truck. Of this $ 800,000 the attorney got half the monies to misrepresent the family’s in court, leaving the family with only $ 100,000 per lost victim.
* This next incident involved the cover up in the death of City of Tucson Water Department employee, which lends proof that this City Department is capable, and quite skilled at covering up the facts.
Page 2
This story involves the death of a City of Tucson Water employee, his name is Mr. Valenzuela. As proof of the City of Tucson corrupt Politicians, and Department heads ability to cover up the facts.
One day Mr. Valenzuela was working on the small power hand tools, weed eaters, gas mowers, gas operated hedge trimmers, and other hand tools that he was responsible for the maintaining.
These tools were then issued to the crews to maintained the surrounding vegetation around the different water wells located in and outside the City of Tucson.
He had worked at his job, day in and day out for many, many years doing the same thing over and over daily. He was in charge of the small hand tools that he issued from the small tool shed that he worked out of. Everyone at the Water Department knew what his job was.
One day his immediate supervisor, came out in a panic looking for some one to drive the broken down hazardous front end loader out to a job site. I turned out that some kids had fallen into a hole that was not secured, and the kids had bee injured. In an attempt to cover up the hole immediately, so the evidence would not be available to investigators, and to prevent a law suit involving the injury to the children.
Because Mr. Valenzuela, was the only one that was available in the compound, his supervisor ordered him to drive the front end loader tractor out to the site to cover up the hole. Mr. Valenzuela protested for several moments, stating that he was not qualified to drive the tractor, and then stated that he was afraid to drive the tractor, because he did not know how to operate the tractor. He also stated that the he did not have a valid licence to drive the heavy duty equipment.
After being threatened with his job by his supervisor, he began looking for someone else to operate the front-end loader. At which time Mr. Valenzuela approached my father, Manuel Montes who was a welder for the City of Tucson Water Department at that time. He begged my father to please take his place, but my father had just witnessed the argument and answered that he did not know how to drive the tractor either. My father told Mr. Valenzuela to continue to look for some one to take his place.
So Mr. Valenzuela, got on the tractor, after a long search to find some one that could operate the tractor. As Mr. Valenzuela, approached the site, the hole was across a huge ravine that was at a speep downward incline. As Mr. Valenzuela started to go down the incline or the ditch, the tractor flipped over, on top of him, and had crushed him to death.
Within two hours of the report of Mr. Valenzuela death to the Water Department Office of the accident, high ranking officials with the Water Department, went and forged documents, tests, proving that Mr. Valenzuela was fully qualified to operate the equipment, had prepared and passed tests that certified him to operate the tractor.
The City of Tucson claimed that Mr. Valenzuela was neglect in the operation of the heavy Duty Equipment. The City maintained that because he was at fault, his family would have to settle for the small amount of insurance monies offered by the City of Tucson.
Later Mr. Valenzuela’s wife had learned the truth about he husband from other employees that he worked with. When she complained, she was threatened by high ranking City of Tucson Officials, which threatened the jobs of her relatives that were also working in other positions with the City of Tucson. Page 3
Please note that I have a eyewitness to both incidents that occurred in the stories listed above
* This story is more about my direct involvement in the dumping of tens of thousands of gallons of the EPA’s 2nd hottest Hazardous Chemical called Malathion.
When I work for the City of Tucson Parks & Recreations Department in 1974, I was directly responsible for the dumping of tens of Thousands of this highly toxic carcinegient known as “Malathion”.
As owner of Montes Orthopedic for over 20 years, I would ask my clients what kind of work they are involved in. This information was very helpful in determining what lead to their foot problems, so I could make a foot appliance based on their needs.
In November of 1997, I had an elderly client come in to my office so I could make him a pair of my foot orthotics. As standard practice, I asked him what type of work he was doing. He remarked that he had just resigned from his job a couple of weeks ago. He stated the he was a Hydrologist working for a small company that does testing on the numerous water wells that are located around the City of Tucson. Then his company reports his findings to the City of Tucson Environment Control Department, who in turn report these findings to the Federal EPA, on a regular bases.
He stated that it was ironic that I should ask what it is that he does for a job. He stated that he had just resigned from his job because his boss was putting pressure on him to falsify his samples. He stated that the City of Tucson was putting pressure on his boss, so in turn his boss was putting pressure on him. As a result, he had to quit his job.
