30 NOV 1986 | NATIVE CORPORATIONS EMPLOY EXEMPTION FROM TAX REVISION LEGISLATION TO TURN LOSSES INTO CASH BEATING THE TAX MAN Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Sunday, November 30, 1986 Author: HAL BERNTON Daily News business reporter ; Staff Like alchemists turning lead into gold, Alaska's Native corporations are creating new fortunes by turning losses into cash windfalls that could total more than $150 million. The formula for these remarkable feats of transmutation includes red ink, a profitable partner corporation in the Lower 48, and a sprinkling of attorneys and accountants. To these ingredients, the magic elixir is added: An amendment to the 1986 Tax Reform Act that authorizes indeed encourages Native corporations to participate in a new form of a tax dodge the Internal Revenue Service once tried to stamp out. The amendment sponsored by Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens allows Native corporations and only Native corporations to sell their losses as tax writeoffs. The losses are purchased by profitable corporations, which then share the tax savings with the Native companies. Today, the major loss leaders among the 13 regional and more than 150 village corporations are being ardently wooed by General Motors, Marriott Corp. and dozens of other major Lower 48 corporations. Everyone's trying to close the deals before Jan. 1, when lower tax rates make the Natives' losses less valuable. The money to be earned from these loss sales may represent the Native corporations' biggest infusion of cash since implementation of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. "In essence, it's a new ANCSA," said Richard Rosston, an Anchorage attorney helping to negotiate many of the tax loss deals. "The first ANCSA was designed to give them a start in life. This is designed to give them a second chance." Three Native corporations already have incorporated loss sales into reorganization plans submitted to U.S. bankruptcy courts. But for the federal treasury, the tax reform amendment is a loophole that costs it revenue from both the Native corporations and their profitable partners. No one is sure just how much the amendment will finally cost in lost tax dollars. Stevens told his Senate colleagues that some deals would have gone through regardless of the 1986 amendment, which refined a 1984 version of the Native tax break. He estimated its cost at no more than $50 million during the next six years, probably much less. On that basis, Stevens' fellow senators quietly accepted the amendment without a whisper of protest. Stevens based his estimate on an assumption by the congressional Joint Taxation Committee that the pool of Native losses totaled between $250 million and $300 million, according to Mark Springer, an account manager for Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co., who took leave from his Dallas office to work on Stevens' staff during the last session of Congress. But it now appears that Stevens' estimate based on figures provided by Alaska accountants may be far too low. Steve Meiers, a California attorney who is putting together many of the deals, said he has heard estimates of total losses "north of $500 million. How far north, I haven't a clue." A $500 million loss pool could cost the treasury more than $200 million. Much of the losses are real, red ink that resulted from failed investments in construction companies, fishing boats and other unprofitable enterprises. But a big chunk no one's sure what percentage are what accountants call "soft" losses. A Native corporation might appraise its timber, for example, one year, then sell it three years later for much less than the appraised value. The sale may bring in more money than the costs of logging. But it still represents a loss to tax accountants. Sealaska Corp., for example, listed accumulated losses of $20.8 million in its latest annual report. But on its tax filings, the Juneaubased regional corporation lists a $60 million net operating loss. Much of the added losses are the result of selling timber at prices well below the value of its initial appraisal when the land was conveyed to Sealaska during the booming timber market of the late '70s. Sealaska recently sold its losses to a New York investment firm in a deal expected to earn the corporation more than $20 million in cash, according to Bill Howe, Sealaska's president. The soft losses from timber and land sale writeoffs appear to be a big reason the loss pool is much higher than congressional estimates. "Those were not taken into account when putting together the revenue estimates," said a spokesman for Stevens. "It's a different theory of loss. They potentially could be a whole slew of losses and quite a bit of money." Those who support the amendment say it's justified as a venture in social policy, not tax policy. Many Native companies sustained major financial losses because of the federal government's delays in transferring the nearly $1 billion in cash and 44 million acres promised in the 1971 claims act. Now, the federal government should lend a helping hand. "It's a recognition that ANCSA has failed for some of these corporations, and this is a chance to make amends," said Rosston, the Anchorage attorney. The loss sales, however, are not the most efficient means of federal aid. Native corporations must split the tax breaks with the profitable companies, which get 20 to 50 cents of every dollar the treasury loses. Some argue it would be cheaper for Congress just to give the Native corporations their share of the tax benefits. But that approach would never fly with politicians worried about a huge federal deficit. "To appropriate money of the magnitude of the NOL (net operating loss) deals would just be impossible," said the Stevens aide. "I don't think Congress would do it and I don't think the administration would support it." The Stevens amendment puts an ironic new wrinkle into the legacy of the 1971 claims act, which created the Native corporations in a bold new effort to integrate Alaska's Aleuts, Indians and Eskimos into the mainstream of American capitalism. Congress hoped the corporations would use their formidable cash and land assets to make money for shareholders. Until the amendment passed this year, the main way to make money was by earning profits. But the amendment has brought about a strange inversion of classic capitalist theory. In its bizarro world, losses are now valuable assets. The bigger the losses, the more a corporation can expect to earn when the losses are auctioned off. That equation has hit the Native business community with electrifying effect. An instant cottage industry has been created for attorneys, accountants and even brokers who charge commissions to pair up Native corporations with Lower 48 partners. Many of those engaged in this new cottage industry are working seven days a week in an effort to close the deals before the year's end. Until Jan. 1, one dollar in Native losses is worth as much as 46 cents in deductions to a profitable corporation taxed in the maximum bracket. Under the new tax code's lower rates, the value of a dollar of Native losses will diminish within two years to a 32cent tax break. As the yearend deadline approaches, the dealmaking is heating up to a fever pitch. At least a dozen deals already have closed and many more are expected to close soon. Executives of Native corporations are reluctant to disclose the identity of Lower 48 tax mates. Most of the deals are being made in a shroud of secrecy, with a cast of characters known only to a handful of attorneys and accountants. But one thing is certain, according to attorneys involved in the deals: It's a seller's market. Native corporations often review several offers and counteroffers before making a sale. They want top dollar for their losses. It wasn't always that way. Under a 1984 law, Native corporations were allowed to sell their losses only if the deals had a business purpose beyond that of tax avoidance. Even then, the IRS contended the Native corporations might have to buy at least a 50 percent equity in the joint venture subsidiaries used to transfer the losses. If the deals didn't meet IRS approval, their legality might have to be defended in court. With such high risk, the few Lower 48 corporations involved in the deals wanted to claim most of their benefits. They were unwilling to kick back more than half of the tax savings to the Native corporations. But that quickly changed with the passage of the 1986 amendment, which eliminated all equity and business purposes for the deals. This meant the IRS would have no legal basis to disallow loss deals made solely to dodge taxes. "At first, there were still some (profitable) corporations that were nervous," said one congressional source. "They couldn't believe it. It was too good to be true." Then began a frenzy of dealmaking. Most of the deals involve creation of a paper affiliation between the Native and Lower 48 corporations. Or sometimes, they use already existing subsidiaries of the Native or Lower 48 corporations. In all the transactions, the Native company obtains voting control of the paper affiliation. Through the paper affiliation, the profitable corporation claims a tax writeoff. The Native corporations are driving hard bargains. In some of the latest transactions, a few Native corporations with big losses are receiving nearly 80 percent of the tax savings realized. "The market went up just after President Reagan signed the bill, but I believe it's at its peak, or very close to its peak right now," Rosston said. With a market this hot, Native corporations are meticulously scrutinizing their account books to make sure they haven't neglected to list any losses. "I talked with one corporation that had a $25 million loss and a few weeks later had a $50 million loss," said Meiers, the Los Angeles attorney. "What they are doing, and perfectly appropriate in doing, is taking an aggressive position in respect to losses." The biggest winners in the losssale gold rush appear to be timberrich Southeast Alaska Native corporations. Many of these companies have suffered hard financial losses as they borrowed huge sums of money to bankroll logging operations just before the timber industry slumped. But some corporations have made money logging, then used timber writeoffs to pile up mountains of paper losses. "Every time a tree is cut and harvested, there's a positive cash flow," Meiers said. ". . . But there's a depletion deduction and a taxable event." Thus, it was possible for Klukwan Inc., a Hainesbased village corporation that never lost a dime cutting timber, to rack up a $20 million net operating loss. In one of the few deals forged before the 1986 amendment, Klukwan sold its losses to Del E. Webb Co. of Arizona, according to Bob Loiselle, Klukwan's chief executive. Executives of the Native corporations defend the timber writeoffs as legitimate losses, as marketable as other losses to profitable companies. But tax accountants are casting a wary eye at some of the timber losses. They're unsure how the IRS will react to tens of millions of soft losses sold as tax writeoffs. As a result, some profitable companies that buy soft losses are opening escrow accounts to be filled with much of the tax savings from those writeoffs. The money will be paid to the Native corporations if and when the danger of an IRS challenge passes. Goldbelt Inc., for example, recently sold about $15 million in losses to Pillsbury Co. in a deal expected to net the Juneaubased village corporation more than $7 million. Most of the corporation's losses were all too real, the result of moneylosing logging operations that brought its shareholders to the brink of fiscal disaster. But more than a third were soft losses resulting from timber depletion writeoffs, according to Joe Kahklem of Goldbelt. Pillsbury, concerned with potential problems from the IRS, paid a discount price for the soft losses and insisted that $2.3 million in expected tax savings be placed in escrow. Within the next six months, most of the Native losses are expected to sold. For attorneys and accountants, the phones will stop ringing. For Native corporations, the cash will start to flow. Bank loans will be repaid, shareholders may receive unexpected dividends and new investments will be made. The dollar amounts of the deals will be duly noted in the financial reports of Native corporations and their Lower 48 partners as "benefits from significant transactions." But the full costs of these ventures may never be known to the taxpayers. Financial reports from small Native corporations and privately held Lower 48 corporations will not be available. Sometime in the future, the losssale market may even sputter back to life, fueled by a new round of bad investments and timber writeoffs. The amendment allows the loss sales to continue until 1992, when Natives will be free to sell their stock. Edition: Final Section: Business Page: C1 Record Number: 244729 Copyright (c) 1986, Anchorage Daily News
22 OCT 1987 | HOLLIS HENRICHS Memorial services for longtime Cordova postmaster Hollis Henrichs will be at 2:30 p.m. Friday at the Elks Lodge in Cordova. The Elks Lodge 1483 and the Rev. Diane Tickell of St. George's Episcopal Church will officiate. Mr. Henrichs , 77, died Oct. 20 at Providence Hospital. He was born April 12, 1910, in Mt. Vernon, Mo. He had moved to Alaska in 1935 with the U.S. Coast Guard, and then settled in Cordova where he worked as a clerk in the post office. He served as postmaster from the 1940s until his retirement in 1978. He also owned and operated the Copper Delta Mortuary from 1953 until his death. He leaves his daughter, Laura Sipes, of Seattle; his son, Robert, of Cordova; and three grandchildren. He was preceded in death in 1980 by his second wife Shirley; his son Bill in 1977; and his first wife, Rose, in 1945. Local arrangements were by Evergreen Memorial Chapel.
24 MAR 1989 | Tanker Exxon Valdez hits Bligh Reef near the village of Tatitlek in Prince William Sound.
David Marquez has been appointed general counsel for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. Marquez had been with Arco Alaska Inc. since 1977 and has held executive committee positions in the Alaska Bar Association's Administrative Law, Natural Resources and Employment Law sections.
September 28, 1991 | ALYESKA "REGRETS' TRASH RAID LAW FIRM GETS BACK PAPERS SPIES TOOK Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Saturday, September 28, 1991 Author: RICHARD MAUER Daily News reporter ; Staff Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. said Friday it was sorry again, this time to the Anchorage public interest law firm whose garbage was raided in the wide- ranging investigation and intelligence-gathering operation it ran last year. "Let me say that Alyeska very much regrets that discarded trash was collected from an area outside the building occupied by Trustees for Alaska," Alyeska general counsel David Marquez said in a letter hand-delivered to Randall Weiner, executive director of the environmental law firm. The trash papers included a rough version of a legal brief prepared by a Trustees lawyer. Marquez turned over a copy of that document and four others among the 18 items plucked from the dumpster by private investigator Rick Lund of Miami. Marquez said the other 13 documents could not be identified as originating in the Trustees office and may have come from other tenants of 725 Christensen Drive. Marquez assured Weiner that no telephone conversations or records of calls to or from the Trustees office were monitored and that no effort was made to further delve into its affairs. At the time, Trustees was involved in a lawsuit with Alyeska over the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In response, Weiner said, "I'm pleased that Alyeska has begun to answer our questions." But, he added in an interview, inconsistencies in various accounts of the investigation remain unresolved. Over the course of at least seven months last year, operatives of the Wackenhut Corp. of Coral Gables, Fla., sought on behalf of Alyeska to find out who was leaking documents and information to Charles Hamel of Alexandria, Va., an outspoken critic of the oil industry's environmental, health and safety record in Alaska. According to information already made public, the wide net cast by the investigators also pulled in intelligence on Hamel's communications with Congress and reporters and on the activities of Alaskans who have opposed Alyeska. Last Saturday, Alyeska apologized to the citizens of Alaska in newspaper ads, saying "the investigation was wrong." But the statement didn't say how the company reached its conclusion or why something that was "wrong" continued so long, and Alyeska officials refused to elaborate. Marquez 's letter raised additional questions about the conduct of the investigation. He said the collection of Trustee's trash, on March 24, 1990, "took place without prior knowledge by those in Alyeska responsible for the investigation." In addition, he said, no lawyers working for Alyeska or its owner companies were aware at the time that an investigation was taking place. Last month, before the scope of the investigation was known outside the company, James Hermiller, the president of Alyeska, told the Boston Globe that lawyers were consulted "at every step of the way" to ensure the investigation "was legal, lawful and carried out in a professional way." Wackenhut officials made identical statements in interviews with the Daily News and other newspapers. Asked to explain the inconsistency, Alyeska spokeswoman Marnie Isaacs said that no lawyers were involved when Trustees' trash was searched because it was so early in the investigation. Marquez didn't return two calls placed to his home requesting comment. Weiner said he was troubled by Marquez 's assertion that no one at Alyeska had approved the operation against Trustees. "If, as Alyeska claims, Wackenhut did something they shouldn't have done, it was obvious that Wackenhut was out of control, engaging in irresponsible actions," Weiner said. "An ethical company would have stopped the investigation as soon as it discovered that irresponsible actions were taking place." Weiner said the five returned items were photocopies of originals and included three empty envelopes and a draft of a cover page from a legal brief. While those items didn't appear to be confidential, the fifth a 10-page, handwritten draft of a brief should never have been seen by prying eyes, he said. The brief was prepared for a lawsuit seeking to block the state from selling land near Fairbanks, which Trustees ultimately won. The document was privileged "work product" an internal communication of counsel dealing with a matter under litigation, he said. Marquez assured Weiner that the original document was kept secret along with other investigative files. But Weiner said the "chain of custody" described by Marquez was so long that he could not feel confident that the document wasn't exposed or that other items in addition to the 18 weren't "stashed away anywhere along that chain."
ALYESKA CONTRADICTED BY RECORDS INITIAL EXPLANATIONS DIFFER FROM TESTIMONY, DOCUMENTS Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Sunday, December 1, 1991 Author: KIM FARARO Daily News business reporter ; Staff Much of what Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. and its oil company owners initially claimed in explaining their covert investigation of industry critic Charles Hamel has since been contradicted often by company documents the firms were forced to turn over to congressional investigators. When the story first broke into public view, questions about the investigation simply matched the companies' word against that of several former employees of Wackenhut Corp., the security firm Alyeska hired to investigate Hamel. At that point, Alaskans looking for facts were forced simply to choose between the truthfulness of two different accounts, as in listening to Anita Hill and Judge Clarence Thomas before the U.S. Senate. But then the U.S. House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee began an investigation and subpoenaed documents and records from Alyeska and Wackenhut. The facts in those records and in others obtained by the Daily News stand in sharp contrast with many of Alyeska's and its owners' key defenses. They specifically contradict the companies' claims about oversight, legality and what spying methods were used during the seven-month investigation that ended in September 1990. This story is a comparison of oil industry statements and those facts. LAWYERS NOT ALWAYS THERE On Aug. 17, 1991, The Boston Globe quoted Alyeska Pipeline President James Hermiller as saying: "At every step of the way, we were assured by Wackenhut and by outside counsel that the conduct of their investigation was legal, lawful and carried on in a professional way." George Wuerch, Alyeska's vice president for corporate affairs, echoed those remarks several weeks later in an interview with the Daily News. "There were several lawyers that reviewed every step of the investigation and were providing concurrence . . . at each step of the way that that step was proper, legitimate and legal for the state in which it was being conducted," he said. But Alyeska's outside attorney, William Richey of Florida, told the Interior Committee he didn't become involved in the investigation until May 17, 1990, 21 2 months after it began. By that time, Wackenhut had, among other things, already obtained Hamel's phone records and taken documents from his home without his knowledge in their attempts to find his Alyeska sources. Over several years, those sources had provided Hamel with damaging information about Alyeska's environmental record that he passed along to Congress, the media and state and federal regulators. After Richey's testimony was made public, Alyeska spokeswoman Marnie Isaacs conceded that no lawyer oversaw the first 21 2 months of the investigation. LAWYERS DIDN'T BLESS PROBE In an interview with the Daily News before the congressional hearings, the BP representative on Alyeska's owners' committee said the owners had hired other lawyers after the investigation to examine its legality. They concluded it was "undertaken in a legal fashion," he said. The BP executive, Don Nyberg, identified the new counsel as Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker of Los Angeles. Paul, Hastings did provide Alyeska's owners with a 95-page review of the investigation, which the Interior Committee subpoenaed and made public during its hearings. But it concluded that the Wackenhut operatives and Alyeska may have broken the law in pursuing Hamel and his sources. For instance, the lawyers said, "Based on the facts known to us, the required elements may be present to support a criminal prosecution against Alyeska for violation of the federal statutes prohibiting mail fraud, wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen goods. . . ." Asked to explain the discrepancy between his characterization of the attorneys' conclusions and the report itself, Nyberg said: "I still consider that document privileged, so I won't talk about it." The Paul, Hastings legal review was one of the documents Alyeska originally refused to give the committee, contending it was a confidential and privileged legal document. Wuerch said Alyeska officials believed the committee would not make it public. CONVERSATIONS WERE TAPED On Aug. 16, 1991, spokeswoman Isaacs told the Daily News there were "no taped conversations of Mr. Hamel." The next day, The Anchorage Times quoted Hermiller as saying: "No conversations were ever recorded." In early September 1991, Wackenhut and Alyeska handed over to the Interior Committee more than 10 hours of videotaped and audiotaped conversations with Hamel. The taping was done by Wackenhut agents who befriended Hamel by posing as environmentalists. Excerpts of the videotapes were shown by Alyeska to its major owners Arco, Exxon and BP at a meeting held Sept. 25, 1990. Alyeska called the meeting to give those companies the first detailed account of the investigation. Shortly after making her original statement, Isaacs said she believed she had said "no taped phone conversations." Even that appears to be untrue. A memo from Wackenhut chief investigator Wayne Black to Alyeska security chief Pat Wellington, obtained by the Daily News, shows that Black tape- recorded a phone conversation with Hamel on Aug. 30, 1990. In detailing his activities that day, Black wrote: "I called Hamel's residence and spoke with him. That call was tape recorded." In addition, one of the ex-Wackenhut agents who raised questions about the investigation provided written testimony to the Interior Committee that Black had taped other calls with Hamel. The agent, Ricki Jacobson, said, "I witnessed approximately two of the calls made by Mr. Black to Mr. Hamel. I observed at least one of these telephone calls being recorded by Mr. Black. The device used was a wire with a suction cup attached to the receiver and the other end attached to a small tape recorder on Mr. Black's desk. I know other phone calls to Mr. Hamel were recorded, because Mr. Black played for me the tape of at least one of the phone calls which he made to Mr. Hamel." The Daily News also obtained a transcript of telephone conversation between Hamel and Black that Alyeska provided to the Interior Committee. Black said the conversation took place July 30. Although there is no specific evidence the conversation was recorded, the transcript appears to be a verbatim record including, for instance, the word "Auh" and quotes both Hamel and Black. It ends: "Hamel: Alright talk to you later. "WBB (Black): Alright take care." WERE LEAKS DISCOVERED? On Aug. 15, 1991, in one of his first interviews on the Hamel investigation, Alyeska President Hermiller told the Daily News the investigation did not find the source of leaks. But Alyeska's investigation identified at least three sources, according to memos written by Wackenhut agents. The agents identified one of those sources, Bob Scott, just three months after they began looking, according to a memo obtained by the House Interior Committee. The memo, written by Black to Wellington, said: "We have been able to positively identify Bob Scott as one of Hamel's sources." It is dated May 23, 1990. Alyeska fingered Scott as a Hamel source several months later at the Sept. 25 meeting with its major owners, according to Arco attorney Paul Bilgore, who was present. Spokesman Wuerch would not comment on the discrepancy between Hermiller's statement and Black's memo and Bilgore's statement. "It would be inappropriate to comment outside of the (congressional hearing) process," he said. Scott was fired on Oct. 24, one month after the investigation was stopped. Alyeska officials say Scott was not fired for leaking information about Alyeska's environmental problems to Hamel. Instead, Alyeska and its owners contend he performed poorly at work and was fired as a result. Bilgore says Alyeska officials discussed Scott's professional failings at the Sept. 25 meeting. Bilgore said the owners concluded that if Scott were fired, it should be for his "demerits," not for leaking information. Bilgore would not say what about Scott's performance got him fired. Scott has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor demanding his job back and invoking provisions in several federal laws meant to protect whistleblowers. WHY SPYING WAS STOPPED Also on Aug. 15, 1991, Hermiller said the owner companies had voted to halt the investigation on Sept. 25, 1990, because it didn't turn up the source of leaks to Hamel. Spokeswoman Isaacs said, "The investigation only lasted a few months and it was inconclusive." But two of Alyeska's seven owner companies, BP and Arco, have since said they voted to stop the investigation as soon as they learned the details not because it was inconclusive but because they were uncomfortable with some of the spying methods used. Exxon and Phillips said they felt the investigation was inappropriate. "It was a blinding glimpse of the obvious as to what ought to be done," said Arco's owner representative, William Rusnack. "It ought to be shut down it's not something that was appropriate." WHAT THE OWNERS KNEW On Aug. 19, 1991, The Wall Street Journal reported that Hermiller said none of Alyeska's owner companies knew about the Wackenhut investigation while it was under way. But a report by the Paul, Hastings law firm indicates that Hermiller presented at least some information about the investigation on two different occasions to Fred Garibaldi, BP's representative on the Alyeska owners' committee last year. Hermiller is a BP executive on loan to Alyeska. BP is Alyeska's majority owner. The Paul, Hastings report is based on interviews with Bilgore, the Arco attorney who attended the Sept. 25 owners' meeting, and with Alyeska's former general counsel, Alfred Smith. The report says Hermiller not only claims to have told Garibaldi an investigation was about to start, but also "claims to have consulted Mr. Garibaldi again prior to the commencement of any taping." Garibaldi says he believes he talked to Hermiller about the tapes, but says he didn't learn either the nature of the tapes or how they were obtained. Garibaldi also says that although he knew something was to be done to stop leaks, he never asked for details. WAS HAMEL THE TARGET? On Aug. 17, 1991, the Los Angeles Times reported that Hermiller said the investigation did not target Hamel, but rather his sources. In fact, Hamel also appears to have been a target. In a memo to Wellington on March 29, 1990, Black refers to Hamel as "the target." He wrote: "We need to obtain the room account information for the Voyager Hotel, room 110, for the time period when the target was there." Hamel had stayed at the Voyager in March when Wackenhut operatives came to Alaska to make contact with him. In notes taken at a May 17, 1990, meeting with Black, Alyeska attorney Jonathan Goodman of Miami called Hamel the "original subject of investigation." Goodman was working with Richey, who initially reviewed the investigation for Alyeska. In a memo to his files dated Oct. 5, 1990, Black summarized the investigation this way: "In early of 1990, we were retained by Alyeska to investigate the matter of theft of proprietary documents. Our investigation soon focused on Charles Hamel and the theft of attorney client information from the Legal Department and Alyeska in Anchorage." As the investigation progressed that summer, Alyeska hired other lawyers to pursue a possible lawsuit against Hamel. The suit was to be based, at least in part, on information collected by Wackenhut. David Marquez , Alyeska's general counsel, said recently that the company stands by Hermiller's original statement that the intent of the investigation was to stop leaks from inside Alyeska.