He then started to educate me on what carsinigantes are, he stated that they are chemicals that are known to cause cancer in people. He stated that these carcinogens are measured in parts per million, and some chemicals are measured in parts per billion. He state that as he collected the samples, his boss wanted him to add pure water to the samples to show that the samples are within EPA standards.
He stated that the levels of contaminates that were in our water supply were so great that they were way beyond Federal standards with the EPA.
It was then he asked me if I was drinking tap water, or bottled water. I answered that I was drinking bottled water. He then informed me that the water I was using to shower with was not safe, because of the high levels of carcinogens that were in the City’s water supply. He stated that I should be wearing swimming goggles to protect me from the harmful chemicals that are being absorbed through my eyes.
He also stated that the chemicals were still a great hazzard to the population of Tucson because of the chemicals becoming airborne He stated that when people water their lawns, the chemicals dry out on the lawn and are then picked up by the wind, and then are breathed in to cause us harm.
I then asked him how hazardous “Malathion” was, his eyes light up and said that Malathion is the 2nd Hazardous chemical on the EPA most hazardous list. I then began to tell him of my involvement with large quantities of “Malathion” that I had dumped for years while working for City of Tucson Parks & Recreations. I told him that Parks & Recreations had taken a 1400 gallon water buffalo used to spray water on dirt in back of a road grader, to keep the dust under Page 4
control. We placed a pump on the tanker, so we could pressurize the tank.
The Malathion we sprayed was used to control flies in the parks where we sprayed 6 days a week for years, and was also used to kill aphids on the medians located all around the city. When we sprayed, the wind through the chemical into our eyes and faces. It got on our cloths, hair, and skin. We had no Idea that the chemical I was using would be so dangerous to our health.
I also explained to him that the first time that I was asked to dump such a huge load of this chemical, I asked my supervisor, why we were wasting so much chemical, just pouring it out into the dump. I was told that we had to dump the load everyday because if we didn’t do this, the pressure in the tanker would weaken the rubber gaskets that held the pressure in. That the
gaskets would blow out over night do to the excessive pressure in the tank and that it would take months to replace the gaskets.
Well in the latter part of 1997, I reported this information of my evolvement to the City of Tucson Mayors Office. I was following the progress of my reporting, thinking that the City would respond to my complaint. I was told that my complaint was on the agenda for a vote to get funds before the City Council to investigate my complaint.
Well thinking that my complaint might not pass for a vote to get the funds to check to see if the chemicals were indeed there like I had reported they were, I could see that the red tape would get the best of me, and with no assurances that the vote would pass, I reported this matter to the Tucson Newspapers, and other media sources, which sided with the City of Tucson who was stating that the chemicals were found, but they were well within Federal standards.
Since the City of Tucson had only 5 holes drilled using Arial maps of the area, and log books that stated where the chemicals were, was at best substandard. I had also disclosed that I knew of 4 other locations that contained hazardous chemicals.
The City of Tucson Environmental Services claimed that the Malathion Chemical had been mixed with tree cuttings, grass, saw dust, and other plant matter that was designed to create a biodegradable condition for the Malathion Chemical, rendering it safe.
A taped conversation with a University of Arizona Professor concluded that Malathion Chemical was not Biodegradable, and will remain in the ground until it is taken out. He stated that, the way we know this, is that Malathion had been used in the forests along the great lakes to kill a parasite beetle that was killing off the pine trees. 15 years later the Malathion was leaching in to the great lakes, where it was killing some of the fish. 20 years later the chemical was killing a lot of fish, and the animals that ate the fish. 25 years later it was a hazardous biochemical disaster.
This professor was rebutting the testimony of the what the City of Tucson had issued in their reports of this chemical.
As a result of me coming forward, the City of Tucson has closed most, if not all of the wells surrounding the area where I had dumped the chemicals into a unlined waste dump.
I was also aware of the City of Tucson dumping solvents, paints, and contaminated oil, dead carcases of animals that died at the zoo, into this dump since 1963. I had been told that these chemicals would effect infant children, and older adults. I was told that infant children near this site would manifest it self in the form of birth defects, and still borne.