22 May 1992 | 3AN-92-04517CI Eyak development, Corp et al vs. Henrichs, Robert J
3AN-92-07933CI Yatchmeneff, Lawrence D vs. Henrichs, Robert J
4/21/1993 SCIENTIFIC FISHERY SYSTEMS, INC. Creation Filing State of Alaska Patrick K. Simpson
17 JUN 1993 | The Chugach Alaska Corp. re-elected James LaBelle Sr. of Anchorage, and Gilbert Ollestad of Seward, and elected Robert Henrichs of Cordova, to its board of directors. The board also named LaBelle chairman. Others elected were Larry Evanoff of Chenega Bay, vice chairman; Darrel Olsen of Cordova, secretary; and Albert Roehl of Anchorage, treasurer.
Zachares worked in the CNMI from 1994 until January 2002. He served as an assistant attorney in the Office of the Attorney General. Some say his Alaskan ties to Herb Soll landed him the position in the CNMI, as both Soll and Zachares came from Alaska to the CNMI. Soll worked in the Office of the Attorney General, and as a labor hearing officer. He was appointed Attorney General in 2000 by Governor Pedro Tenorio after the Maya Kara appointment as acting attorney general was ruled unconstitutional since she served in that position for more than 30 days.
23 DEC 1996 | Gilbert Ollestad of Seward and Robert J. Henrichs of Cordova were re-elected to the Chugach Alaska Corp. board of directors during an annual meeting held in early December. Jerry Hathaway of Kennewick, Wash., also was elected to a three-year term on the board. John A. Christensen Sr. was re-elected board chairman at a subsequent meeting. Others elected were: Derenty Tabios, vice-chairman; Benna Mae Hughey, secretary; and Richard ''Rick'' Nelson, treasurer.
Wednesday, March 15, 2000 FUN TAX TIPS SCC to hold annual tax workshop This year’s panel of speakers include Dave Burger of Burger and Comer P.C., Jim Gittleson from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Tony Muna of Sine & Muna, Edmund Brobsong of Ernst & Young, and CNMI’s Tax and Revenue Division’s Dora Taitingfong and Pauline Kapileo.
BUSINESS PEOPLE Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Monday, June 5, 2000 Phillips Alaska Inc. president Kevin Meyer has announced his new executive team. Ryan Lance will continue as vice president of the western North Slope. This area includes the Alpine oil field and any future discoveries in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. He has more than 16 years of oil and gas experience. Joe Leone will continue as vice president of the Greater Kuparuk Area and Cook Inlet. The GKA includes the Kuparuk, Tabasco, West Sak, Tarn and Meltwater oil fields, while Cook Inlet is comprised of Kenai LNG plant, North Cook Inlet Platform and Beluga River unit. Leone began his Arco career in 1984. Mike Richter will continue as vice president of exploration and land, responsible for the oil and gas exploration and lease acquisition and management in Alaska. He joined Arco in 1977. Meg Yaege continues as vice president of pipelines and assumes oversight of Phillips' interest in the Prudhoe Bay unit on completion of the transition to single operator. She began her career with Arco in 1979. Steve Butterworth is the new vice president of finance, planning and control. He brings more than 20 years of corporate finance and tax management experience to his position. He previously served as controller for Arco Alaska. Dave Marquez will continue as Phillips Alaska vice president and chief counsel, a position he has held with Arco since 1996. He has 27 years of legal and oil and gas experience in Alaska. Bob McManus continues as vice president of tax and external affairs, responsible for the company's federal, state and local tax obligations and public image. He has 23 years of experience in the oil and gas industry.
Wednesday, February 28, 2001 Chamber to hold tax workshop 28 Feb 2001 Saipan Tribune | This year’s panel of experts include Dave Burger of Burger & Comer P.C., Jim Gittleson from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Tony Muna of Sine & Muna, Edmund Brobesong or Ernst & Young, and experts from the CNMI Division of Revenue and Taxation Dora Taitingfong and Pauline Kapileo.
14 AUG 2001 | Diesel-leaking vessel slips deeper into sea | Villagers upset at handling of spill, vow to monitor cleanup. Anchorage Daily News (AK) - August 14, 2001 Many people in the village of Eyak are disappointed by the way the spill has been handled, said Robert Henrichs , president of the Native village of Eyak. He said neither the state nor the Coast Guard informed villagers about the status of the cleanup. Also, when members of an Eyak group visited the site Thursday, they found oiled beaches where diesel pooled in their footprints.
25 JAN 2002 Alaska's tribes joined others across the country this week in opposing a Bush administration proposal to reorganize the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The reorganization was proposed last November by Interior Secretary Gale Norton as a way for the government to gain better control of trust accounts mismanaged in the past by the BIA. The government has been sued by Indians claiming as much as $10 billion in royalties owed to individual Indians was lost because of faulty bookkeeping and theft. But opponents of the reorganization plan, which would remove trust operations from the BIA, say it could lead to dissolving the main federal agency dealing with Native Americans. They also say the government should have consulted with tribes before announcing the huge overhaul. ''There's a sense that this becomes the first step toward termination of the relationship with tribes,'' said Jim LaBelle, executive director of the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council. On Wednesday, Alaska's tribes added their voices to the criticism. At a meeting in Anchorage with Neal McCaleb, the assistant interior secretary for Indian Affairs, dozens of tribal representatives from around the state said the government should come up with a new plan. For Alaska Natives, the cure seems much worse than the disease. The trust account problem has been relatively minor here. BIA officials have said about $11 million was handled on behalf of individual Alaska Natives. But the case has rocked the federal government. Court rulings have repeatedly gone in favor of the Indian plaintiffs. Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt was held in contempt of court for not fixing the problem. And under Norton, the Interior Department's computer system remains shut down by court order because it allowed outsiders to reach computer records of individual trust accounts. ''Some think the secretary has overreacted with this plan,'' LaBelle said. Alaska tribal representatives told McCaleb they were concerned about supervision of Native allotments under the new plan. They were also worried that reorganization would affect federal contracts with tribes for services to Native Americans. Those contracts, for hundreds of millions of dollars every year, have grown to be a cornerstone of village economies in many parts of Alaska. Critics worry that tribal contracts for health and social services, now managed through the BIA, would eventually be parceled out to other non-Indian agencies. The meeting in Anchorage was one of several being held by Interior around the country to get reactions from tribes. McCaleb told the Alaska tribes no final decisions had been made about how to repair the BIA's trust management program. Native American tribes have proposed forming a task force to come up with an alternative plan for handling the trust funds. The Indian plaintiffs in court have asked that the money be handled by a court-appointed receiver. Alaska tribes also said they opposed appointing former assistant interior secretary Ross Swimmer to lead the proposed Indian trust agency, which would be known as the Bureau of Indian Trust Assets Management. They said he failed to deal with the problems effectively during his previous tenure in the Reagan administration. Reporter Tom Kizzia can be reached at tkizzia@adn.com. Caption: Photos By Erik Hill Anchorage Daily News ''There are tribal organizations in Alaska that are very good at handling their money,'' Bob Henrichs , above, told Neal McCaleb, assistant interior secretary for Indian Affairs, below, at a meeting Wednesday at the Anchorage Hilton. Henrichs , who was referring to Bureau of Indian Affairs trust fund management problems, is president of the Native village of Eyak. McCaleb told the Alaska tribes no final decisions have been made about how to repair the BIA's trust management problem. The Anchorage meeting was one of several the Interior Department is holding nationwide. Kathryn Martin completed her testimony Wednesday at the Anchorage Hilton by inviting assistant interior secretary Neal McCaleb to visit Mentasta. ''We don't guarantee you'll get any fish, but we guarantee you'll have the right to fish,'' she said, to the delight of the audience. Martin, the Mentasta Traditional Council tribal administrator, is the granddaughter of subsistence rights activist Katie John.
25 Apr 2002 Tax break would cost - GAS LINE: Incentives for companies would cost state $760 million. Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Thursday, April 25, 2002 Author: Ben Spiess Anchorage Daily News ; Staff A tax-incentive bill being pushed by oil field construction giant Veco Corp. to jump-start a huge natural gas pipeline project would cost Alaska $760 million in lost revenue, according to a new state analysis presented Wednesday in the House Finance Committee. Veco chairman Bill Allen has been pressing the tax break with legislators in Juneau, arguing that the bill, which would suspend state and local property taxes during construction and the early years of natural gas production from the North Slope, is needed to spur investment by Alaska's big gas owners: Phillips, Exxon Mobil and BP. The three companies support the legislation but have made no commitments about whether they will build the line if the bill passes. Cost estimates of the project have run as high as $20 billion. Meanwhile, the Knowles administration, which wants to negotiate any tax or royalty reduction, opposes the measure. ''It seems excessive to waive $760 million more in property taxes before you even begin negotiations, before you know whether you are putting too much on the table,'' said Larry Persily, deputy commissioner of the Department of Revenue. But proponents waved off concerns that the state may be offering too much. ''$700 million a year? I'd ask you to take a longer view. We're going to get $250 to $300 million a year (in taxes and royalties). Multiply that times 50 years or 100 years,'' said Rep. Pete Kott, R-Eagle River, who introduced the bill last week. The idea for the tax break came from Veco president Pete Leathard, said Rick Smith, Veco vice president. Dave Marquez , an attorney who retired as Phillips Alaska Inc.'s general counsel three months ago, helped write the bill for Veco, Smith said. Veco and its employees are among the biggest corporate givers in the Capitol, donating tens of thousands of dollars to legislators. The governor has been a vocal supporter of the gas pipeline and a longtime ally of Veco's Allen. After being introduced last week, the bill sped through two committees. More hearings are scheduled today in the Finance Committee. Wednesday in the Finance Committee, Persily said that new analysis of the bill shows lost revenues of $760 million, compared with $500 million he presented at a committee meeting Monday. The new number, he said, is from analysis that shows pipeline construction costs in Alaska would be higher than previously considered. The state will never know whether they are getting a good deal or not, Persily said. Also, the measure has no provisions to recoup those lost revenues. However, a different part of the bill authorizes the state to negotiate further tax incentives beyond the property tax break, which could be an avenue to recover the lost money. ''But couldn't you negotiate (the lost property taxes) back?'' asked House Finance Co-chairman Eldon Mulder, R-Anchorage. Natural Resources commissioner Pat Pourchot said that even if the companies chose to negotiate, the tax break erodes the state's bargaining position. ''I don't know if it's in the state's interest to put ($760 million) on the table and then try negotiate it back in a royalty negotiation,'' Pourchot said. Also, the proposed law does not require investors to enter into further negotiations. That raised the fear among some that the state might be offering a tax break without the certainty the state is getting a good deal. ''How do I know when I am giving away too much? At what point am I cutting into the people's ownership of that resource for a corporate bottom line?'' Rep. Eric Croft, D-Anchorage, asked Marquez . ''If there is no project, then you'll know you've not done enough,'' Marquez said. He said that if companies invest and take advantage of the property tax break, the companies will doubtless enter into negotiations over other incentives. The state would learn how good a deal the companies are getting, Marquez said. Croft pressed further: ''But if we did not negotiate, I'd never know if I'd given too much because I'd never enter into those discussions.'' Marquez conceded: ''There is some risk of that.'' Ken Thompson, the former president of Arco Alaska Inc. and an adviser to Gov. Tony Knowles on natural gas development, suggested limiting the tax break period to construction only. That change would cut the total tax break to $463 million, according to state analysis. If companies want further property tax breaks, they could negotiate with the state. Thompson predicted the state could recover the lost revenue in future gas developments after the pipeline is built. ''Some ask are we putting too much on the table,'' Thompson said. ''We need to think about the bigger picture and, I think, need to jump-start this project.''
15 May 2002 Veco mogul Bill Allen takes a licking but keeps on politicking Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Wednesday, May 15, 2002 Author: Mike Doogan Daily News Columnist ; Staff Bill Allen looked pretty used up as he left Gov. Tony Knowles' offices Saturday night. He had pushed a bill to give a huge tax break to a proposed natural gas pipeline to the House floor at astonishing speed. But it gave away too much, and during an all-day negotiating session around the governor's conference room table the bill sputtered and died. Even in losing, Allen showed off his political muscle. Few other Alaskans could have moved the bill so far so fast, or forced negotiations between the governor and oil producers. In the 19 years since Allen decided to make his construction company, Veco, a major campaign contributor, he has become the 800-pound gorilla of legislative politics. ''Somebody says in these halls, 'Bill Allen wants this,' '' Rep. Eric Croft said Tuesday, ''and it gets done.'' But not this session. Allen's two big priorities were the pipeline bill and a bill to build a private prison in Whittier. His interest in the bills is clear: Veco would likely be a major contractor on the gas pipeline, and the company is a partner in the group that hopes to build the prison. But the pipeline bill died and Tuesday evening the private prison bill was barely breathing. To add insult to injury, the Republican adjournment of the joint session on confirmations killed the appointment of Veco's chief financial officer, Roger Chan, to the state Board of Education. About the only thing the Legislature hasn't done this session is walk over to Allen's house and kick his dog. To top it all off, the Alaska Public Offices Commission is conducting inquiries into whether Allen, Veco vice president Rick Smith and lawyer Dave Marquez should have registered as lobbyists, according to Tammy Kempton of the agency's Juneau office. Under Alaska law, employees of a company who lobby for more than four hours in any 30-day period are required to register. To say Allen wasn't lobbying on the bill would be like saying the pope doesn't wear big hats. ''I don't think anybody escaped him,'' said Rep. Lisa Murkowski, a member of the Republican majority. ''I think that he hit everybody in our party.'' Murkowski, who said she met with Allen twice, described the meetings as cordial, even though she had serious questions about the bill. ''Bill is a gentleman and he treated me kindly and with great respect,'' she said. Everyone else I talked with echoed those sentiments. ''There was no arm-twisting,'' said Rep. Jim Whittaker, another Republican who didn't support the bill. Allen also met with some House Democrats, but not all. ''I told people since he wasn't coming around, we must be part of the Veco-proof majority,'' quipped House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz. If Allen violated the lobbying law, it won't be the first time he's gotten crosswise with the public offices commission. Veco's initial attempt to move into campaign financing was a payroll deduction plan that the commission ruled illegal. Allen has been fined several times by the commission, and once held the record for the largest fine ever paid. But that hasn't stopped him. Veco's executives, employees and spouses are still one of the biggest sources of campaign contributions in legislative elections. For instance, Rep. Eldon Mulder, an ardent supporter of both the pipeline and prison bills, received $4,000 from them in 2000 and another $1,500 in 2001. They have also given money to Knowles, and Allen has been one of his key supporters. In addition to giving money, Allen employs top lobbyists such as Joe Hayes, and reaches the public through the Voice of the Times. So there's every reason to expect him to bounce back from defeat. Heck, the way things go at the end of the session, he may have done that by the time you read this. Mike Doogan plans to write daily from the legislative session.
Not all profits from charitable gaming going for good deeds Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK) - Tuesday, August 27, 2002 The Associated Press ANCHORAGE--For years, nonprofits in Alaska have turned to charitable gaming as an easy way to finance their good deeds. In the past decade, however, the money raising got a lot easier as managers and operators took charge of the business, bundling multiple permits into large, coordinated operations. Charities turn over their paperwork and wait for the checks to start arriving. And Alaskans seem to love playing the games, with gross receipts from pull-tab and bingo operations rising year after year. Pull-tabs and bingo have spiraled into a $310 million-a-year industry in Alaska. But more and more of that money is being paid out to landlords and people running the games rather than the intended charities, according to state officials and some leading figures in the business. "It's gotten out of control," said Jack Powers, who operates Tudor Road Bingo and paid out just over $1 million to 19 charities last year. This week, the state will hold a series of hearings on a new set of proposed regulations aimed at controlling "unreasonable" expenses and getting more money to charities. Hearings will be held in Fairbanks, Anchorage, Kenai and Juneau. Charity games are the only type of gambling allowed in Alaska. In 2000, game permits went to 1,100 organizations, ranging from fraternal organizations to tribal councils and fishing derbies. Officials with the state Department of Revenue, in their annual report on gaming for that year, said they were concerned because money paid to those charities has not grown nearly as fast as spending on pull-tabs and bingo. Since 1982, the amount of money spent on pull-tabs and bingo in Alaska has risen from $25 million to $310 million, according to state records. Payouts to charity have gone up at a much slower rate, from $5 million to $28 million. Charities got 22 percent of the gross receipts in 1985 but just 9 percent in 2000, the state said. The proposed rules, drawn up by a negotiating team that included industry members and state regulators, would clarify conflict-of-interest standards and sever ties between businesses controlling different aspects of the game. "Where related parties are renting from one another, the money doesn't seem to go where it's supposed to go," said Jeff Prather, a gaming investigator with the state Department of Revenue. "We wanted to ensure a minimum of self-dealing, if you will, to guarantee that money goes to the charities," said David Marquez , a retired oil company lawyer who served as chairman of the rule-making committee. The new rules would also curb the practice by which game managers run multiple games. In 1993, the state authorized co-ops of up to six charities. This was to allow storefront parlors to run games all year without bumping into the legal prize limits imposed on any single charity. The managers are supposed to serve as employees of the charities.
Alaska Native Technologies LLC Cert of Organization - Robert Henrichs Alaska Native Government Services, LLC 51% and Patrick Simpson Skookum Technologies, LLC 49%
07 Dec 2002 Exxon award cut to $4 billion - RULING: Judge trims punitive damages under 9th Circuit order. Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Saturday, December 7, 2002 Author: Sheila Toomey Anchorage Daily News ; Staff In a ruling issued late Friday, a federal judge reduced the $5 billion punitive damage award against Exxon Corp. for the 1989 Prince William Sound oil spill, but only by $1 billion. Alaska U.S. District Judge Russel Holland said he could not ''by any principled means'' reduce the jury-ordered award further. Holland made it clear that he thinks the original $5 billion ''was not grossly excessive'' and should be allowed to stand. However, faced with a direct order from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to cut the amount, he adopted the minimum the plaintiffs said they could live with -- ''at least $4 billion.'' An attorney for those suing Exxon said the reduction was acceptable to their clients, but an Exxon Mobil spokesman said the company will appeal. ''I thought the first number was right,'' said David Oesting, an Anchorage attorney representing fishermen, property owners, businesses and communities who claimed they were harmed by the spill. ''But the circuit did tell this judge to reduce it and that's what he's done.'' At an October court hearing, the plaintiffs, employing an unusual legal strategy, urged Holland to send the appeals court a message that it was wrong to overrule the jury's verdict. An Exxon Mobil press release issued Friday, citing vice president and general counsel Charles Matthews, called the challenge ''entertaining courtroom bravado'' that ''requires us once again to appeal an order that is entirely inconsistent with the law already established ... and principles set by the U.S. Supreme Court.'' According to Exxon Mobil spokesman Tom Cirigliano, the company's position is that no punitive damages are justified because the spill was an accident, not the result of deliberate bad behavior. And Exxon has paid billions in damages and cleanup costs, he said. Nevertheless, Exxon could probably live with an award of $40 million, an amount almost equal to the largest punitive damages ever approved by a federal court, Cirigliano said. Holland's ruling and Exxon's vow to fight it mean that 13 years after the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef, dumping 11 million gallons of crude into the Sound, the case is still far from finished. Fishermen attending a Board of Fisheries meeting in Anchorage Friday received the news of more delay with resignation. ''I gave up on that a long time ago,'' said Glenn Brookman, a commercial herring fisherman from Seattle. ''I focus on things I can control.'' Gene Anderson, who fishes for salmon at Chignik, said he's in line to receive about $1 million if the $4 billion award is upheld. Anderson estimated his chances of ever collecting at ''60-40, 60 for, 40 against.'' The $5 billion punitive damages award and a $287 million actual damages award were returned by an Anchorage jury in 1994 after a lengthy trial. At the time, there were few guidelines for figuring out how much should be assessed against a defendant for punitive, or punishment or deterrence damages. In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court issued guidelines meant to deter ''grossly excessive'' awards and tied such awards by ratio to the amount of actual damages. When the Alaska verdict was appealed, the 9th U.S. Circuit agreed that Exxon's decision to allow a known drunk to captain an oil tanker was reprehensible, but noted the company did not spill the oil deliberately or kill anyone so should not be considered a worst offender. It ordered Holland to reduce the award in accordance with the new guidelines, but offered no specific formula or amount. In Friday's decision, Holland took 51 pages to explain why ''this court again concludes that a $5 billion award was justified by the facts of the case and is not grossly excessive.''