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As a result of my battle to make things right with what I had done, I became more out spoken in the protection of my fellow citizens safety from these chemicals. I was forced out of business in the latter part of 1998, as a result of my concerns for peoples health.
* I was responsible for a Judicial Judge being forced to resign his position from the Pima County Juvenile Court Center. At this correctional detention center this Judge sat in judgement of young children up to age 17, for many years. His job was to sentence children to the correctional facility there for verity of crimes including drugs for sale, the use of drugs, and the manufacturing of drugs. Well I found out that this same Judge was arrested for "Cocaine use, and Possession", In a cover up by City, and County officials was never made to answer for his crimes. He never went to court for his crimes, and the cases he had heard and ruled over for the many years while he sat on the bench were never retried. Only because of the monies that it
would have costed both the City of Tucson, and Pima County to retry each case. When I had heard of his arrest, I was shocked that he was on leave with administrative pay. I protested to a local TV News Reporter, to complain about him being payed to wait and see what happen to him. I told the reporter that if it was you or I that got caught using "Cocaine", in a parking lot in the center of town, we would have lost our jobs, and would have been fired for our crimes. But special treatment was given to this individual, by City, and County politicians that hold them selves above the law. And are quite skilled at providing two types of law. One for the common people, and one for politicians, and high ranking officials that are allowed to act above the law.
* In August of 2005, I received a phone call from the City of Tucson Revenue Division. Asking me to come in to there office. After arriving, I was lead to a small office where I meet with a Revenue Agent, who wanted to change my taxing structure of my office, in an attempt to create new revenues for her department. I disagreed, stating that I was not in business from 1999 to 2005. As a result, the City Revenue Department, prepared tax returns for me that stated that I owed the City of Tucson over $76,000.000, and that from 1999 to 2005 I had grossed over $ 2.4
million dollars. Enclosed are fictitious copies of my tax returns made by the City of Tucson, and the decision the tax hearing officer made in my case.. Also at my tax hearing the deck was stacked against me, I was not told that I could have my own attorney present at this hearing. But the City of Tucson had their City of Tucson Attorney there who aided the City Revenue Department. This fraudulent tax is in retaliation for my efforts to make everyone accountable for their crimes, no matter who you are.
While in the Military, I had received several letters of appreciation, and accommodation for my performance, while stationed at Fort Hood Texas.
I was retired from active duty because of a disability that I sustained while in the Military, in 1979.
I have been using my Disability Veterans Check that I get monthly from the VA to fight the City of Tucson in my defense. It has been hard, since it is the only income I have.
Mission Statement:
When I first enlisted into the ARMY, I swore an oath under God to protect America form its enemies, both foreign , and domestic. An oath that I have lived by since I first gave that oath.
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Enclosed, are copies of the Newspaper article that was the only coverage that was covered in Tucson.
If I can be of further assistance in convincing the City of Tucson and City officials that they are not above the law, please feel free to call me.
Sincerely,
Steven Montes
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Posted by: Steven Montes | April 11, 2007 at 12:35 AM
Look Where They Are Dumping Their Hazardous Chemicals Now?
By Steven Montes,
I was busy just doing my art while listening to the 5 O’clock news on TV KVOA Channel-4 in Tucson. When a story I was watching jolted me out of my seat. There was a news story about how Biosphere II located in Pima County near the small towns Tucson, Catalina, and Oro Valley, Arizona had been bought by Fairfield Homes, a well known national home building company specialized in the building of retirement communities.
Normally this news story being reported would not have bothered anyone else but me. But because I had prior first hand knowledge about the University of Arizona owning a Nuclear Plant directly on its campus, and had been illegally dumping its Nuclear waste for years in the ground on a parcel of land owned by the University of Arizona just located behind Biosphere II I was outraged.
The information I received first hand was form a former patient that had come into my Orthopedic office called Montes Orthopedic. I have worked at this office for over 20 years as a foot specialist.
As a rule I have the habit of asking people what kind of work do they do. By asking this question I am trying to determine if their foot problems are related to their job. So one day in 1998 I ask this man who had foot problems this very question. He responded that he was a scientist in Biology who researched cancer at the University of Arizona.
He started to explain to me just how cancer cells spread all over your body. He stated that the cancer cell will form in the blood when it is damaged, and is then carried through the blood until it randomly attaches to the thin membrane that separates the various organs in the body like in stake at the grocery store. Once cancer cell attaches itself, the cancer cell will secrete an enzyme that will eat into the white tissue of the thin membrane and spread to the organ that it has chosen.
So I told him that when I worked for the City of Tucson Parks & Recreation Department in 1974, I was responsible for having dumped thousands of gallons of Malathion used to kill, flies, aphids, and other bugs in the City Parks, and road medians all around the City of Tucson. I also told him that I had been asked for years to dump the 1400 gallon water buffalo that we had converted into a giant chemical sprayer filled with the second hottest chemical listed on the EPA website. Every day for years I had dumped 8 gallons of Malathion daily 6 days a week into that tanker. The first time I was instructed to dump this hazardous chemical into the unlined dump that the City of Tucson built in 1963, I asked my supervisor why we had to dump such an expensive chemical. Which seemed to be at the time such a waste of so much chemical. My supervisor stated, that the reason for dumping the chemical was so the tanker would not have any pressure in it over night, because if we did not release the pressure the tanker would break the seals and it would take about 4 months to replace them.
After telling him this story, I asked him what type of health problems should I expect to have as I get older in life. He stated that most of my problems would be neurological. It was then that he had told me how the University of Arizona had built a Nuclear Reactor Plant several yeas ago on campus and was dumping the Nuclear waste just behind Biosphere II. I was in shock and did not tell authorities about what I had just learned about the U of A dumping its Nuclear waste on barren desert.
But when I witnessed the 5 O’clock news story on channel 4, how Biosphere II had been sold to Fairfield Homes who is the biggest developer of retirement communities in Yucson, I was so shocked to learn that this company was about to build homes over e toxic waste dump where hundreds of new families coming to Tucson would be harmed by the high levels of radiation coming from the ground where the Nuclear waste is buried.
So I got on line at my computer, and researched Fairfield Homes at;
www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/1997/05/19/focus20.html
There it was in black and white, the bigger picture of what I will call the biggest conspiracy ever in the history of our country against its elderly citizens. Paul Oreffice, the former chairman of Dow Chemical Co, purchased the company out of bankruptcy and gave the builder a new direction.
I feel that this new direction is in the illegal dumping of chemicals for Dow Chemical Companies clients that use more chemicals than they have storage space for.
It is my highly educated opinion that since Fairfield Home Builders is the greatest builder of retirement communities, that is owned by Paul Oreffice, the former chairman of Dow Chemical Co. I wouldn’t be surprised if Paul Oreffice is still dumping illegal chemicals under the very homes in the retirement communities where his Fairfield Homes are being built.
I also feel that these illegal chemicals are being dumped under the concrete slabs before they are poured. I also believe that the chemical being used is being dumped as termite type of control before the concrete flooring is poured hiding all evidence.
It is also my educated opinion that this conspiracy is only aimed at only the elderly, since it is their old age of the elderly that will ultimately be the blame of there deaths or sicknesses from these chemicals that seep up from the concrete flooring of their homes.
I do believe that this conspiracy was also designed to counteract the growth of baby boomers as they get older, and to save what is left of Social Security. I also believe that since Arizona is a medical State that these man caused illnesses are deliberate and only serve the needs of medical community.
Posted by: Steven Montes | June 05, 2007 at 11:28 PM
*** Health Alert ***
My name is Steven Montes, owner of Montes Orthopedic in Tucson, Arizona at 520-512-0228
I was busy just making my art while listening to the 5 O’clock news on TV KVOA Channel-4 in Tucson. When a story I was watching jolted me out of my seat. There was a news story about how Biosphere II located in Penal County near the small towns Tucson, Catalina, and Oro Valley, Arizona had been bought by Fairfield Homes, a well known national home building company specialized in the building of retirement communities.
Normally this news story being reported would not have bothered anyone else but me. But because I had prior first hand knowledge about the University of Arizona owning two Nuclear Reactor Plants directly on its campus, and I am also a ware of one of the reactors had been sold to California.
Just like I am a ware of the illegally dumping of Nuclear waste from both reactors for years by the University of Arizona just behind Biosphere II. The dump site is located under ground on a parcel of land once owned by the U of A.