09 Dec 2002 Alaska Native Government Services Certificate of Organization Signed Dec 3 2002 Filed: Dec 9 2002
State Chamber of Commerce tries to weaken regulation of lobbyists Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Tuesday, March 4, 2003 Author: Mike Doogan Anchorage Daily News ; Staff To hear the people who testified before the House Judiciary Committee tell it, their rights as free citizens are being trampled by the state's lobbying law. ''Our small business needs an opportunity to be heard,'' said Kathryn Thomas, an owner of a Kenai Peninsula oil field services/logging/trucking company. What's going on here? Are nefarious bureaucrats sealing the mouths of small-business owners with duct tape? Throwing them in the dungeon for sounding off? Nope. It turns out the dispute isn't about freedom of speech at all. It's about money, specifically campaign contributions. Here's the story. In 1978, the Alaska Public Offices Commission decided that if you lobby for more than four hours in a 30-day period, you have to register as a lobbyist. If you're paid to do the lobbying, you have to pay a $100 fee and fill out reports that say, among other things, how much you get paid to lobby, how much you spend lobbying and who you spend it on. In 1996, the Legislature passed a campaign finance law that said, among other things, that a lobbyist could not hold fund-raisers or contribute to candidates outside the district in which he lived. The state Supreme Court upheld that law in April 1999. In October 2002, the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce filed suit to overturn the four-hour regulation. Pamela LaBolle, the chamber's top staffer, also asked Rep. Lesil McGuire and Sen. Ralph Seekins to introduce bills that would void the four-hour rule. Both did. Seekins' bill would allow 80 hours of lobbying in a 30-day period, or 60 days of the 120-day session, without the need to register. McGuire's would allow 40 hours or 30 days. Why did the chamber wait 24 years to protest the four-hour rule? Two reasons, LaBolle said. ''One is that with the newly restrictive campaign finance laws, if you have to register as a lobbyist you are not allowed full involvement in the election process,'' she said Monday. The other is that the Alaska Public Offices Commission, which enforces the law, ''has broadened the scope of what it considers four hours of contact'' to include things like receptions, dinners and golf tournaments. ''You can't even play a round of golf in four hours,'' she said. In other words, the law is doing what it is supposed to do, which is to let the public know who is trying to influence government decisions, and keep those who are from increasing their influence through campaign contributions. And the commission is enforcing it. Clearly, that means the law has to be changed. Throughout the testimony on McGuire's bill Friday, the witnesses -- almost all business people -- tried to make it sound like the four-hour rule limits their contacts with legislators. It doesn't. They can talk to legislators as much as they want. They just have to register. Only oblique references were made to the real problem, which is that registering bars them from giving money to candidates outside their districts. The state chamber's position is simple: Its members want to be able to go to Juneau to ask people for favors without having to reveal what they're up to, and be able to give money to the people who can do them favors. No mention at all was made of the fact that Veco chairman Bill Allen, long a major contributor to political campaigns, broke the four-hour rule in May of last year and, after a complaint was filed, was forced to register by the APOC. So was his lawyer, Dave Marquez , who is now an assistant attorney general. According to the state chamber's Web site, Marquez is a member of the chamber's executive committee, and its incoming chairman is Allen's right-hand man, Pete Leathard. LaBolle said that didn't have anything to do with the chamber's decision, five months after Allen and Marquez got jammed up, to challenge the four-hour rule in court, or to try to overturn it as soon as the Legislature reconvened.
Alaska Ear Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Sunday, May 25, 2003 Also announced, Dave Marquez as head of Legislation and Regulations, Gail Voightlander as head of Torts and Workers' Compensation, Dianne Olsen in charge of Human Services, replacing Lisa Nelson, Dave Jones at Labor and State Affairs, Elizabeth Barry at Natural Resources, Craig Tillery at Environmental, and Jim Cantor at Transportation.
3 Aug 2003 RISK: Environmental groups say Forest Service assessment wasn't adequate. Anchorage Daily News (AK) - August 13, 2003 Environmental groups on Tuesday sued the U.S. Forest Service in federal court in Anchorage in an effort to block oil drilling planned for this fall at the historic Katalla oil field near Cordova. The environmental plaintiffs including The Wilderness Society, the National Wildlife Federation, the Cascadia Wildlands Project, the Alaska Center for the Environment and the Eyak Preservation Council contend in the 12-page suit that the Forest Service didn't do an adequate environmental assessment. The groups are asking the court to take away the permit the Forest Service gave to Anchorage-based Cassandra Energy Corp. Cassandra plans to drill directional wells from private land to explore for oil in subsurface zones held by Chugach Alaska Corp., a Native regional corporation. Cassandra also plans to build a 550-foot temporary access road across federal land. The entire project, which is within the boundaries of Chugach National Forest, required Forest Service review and approval. The agency in December signed off on Cassandra's plan, issuing a "finding of no significant impact." Scott Anaya, of the National Wildlife Federation, said the plaintiffs are concerned about the effects of oil development and potential spills on the rich Copper River salmon fishery. He said the suit was a last resort after the plaintiffs voiced their concerns all the way through the Forest Service environmental assessment process. "We've looked at it and we think the Forest Service failed to consider many things on this project," Anaya said. One problem, he said, is a lack of an adequate cleanup plan for spilled oil that could harm the nearby Copper River Delta. "We think it's just too big a risk with probably the most famous fishery in the world sitting as its next-door neighbor," Anaya said. Chugach Forest supervisor Joe Meade said Tuesday he couldn't comment until he had a chance to read the lawsuit and review the agency's Katalla drilling approval document, which Meade's predecessor signed. Cassandra president Bill Stevens said that he hadn't expected a lawsuit but that he wasn't surprised, either. He vowed that the suit won't dissuade his company from pushing ahead with the exploratory project. The plan is to barge a drilling rig up the Katalla River and begin drilling sometime after mid-September, Stevens said. The project, he said, can be done safely and cleanly, in an area that already saw plenty of oil activity decades ago. "The whole area was, in fact, an industrial oil field. It was the original Alaska oil field. It was drilled and produced, and oil was even refined there for over 30 years." The old town site of Katalla is about 56 miles southeast of Cordova, home to the Copper River commercial fishing fleet. The Katalla field produced oil from 1902 to 1933. Ken Hodges, a Forest Service fisheries biologist in Cordova who helped draft the environmental assessment, said commercial fishing groups had not been particularly vocal about the Katalla drilling. No fishing group is listed as a plaintiff in the federal suit. Sue Aspelund, former executive director of Cordova District Fishermen United, the area's leading commercial fishing group, told the Forest Service in a September 2001 letter that fishermen intended to closely monitor any drilling to see that it doesn't threaten fish, wildlife and habitat. Robert Henrichs , president of another Cordova-based group, the Copper River/Prince William Sound Native Fishermen's Association, wrote that with the new oil industry technology that's evolved since Katalla was active, "we see no problems developing these oil fields." Henrichs said Chugach Alaska Corp. has the right to develop its holdings at Katalla.
13 Sep 2003 Contractor is among state's fastest growing Red River Computer Co. sells goods, services to the federal government Concord Monitor (NH) - Sunday, September 14, 2003 By OMAR SACIRBEY Valley News LEBANON - At the Rivermill Commercial Center on Mechanic Street, business is being done in Washington, D.C. And, for that matter, anywhere the federal government has a presence, including overseas military bases. Internet software is sold to the Department of Defense, computerized testing devices are sold to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and laptops are sold to the Social Security Administration, which has offices all over the country. The firm that's doing it is Red River Computer Co. Inc., a 45-person outfit that competes with about 3,500 other companies - including behemoths like IBM, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman - for the federal government's or information technology business. "The competition is fierce. We have to be nimble and quick and be very good long-term planners," said Rick Bolduc, 42, Red River's CEO, who moonlights as the Lebanon High School ice hockey coach. Red River, which got its name from the 1948 western starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift, a favorite of one of the company's four founders, opened in 1995. Since then, it has evolved into one of New Hampshire's fastest-growing private companies. Business NH magazine named Red River the fifth-fastest growing private company in the state, and ranked it 22nd, higher than any other Upper Valley company, on its list of the state's top 100 private companies in terms of sales. This year, the company is poised to ring up $75 million in sales, Bolduc said. Although it wasn't until June that Red River established a Washington office - a must according to industry analysts - the company has been able to compete in part because the federal marketplace is gigantic, as well as on the strength of its strategies. And it doesn't hurt that federal regulations require government agencies to make at least 20 percent of their purchases from small companies. "The federal government is unquestionably the biggest consumer of IT in the world," said Christopher Yukins, a professor of government contract law at George Washington University in Washington. Federal Sources Inc., a market research firm in McLean, Va., predicted in a May report that federal spending on information technology will increase to $64.4 billion in 2005, up from $58.7 billion in 2003. Many of the estimated 3,500 companies that do business with the federal government do deals that involve hundreds of millions of dollars. But Red River tries to keep things small. "Our sweet spot are orders from $1,000 up to $5 million," Bolduc said. According to a federal procurement database tracked by Lauren Jones-Shu, a senior analyst with Input Inc., a Chantilly,Va.-based federal market research firm, Red River's sales in 2003 included a $31,000 deal with the Justice Department, a $157,000 deal with the Air Force, and three deals with the Army totaling $532,000. To get on the government's "schedule," - a directory of preferred vendors - Red River had to build a reputation among government buyers and go through a year-long application process, Bolduc said. Unlike IT manufacturers such as Matcom, Hewlett-Packard and IBM, Red River is a so-called value-added reseller, which means it buys products from manufacturers and then adds value by integrating them with other products. The company's sales agents also add value by using their product knowledge to help government purchasing agents decide what technology solutions would best serve their departments. "We have relationships on both ends of these channels, which is key," Bolduc said. For example, the Air Force may not just want 5,000 laptops, but 5,000 laptops with flight simulators. "They want high-end laptops and specialized components in those laptops," he said. While the size of the federal marketplace is one of its attractions, one of its pitfalls is that, like the private commercial world, it is vulnerable to the whims of world events, even those of its own making. For example, while the war in Iraq has increased government demand for military IT spending, it forced other agencies, such as the Department of Transportation, to freeze or even cut back on their budgets, Bolduc said. "The war in Iraq was bad for us, because it had an impact on civilian agency budgets," he said. "These are events that we can't budget for, but that happen." The future could also change with next year's election, according to Bolduc, since every administration has a big impact on procurement. To watch for coming changes, Red River relies on market research and trade publications that try to forecast where the market is going. It also works with firms like Science Applications International Corp., a 40,000-employee company in San Diego that, among other things, creates what are essentially blueprints for how government offices should set up their IT infrastructure. "Market research goes after hot spots. We'll attack a hot spot and focus a certain amount of marketing effort toward that," Bolduc said. Red River's success is all the more interesting because it's done what it has without having a representative in Washington to hobnob with government shoppers until June, when it hired marketing veteran Gary Elfstrom to do just that. "Could we have done better? Yes, we could have done a lot better had we had an office in D.C.," Bolduc said. Today, Red River also has offices in Huntsville, Ala., and Norfolk, Va., home to major army and navy bases.
Name Change to Alaska Native General Services | Robert Henrichs Native Village of Eyak
18 Mar 2004 VOTE: Board abruptly replaces longtime chairman Sheri Buretta. Anchorage Daily News (AK) - March 18, 2004 An unexpected leadership shake-up rocked Chugach Alaska Corp. on Wednesday. In an unscheduled action, a majority of the Anchorage-based regional Native corporation's nine-member board voted to oust Sheri Buretta as chairman, according to chief executive Barney Uhart and longtime board member Robert J. Henrichs . Henrichs was chosen as Buretta's replacement. "We certainly thank her for her many years of service," said Henrichs , a commercial fisherman from Cordova and president of the Native Village of Eyak Traditional Council. "We really appreciate her efforts." Neither Henrichs nor Uhart would say why Buretta was relieved of the company's top position, a full-time job she has held since 1998. Uhart said he had no advance warning of what was coming and only found out about it after arriving at his office around midmorning. "When I got in, I was notified that there would be a change in the chairman's position," said Uhart. "It was all said and done." Uhart downplayed the move, calling it "business as usual" and "nothing to get excited about." Henrichs also said he doesn't expect any big changes at Chugach Alaska as a result of Buretta's removal. "I'm feeling pretty shocked," said Buretta late Wednesday. Buretta said her removal probably had to do more with internal politics than with Chugah's financial performance. The company practically doubled its revenues and profits last year, she said. Chugach turned a profit of about $30 million on revenue of $550 million in 2003, up from $354 million in revenue and a $16 million profit the year before, said Buretta. She had been re-elected chairman last October. Henrichs wouldn't say what happened between then and now that changed the board's attitude about her. But he did acknowledge that the agenda for Wednesday's regularly scheduled board meeting did not include any items on whether there should be a change in leadership. A move was made to change the agenda and a majority approved. Henrichs wouldn't say who orchestrated the ouster or reveal the vote count. But he didn't hide his own aspirations to lead the Native firm. "I'm the senior board member," he said. "I've always felt that the chair should be passed around. Anyone who is on there is capable of serving as chair." Beth Welty, a Chugach Alaska spokeswoman, said the company will issue a statement today explaining to shareholders what happened. Born from the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, Chugach Alaska is owned by 2,000 shareholders of Alutiq, Tlingit Indian and Eyak Athabascan origin. The company has 928,000 acres of land and mineral rights in the Copper River Delta region around Prince William Sound. It has had a rocky history that included a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in the 1990s, but in recent years the company has flourished. The firm switched its focus from logging and fishing to service contracts, a strategy that allowed it to emerge from bankruptcy protection in June 2000. Chugach Alaska has parlayed its Native American ownership to win government business set aside for small, disadvantaged firms. It has also won competitive bids, including a giant $2.5 billion defense contract to run a radar test site on Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific, with partners Bechtel and Lockheed Martin. The company specializes in military base operations, construction, telecommunications, environmental services and information technology. Besides explaining Wednesday's boardroom action, Chugach Alaska's directors will also announce the details of an upcoming shareholder dividend today, Henrichs said. Buretta said it will be the largest dividend in the company's history. "I feel I've done a pretty good job for Chugach," she said. She said she's "proud and honored" to have led the company through some of its roughest times to the strong position it's in today. Buretta is also not too worried about her own future. She expects to have many job offers awaiting her. "I plan to be around a long time," Buretta said.
19 Mar 2004 Inside Alaska business Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Friday, March 19, 2004 Chugach Alaska Corp. has delayed an announcement about an upcoming dividend, a statement that had been expected Thursday. The company also delayed issuing a statement about Wednesday's board vote to remove Sheri Buretta as chairman. Spokeswoman Beth Welty said she had no information about what caused the delay. A majority of the Anchorage-based regional Native corporation's nine-member board voted to replace Buretta with Robert Henrichs , a director. The action was unscheduled and took place at Wednesday's board meeting. Buretta said she was shocked by what happened. Henrichs thanked Buretta for her service and refused to say why she was abruptly ousted.
20 Mar 2004 MEETING: Native shareholders want cause of coup explained. Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Saturday, March 20, 2004 Author: PAULA DOBBYN Anchorage Daily News ; Staff In the wake of this week's unexpected ouster of their chairman, shareholders of Chugach Alaska Corp. are calling for a special meeting of the regional Native corporation to a demand an explanation of what prompted the coup. At a board meeting Wednesday, director Edgar Blatchford, state commissioner of community and economic development, proposed changing the meeting's agenda and then quickly called for a lack of confidence vote in Sheri Buretta, said director Donna Platt. Five directors of the nine-member board proceeded to vote by secret ballot to remove Buretta, who helped steer the company out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2000 to a $30 million profit last year. They installed Robert Henrichs , a Cordova fisherman and longtime director, as chairman. By all accounts, Chugach Alaska has enjoyed a remarkable financial turnaround since Buretta took over as chairman in 1998 and recruited Barney Uhart as chief executive. Platt and Buretta say they were stunned by Blatchford's action and said it jeopardizes the company's stability. Blatchford, reached on his cell phone late Friday, wouldn't say why Buretta needed to go. He repeated several times that Chugach Alaska is a private corporation and that he is not authorized to speak publicly about its internal business matters. "I'm not going to have any part in the airing of dirty laundry," Blatchford said. He added that he would never do anything to jeopardize the corporation and that he supports the management team. Platt said Blatchford engineered Buretta's ouster because Buretta rebuffed his recent efforts to become president of the corporation, which last year generated $550 million in revenue. In a letter she has drafted to shareholders, Platt explains what she sees as Blatchford's motivation: "Mr. Blatchford wants to try and wipe the slate of history clean, because he was at the helm of Chugach Alaska Corp. when it declared bankruptcy. Mr. Blatchford also wants the prestige of the position of president, now that Chugach is doing so well financially," Platt wrote. On Friday, Blatchford would not comment on whether he sought to become president of Chugach. "I have a great job as commissioner," he said. Blatchford acknowledged he was recently considered for a University of Alaska chancellor's job. His history with the Native corporation includes a stint as chairman in the years that led up to its bankruptcy filing on March 11, 1991. The former Seward mayor resigned the chairman's seat after former Gov. Wally Hickel appointed him commissioner of community and regional affairs, just three months before Chugach sought protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Platt said more than 100 shareholders called her at her South Anchorage home Wednesday night to find out what's going on at the company. She decided to craft a petition calling for a special meeting on March 27 so that the board can take questions from shareholders. Platt said she expects no trouble collecting the estimated 200 signatures required under corporate bylaws to force a special meeting. Besides ousting Buretta, Chugach Alaska's board also voted to approve the largest dividend in the company's history. The typical shareholder with 100 shares will receive $1,400 on April 23. The board also approved a special elders' dividend of $500 to be mailed on April 1.