Now I have learned that Fairfield Homes has withdrawn their offer to buy Biosphere II only because of foundation problems that have plagued Biosphere II for years. I have known for years that the foundation under Biosphere II has had a history of problems stemming from the improper curing of the concrete that Biosphere II rests on. If examined closely there are signs of large cracks in the foundation that are allowing air from the out side to penetrate the so called bubble.
The information I received first hand was form a former patient that had come into my Orthopedic office at Montes Orthopedic in Tucson, Arizona. I have worked at this office for over 20 years as a foot specialist, and as a rule, I have the habit of asking people what kind of work do they do. By asking this question I am trying to determine if their foot problems are related to their job. So one day in 1998 I ask this man who had foot problems this very question. He responded that he was a Scientist in Biology at the University of Arizona who was researching cancer cells and how they mutate after being damaged by chemicals in our water.
He started to explain to me just how cancer cells spread all over your body. He stated that the cancer cell will form in the blood when it is damaged, and is then carried through the blood until it randomly attaches to the thin membrane that separates the various organs in the body like in stake at the grocery store. Once cancer cell attaches itself, the cancer cell will secrete an enzyme that will eat into the white tissue of the thin membrane and spread to the organ that it has chosen.
So I told him that when I worked for the City of Tucson Parks & Recreation Department in 1974, I was responsible for having dumped thousands of gallons of Malathion used to kill, flies, aphids, and other bugs in the City Parks, and road medians all around the City of Tucson. I also told him that I had been asked for years to dump the 1400 gallon water buffalo that we had converted into a giant chemical sprayer filled with the second hottest chemical listed on the EPA website. Every day for years I had dumped 8 gallons of Malathion daily 6 days a week into that tanker. The first time I was instructed to dump this hazardous chemical into the unlined dump that the City of Tucson built in 1963, I asked my supervisor why we had to dump such an expensive chemical. Which seemed to be at the time such a waste of so much chemical. My supervisor stated, that the reason for dumping the chemical was so the tanker would not have any pressure in it over night, because if we did not release the pressure the tanker would break the seals and it would take about 4 months to replace them.
After telling him this story, I asked him what type of health problems should I expect to have as I get older in life. He stated that most of my problems would be neurological. It was then that he had told me how the University of Arizona had acquired two Nuclear Reactor Plant several years ago on their campus and was dumping the Nuclear waste just behind Biosphere II.
I was in shock about learning of the two Nuclear Reactors, and did not tell authorities about what I had just learned about the U of A dumping its Nuclear waste on barren desert.
But when I witnessed the 5 O’clock news story on channel 4, how Biosphere II had been sold to Fairfield Homes who is the biggest developer of retirement communities in the country I was so shocked to learn that this company was about to build homes over e toxic waste dump where hundreds of new families coming to Tucson would be harmed by the high levels of radiation coming from the ground where the Nuclear waste is buried.
Now I have learned that CDO Ranching Development Company has acquired this illegal Nuclear dump site to develop 1,500 new homes and a resort hotel on the land that has already been approved.
Announced Monday, the sale price is just a quarter of the $200 million construction cost of the 3.15-acre mini world, which drew global attention in 1991 when eight people were sealed inside to conduct a two-year experiment in self-sufficiency.
The 1,658-acre sale was announced by Jerry A. Hawkins, vice president of CB Richard Ellis Tucson, who negotiated on behalf of purchaser CDO Ranching & Development, L.P. The company's partners include Tucson developer Peter G. Backus and Martin C. Bowen, who was vice president of Biosphere seller Decisions Investment Corp.
I was watching my local TV news, when it was announced that Biosphere II was being sold. I could not believe what I was hearing. I am even more shocked about the neglect, and lack of responsibility that the University of Arizona has displayed in allowing the sale of their Nuclear waste dump to be used for the development of new homes in an attempt to cover up this potentially hazardous dump site.
Just when I thaught it couldn't get any worse, it did. In a conversation to Pianl County Board Supervisor Mr. Ruiz I learned of second Nuclear dump site that the U of A built, making two known sites where the U of A stored it's Nuclear waste.
At the very least, this crises is an outrages crime against the citizens of Arizona and their children.
Can you help!
Posted by: Steven Montes | June 12, 2007 at 01:32 AM