25 Mar 2004 Anchorage Daily News (AK) Give credit where credit is due for getting corporation back on its feet As a Chugach Alaska Corp. shareholder I would like to help set the record straight ("Chugach members look for answers," March 20). Yes, our company has experienced tremendous growth following bankruptcy in 1991. However, I would like to point out that we were well on our way out of bankruptcy before Sheri Buretta took the helm. Ms. Buretta has served as chairman since October 1998. That's seven years after bankruptcy and three different chairmen have served within that time. Let's give credit where it is due. Immediately after the bankruptcy filing, the board of directors went to great lengths to recruit a proven management team and adopt a sound business plan. A great deal of our success is directly attributed to that original board and the management team led by Mike Brown, Dusty Kaser and our current president/CEO Barney Uhart. Unlike Ms. Platt, I'm not looking for answers why Ms. Buretta was removed, I'm looking at the future of our company and apparently a majority of our board is doing the same. I would like to thank Ms. Buretta for her service to our company and I wish her well. Good luck to Robert J. Henrichs in his new role as chairman. I know that you will help our company continue to grow and prosper. -- James W. LaBelle Jr. Palmer
26 Mar 2004 Letters from the people Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Ouster of Sheri Buretta shows disregard of shareholders' vote The recent takeover of the chairman of the board position at Chugach Alaska Corpo., held by Sheri Buretta, is a joke ("Chugach members look for answers," March 20). There is no legitimate excuse for it. How dare Robert Henrichs and Edgar Blatchford disregard our shareholder votes that put Sheri in for a new term? By the five board members' "secret" vote to oust Sheri, they prove they don't respect the vote of the shareholders. Sheri never had to hijack that position, she earned it legitimately. She sought our vote and won. Please, shareholders, fight for the right to retain your vote by demanding the board members plus Henrichs and Blatchford leave. They are no longer to be looked at as leaders. They are usurpers of power with no heart to us shareholders. We demand our vote for Sheri be reinstated. We cannot truly trust them if they want business to be secret. It is that kind of attitude that will cause Chugach Alaska to descend again into shame and ruin. Don't let it happen again. -- John Anderson Anchorage
April 1 2004 | OUSTER: Toppling of corporation chair leaves shareholders in the cold. Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Thursday, April 1, 2004 Author: PAULA DOBBYN Anchorage Daily News ; Staff Locked out of their new Midtown Anchorage office building, Chugach Alaska Corp. shareholders stood in the cold for hours Saturday, seeking answers about why their company chairman had been ousted by secret ballot 10 days earlier, a coup orchestrated by state commissioner and board director Edgar Blatchford. Toppled chairwoman Sheri Buretta had called for a special board meeting so directors could address shareholder questions about the turmoil. About 50 shareholders turned out. But when they knocked on the door, a security guard and a receptionist said the shareholders could not enter their building because no board meeting had been authorized. "I'm going to be 80 years old this coming September and I didn't appreciate being locked out and standing there in the wet snow," said John Borodkin, who helped form Chugach Alaska and sat on its board for many years. Borodkin said he considered storming the building but decided he didn't want to get police involved. The group ended up holding an informal meeting on the doorsteps to discuss Buretta's ouster and to strategize about what to do next. Chugach Alaska spokeswoman Beth Welty released a statement late Wednesday saying the meeting was not held because the board lacked a quorum. Because there was no meeting, there was no need to open the building, according to the statement. Carroll Kompkoff, another Chugach elder and president of Tatitlek Corp., said he is perturbed by what has happened. He doesn't support Buretta getting unexpectedly tossed and replaced by Bob "Moose" Henrichs , a longtime board member from Cordova who did not return a phone call on Wednesday. "I don't like that hostile takeover at all. Chugach Alaska is doing great. I don't see how Moose could do any better. I don't support him at all. I'll back whatever Sheri wants to do. Ninety percent of the shareholders feel the same way," Kompkoff said. But shareholder Jim LaBelle, who unsuccessfully ran for a board seat last October, disagrees. "The chairman serves at the pleasure of the board," LaBelle said. If a majority felt it was time for a change, that's fine with him. Buretta chaired Chugach Alaska from 1998 until March 17, when Blatchford called for a lack of confidence vote in her leadership. The action unfolded at a board meeting after Blatchford called for an open agenda and then asked directors to vote secretly on whether Buretta should be removed. A majority chose to oust Buretta, who said she was stunned by what happened. Buretta, who remains a director, blamed the situation on internal board politics. Director Donna Platt has said Blatchford was resentful in part because he wanted to become the highly paid president of Chugach but Buretta rebuffed him. Blatchford has denied that, saying he has a "great job" running the state Department of Community and Economic Development. He was recently passed over for the chancellor job he applied for at the University of Alaska Anchorage. On Buretta's watch, Chugach Alaska emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2000 and became a successful player in government contracting and other businesses. Chugach posted $30 million in profit on revenue of $550 million in 2003, according to the company. At Saturday's meeting, Buretta urged shareholders to contact Gov. Frank Murkowski and complain about what she sees as Blatchford's conflict of interest. Blatchford oversees the state Division of Banking, Securities and Corporations, which regulates Native corporations. "We need to express our outrage to the governor for ... allowing this situation to take place where you have an individual in a high position with the state that is compromising the integrity of these Native corporations and he needs to provide some answers," Buretta said. "So I would encourage each and every one of you to call the governor and ask him to answer those things. He needs to be held accountable, just as we all are." In a recent interview, Blatchford said his department operates under very strict rules to ensure that there's "not even an illusion of a conflict of interest" between his dual roles as Native corporation watchdog and Native corporation honcho. Murkowski spokesman John Manly said the governor and his staff were aware when hiring Blatchford that he was involved with Chugach. They created a "wall of separation" between Blatchford and the Banking, Securities and Corporations Division, as far as Native firms are concerned. Deputy commissioner Bill Noll, not Blatchford, handles Native corporation issues, Manly said. Senior securities examiner Vince Usera said he has not felt "one iota" of pressure from Blatchford as far as Native corporate matters are concerned. But Platt said Blatchford abused his position by engaging in proxy trading during Chugach's corporate election last fall, a practice Banking and Securities is proposing to end. In proxy trading, weaker candidates throw their votes behind a stronger candidate at the last minute to get him or her elected, even though shareholders had cast their ballots for the other person. Platt said Blatchford knew that occurred in last October's election, which resulted in getting a majority elected who were hostile to Buretta. Blatchford was apparently the swing vote on the board. He supported Buretta until recently, when it became clear he was not going to get the president's job, Platt has said. Buretta has declined to speak on the record about the issue. Blatchford has said he will not take part in airing any of the company's dirty laundry.
May 30, 2004 Pivotal races shape election - COMPETITIVE: Fall campaigns could change face of Legislature. Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Sunday, May 30, 2004 Author: SEAN COCKERHAM Anchorage Daily News ; Staff Campaigning in a state Senate district with voters separated by distances greater than New York to Chicago is enough to test any candidate's patience, stamina and checkbook. Toss in the fact most of the district is far off the road system and it becomes a logistical nightmare. Two state representatives from opposite ends of the territory, Angoon Democrat Albert Kookesh and Aniak Republican Carl Morgan, are aiming for a Senate seat that has opened because Democrat Georgianna Lincoln is retiring. "It's a toss-up right now," declared Anchorage Republican Rep. Norm Rokeberg, who is watching the race closely as a member of the Republican legislative leadership. Eleven of the 20 Senate seats and all 40 seats in the House of Representatives are up for election this fall. As the June 1 filing deadline nears, incumbents and those who hope to make them "formers" are eyeing their chances. The result already is a number of competitive races taking shape in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Southeast, in an election that could change the face of the Legislature. "There will be more competition than people have seen in a long time," predicted Anchorage Democratic Rep. Ethan Berkowitz, the House minority leader. The Democrats plan to run more candidates than in previous years, he said, when many Republicans have run unopposed. Democratic and Republican leaders alike are prodding people to file as candidates and holding their breath to see who bites before Tuesday. The Republicans control the state Senate by 12 seats to 8, so each race is crucial. The Democrats like their chances of toppling at least one Senate Republican incumbent, Sitka's Bert Stedman. He's been in the Senate for just a year. Gov. Frank Murkowski appointed him to the seat that became open after the governor appointed longtime Wrangell Republican Sen. Robin Taylor to a state job. The Democratic challenger is Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assemblyman David Landis, deputy CEO of the Ketchikan Indian Community. The Republicans have a firmer grip on the state House, where they enjoy a 28-12 advantage. But Berkowitz expects the Democrats to pick up at least a handful of House seats. He figures some Anchorage Republicans represent districts that could swing Democrat. One is in East Anchorage, where one-term incumbent Republican Tom Anderson faces a challenge from Democrat Peggy Robinson, a former president of the Anchorage School Board. Republican Louis Mayo has also filed for the seat. Midtown Anchorage could be another House battleground, according to Berkowitz. One-term incumbent Republican Cheryll Heinze faces activist Republican challenger Andree McLeod and Democrat Berta Gardner, long involved in community councils in Anchorage. In Palmer, Democrat Mike Chmielewski, the Mat-Su School Board president, is challenging Republican Carl Gatto. Like Anderson and Heinze, Gatto is a first-term incumbent. James "Pooh" Milne has also filed as a Democrat for the seat. And there will be battles over the rural House seats that came open when Kookesh and Morgan decided to leave the House and run for the Senate. Scanning that political landscape, Rokeberg said he thinks the Democrats might pick up a few seats in the House. But he doesn't expect a real threat to Republican control of the House or the Senate. He said it's even possible that Morgan, a Republican, will beat Democrat Kookesh. Kookesh and Morgan are separated by geography and culture as well as by party. The Texas-sized Senate district runs from the rain forests of Southeast, where the Tlingit Kookesh lives, to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta home of Yup'ik Morgan. The district also includes some of Prince William Sound and the Interior Athabascan villages. Both men are considered strong candidates. The Democrats need to keep the seat to maintain their traditional dominance of Bush politics and to have a chance to threaten the Republicans' control of the state Senate. A wild card is a potential third candidate, Robert "Moose" Henrichs of Cordova, who filed an intent to run for the seat as a Democrat. He could not be reached for comment last week. Kookesh is known statewide for holding leadership positions in the Alaska Federation of Natives. He's got the outgoing senator, Lincoln, as his campaign manager. And Kookesh said his wife is in an Interior Athabascan, so he has experience in the Yukon villages. He said that he understands well what the district needs. "In rural Alaska the concern is education funding," Kookesh said. Morgan brings his own credentials to the race. As chairman of the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee, he was able to kill several bills that he called anti-rural. Morgan said the chance to get a committee chairmanship, and to be a part of the closed-door meetings of the Republicans who control the Legislature, are benefits that he brings to the Bush as a member of the majority. "I'd rather be inside, even though I may not agree with all their decisions and hold my nose," Morgan said. "I think we did make a difference." He said he knows the whole district, having gone to school in the Panhandle and worked there both as an electrician and as a legislator. Both men talked about the challenges of campaigning in the massive district. Kookesh's campaign trip to Fort Yukon and Arctic Village, in the Interior heart of the district, required flying from Angoon to Juneau, Juneau to Anchorage, Anchorage to Fairbanks, then to Fort Yukon and back to Fairbanks, then on to Arctic Village. It's almost impossible to campaign in all of the 126 communities, he said. "The most effective way is going to be mailings," he said. "I'm planning to do at least four at a minimum." The most recent state campaign finance reports show that both Kookesh and Morgan raised just over $10,000 in 2003. But there will be much more before it's done. Donors to Kookesh included Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, the ACS employees political action fund, unions, and Native corporation officials. Morgan's contributions included money from Native corporation officials, lobbyist and former Republican lawmaker Eldon Mulder, casino advocate Perry Green, and executives of the Anchorage construction firm Veco, a big Republican campaign bankroller. The Daily News will publish a full list of the legislative races after next week's filing deadline. But some races to watch include: * Former Republican senator Jerry Ward's challenge to one-term incumbent Kenai Republican Sen. Tom Wagoner, who beat Ward in 2002. Republican Scot Hamann has also filed in the race. * Former Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Doyle Holmes' challenge to Willow Republican Rep. Bev Masek. Holmes, a Republican, came within a few hundred votes of unseating Masek in 2002. * The battle over the Fairbanks state House seat that became open with the retirement of Republican Rep. Hugh Fate. Former Golden Valley Electrical Association head Mike Kelly is taking on Borough Assemblywoman Bonnie Williams. Both are Republicans, as is Ward Merdes, who also filed. * A crowded House race on the Kenai. Former Democratic lawmaker Hal Smalley is challenging one-term Republican Rep. Kelly Wolf, who beat Smalley by about 300 votes in 2002. Two other Republicans filed: Kurt Olson and John "Ozzie" Osborne. * Republican Colleen Sullivan-Leonard, a legislative aide and former Wasilla City Council member, is challenging incumbent Republican Rep. Vic Kohring. Democrat Pat Carney is also running.
June 19, 2004 | Chugach Alaska rebuffs shareholders - PRESSURE: Native group's board refuses petition for special meeting. Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Saturday, June 19, 2004 Author: PAULA DOBBYN Anchorage Daily News ; Staff Amid mounting pressure from shareholders, Chugach Alaska Corp. has shunned a petition for a special meeting this month, at which time a vote to recall five directors, including the chairman, could have unfolded. Instead, the Anchorage-based regional Native corporation is planning informational gatherings where no company business can be conducted, including recalls. The board, however, will entertain questions from shareholders. Some Chugach shareholders said they feel the board has trampled on the few rights they have -- to elect and recall directors. "I'm so angry," said Roxanne Akerlund, a Seattle-based shareholder. "They know that if they hold that special meeting, they're out of there. They know what they've done is dirty politics." Anchorage shareholder Bruce Tiedeman, a former Chugach Alaska board member and executive, said informational meetings are just fine, and he doesn't support public gripes about the company or threats of recalling the board majority. "We don't need to air it out in public. It's counter-productive," said Tiedeman. Chairman Robert "Moose" Henrichs did not respond to several interview requests. Chief executive Barney Uhart, in an e-mail late Friday, said the decision to hold informational meetings was the board majority's, not his. Uhart said he does not involve himself in board politics unless it affects the business of the corporation. "Thus far, it hasn't," Uhart wrote. "We are still moving ahead profitably and projections for this year are better than last." About 15 percent of Chugach Alaska's roughly 1,900 shareholders signed a petition, delivered to the company in late April, calling for a special meeting on June 26, according to signature gatherers. It's the second petition calling for a meeting since March, when a majority of the nine-member board, led by treasurer and state Economic Development Commissioner Edgar Blatchford, booted Sheri Buretta as chairman and replaced her with Henrichs . The purpose of the special meeting, according to the petition, was to get an update from the board and management on the corporation's condition. "The shareholders shall determine if the action taken by the board on March 17 has put the corporation at any risk of financial or other damage and shall act accordingly," the petition reads. The no-confidence vote in Buretta, by secret ballot, was an unscheduled action that took four members of the board by surprise. Blatchford has refused to discuss why he felt Buretta had to go. The group that pushed the petition, called Chugach for the Future, has told shareholders in meetings and on a Web site that the company, under Henrichs , is running over budget. The group also questions whether Henrichs , a Cordova fisherman, can run the company while also commercial fishing and campaigning for an open legislative seat, previously held by state Sen. Georgianna Lincoln of Rampart. In a letter to shareholders shortly after he became chairman, Henrichs urged them to ignore the critics. "Do not believe it when you hear that Chugach is in trouble; that Chugach is in an uproar; that the reputation of Chugach is on the line. Do not believe the negative information that certain people are attempting to spread. It's a great time to be a shareholder of Chugach!" wrote Henrichs . Chugach Alaska's profits last year topped those of other Native corporations. The company beat Cook Inlet Region Inc., Arctic Slope Regional Corp. and NANA, considered Native corporation powerhouses. Chugach Alaska posted about $30 million in profit on revenue of $546 million in 2003, nearly doubling its profits from the year before. The company, which represents shareholders with ties to the Prince William Sound region, has made a remarkable turnaround. After emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2000, Chugach Alaska followed an aggressive growth track, parlaying its Native status into government contracts around the world. Two years ago, Chugach nailed a staggering $2.5 billion defense contract with partners Lockheed Martin and Bechtel to run the Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. The Army site supports ballistic missile testing and space operations. Chugach Alaska employs some 5,000 people. The company and its subsidiaries are involved in base operations, construction and environmental services, information technology, telecom and other sectors. Lawyers for the company and Chugach for the Future disagree on whether the shareholder petition legally compels the company to hold a special meeting. Walt Ebell, a lawyer for Chugach, advised the company in a written opinion that it does not need to convene a meeting because the petition didn't spell out a "proper purpose," such as a recall. It only says that shareholders, after hearing from the board, would "act accordingly." That's too vague to meet the legal standard of a proper purpose. But Ebell also said if the company didn't hold some sort of meeting, it could expose itself to shareholder lawsuits. Joseph Reece, an attorney for the shareholder group, said the company is obligated to hold a special meeting. "The shareholders have every right to be heard on a topic which is of such concern to them that hundreds of them ask for a special meeting," wrote Reece. "There is no prohibition against shareholders wanting to be heard and soliciting an explanation regarding developments which they believe threaten serious harm to the corporation." Organizers of Chugach for the Future said they would challenge the corporation's refusal to hold a special meeting but it would likely cost them tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. Unlike the corporation, which uses company funds for lawyers, shareholders would have to pay for counsel out of their own wallets. They said they'd seek change at the October annual meeting when corporate elections take place.
29 SEPT 2004 | Complaint for Debt Filed | 3AN-04-11457CI Alaska Boat Company vs. Henrichs, Robert J
Chugach troubled by board unrest - ELECTION: Motion from Native group's leader is shouted down. Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 Author: PAULA DOBBYN Anchorage Daily News ; Staff With a corporate election five days away and with dueling complaints pending before state regulators, Chugach Alaska Corp. held a turbulent emergency board meeting on Monday where shareholders shouted down an attempt to delay the vote. Anchorage-based Chugach, the regional corporation for Prince William Sound, was the state's most profitable Native-owned company last year. Despite a remarkable turnaround since its emergence from bankruptcy in 2000, Chugach has recently been plagued by internal board feuding that resulted in its longtime chairman, Sheri Buretta, getting tossed out by secret ballot last winter and replaced by Robert "Moose" Henrichs , a director and Cordova fisherman. With three director seats up for grabs, this weekend's election could tip the balance of power at the corporation. On Monday at the company's Anchorage headquarters, Chugach director Edgar Blatchford proposed delaying Saturday's election in Seward, a suggestion met by a storm of protest. After Blatchford said, "I move that we postpone the annual meeting," a chorus of shareholder voices erupted both inside the boardroom and in the hallway. Shareholders, including several elders, yelled "No!" The directors, including Blatchford, later voted unanimously to hold the election as scheduled. Blatchford, Chugach's treasurer, explained that he was only offering to postpone the meeting "to demonstrate that the board has acted in good faith" in response to a shareholder complaint filed with the state Division of Banking, Securities and Corporations. It involves election material the board majority recently mailed to shareholders. Stephen Hutchings, a lawyer for some members of the Chugach board, said securities regulator Eileen Buchanan told him late last week that she was concerned about the wording of a letter that offered $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 prizes for shareholders who cast valid proxies. The letter implied that proxies, or corporate votes, cast for candidates other than those endorsed by the majority might be invalid and therefore shareholders who voted for minority candidates wouldn't be eligible for the cash prizes. Critics say it amounts to vote-buying. "Isn't it an act of desperation to buy votes?" asked shareholder Lloyd Montgomery. Blatchford is the state's commerce commissioner whose department polices Native corporations. He's seeking re-election to the nine-member board on Saturday. Blatchford is currently aligned with the five-member majority on the highly fractious board. Blatchford has said that, recognizing his conflict of interest, he delegated his state authority over Native corporation matters to a deputy when he accepted the commissioner job in the Murkowski administration in January 2003. On April 20 of this year, Blatchford formalized the arrangement in a three-sentence memo. Several shareholders and at least one director on Monday criticized Blatchford about his dual role as a Native corporation insider and a state official whose department regulates the congressionally created firms. They noted that Blatchford's employees will determine whether proxies submitted in Chugach's election are valid or should be thrown out, a decision that will directly affect their boss. "It's highly irresponsible," said Buretta. Blatchford disagreed, pointing to the "firewall" between him and the securities regulators who oversee Native corporations. "It's well documented," he said. Donna Platt, a minority director, said Blatchford shouldn't vote on matters related to Saturday's election because "he's one of the people who has a complaint against us in Banking and Securities," Platt said. "Edgar should recuse himself," she said. The five-member majority has accused a shareholder group headed by Platt and Buretta, called Chugach for the Future, of making false and misleading statements about them. The other side has filed a counter-complaint and is also accusing the majority of dirty election practices by trying to buy votes. Blatchford, reached on his cell phone Monday, would not comment and hung up. Chairman Henrichs said he thought Monday's board meeting "went well." As far as the cash prizes his side is offering shareholders for proxies, Henrichs said it's merely a get-out-the-vote effort. Last election, only 49 percent of Chugach shareholders voted and this time the board wanted higher turnout, Henrichs said. He noted that the company issued a "corrective letter" late Friday, clarifying that all shareholders are eligible for the prizes regardless of how they cast their proxy. Henrichs disagreed with some shareholders and minority directors who say the company should invalidate any proxies that came in after the cash prize solicitation letter went out. "You can't disenfranchise voters," Henrichs said.
October 26, 2004 Chugach sees shift in power - SHERI BURETTA: She was elected to chair corporation board again. Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Tuesday, October 26, 2004 Author: PAULA DOBBYN Anchorage Daily News ; Staff Shareholders of Alaska's most profitable Native corporation have tipped the balance of power on their board of directors, returning Chugach Alaska Corp. to the leadership it had before a coup this year kicked off one of the most fractious periods in the firm's 31-year history. The vote count from Chugach's corporate election last weekend resulted in Sheri Buretta replacing Robert "Moose" Henrichs as chairman Monday. "From here forward, we're in a healing and unifying process," Buretta said. "We don't have time for fighting like this and we need to rise above it." At the Anchorage-based company's annual meeting in Seward on Saturday, shareholders elected Roxanne Akerlund and David Totemoff, two directors who support Buretta, Chugach's longtime chairwoman who lost that title last March, although she remained on the board. They also reelected Edgar Blatchford as a director. Blatchford had engineered Buretta's ouster by giving his swing vote to a narrow majority on the nine-person board that was anti-Buretta and by calling for a no-confidence vote in her. Buretta's removal, by secret ballot, took place a few months after shareholders had elected to retain the existing leadership. Many shareholders have noted Chugach's remarkable success since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000 to become the most profitable Native corporation last year. Riding a wave of government contracting, Chugach posted $30 million in profit on revenue of $550 million in 2003, more than doubling its revenue from the prior year, according to the company. After Buretta's ouster, shareholders collected enough signatures to hold a special meeting to recall the board. But Henrichs and the majority refused to convene the gathering, opting instead for "informational" meetings where no company business can be conducted. Blatchford has consistently refused interview requests to explain why he felt Buretta had to go. At the time, director Donna Platt said it was retaliation for Buretta rebuffing Blatchford's interest in becoming Chugach president. Platt could not be reached on Monday. Blatchford, who heads the state department that oversees Native corporations, did not respond to a phone call or e-mail on Monday. Toppled chairman Henrichs said he had no comment. Shareholder Jim LaBelle, a Buretta critic who unsuccessfully ran for a board seat, said he accepts the election outcome and thinks it's time to move on. "I'm disappointed that I myself wasn't elected, but that's the shareholders' wishes. I'll continue to be involved and continue to advocate for changes to our bylaws and to adopt changes ... that allow for more transparency," LaBelle said. LaBelle said he has nothing personal against Buretta but that she gets too much credit. "I think she's likable. I think she's been portrayed as someone who saved our company, which is not true. Our business plan was adopted in 1991, seven years before Ms. Buretta became chairman," he said. While the company's bottom line has swelled, the last seven months of infighting have been difficult for Chugach, according to shareholders and directors. The five-four split on the board has produced bitterness and numerous complaints and counter-complaints with state securities regulators, who work at Blatchford's Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. Blatchford has said he delegated authority over decisions affecting Chugach to deputy commissioner Bill Noll to avoid a conflict of interest. Noll confirmed this recently and produced a memo signed by Blatchford transferring the authority. Buretta and other Chugach shareholders have said Blatchford should choose either his state job or his position at Chugach but that to retain both constitutes at the very least the appearance of an ethical conflict. "When you're a public servant, you work for the people," Buretta said Monday. It's unclear what will happen with the complaints filed with securities regulators. Securities examiner Eileen Buchanan on Monday referred questions to Tina Dickinson, a spokeswoman who works in Blatchford's office. Dickinson, reached in Seattle, said she would look into the status of the complaints but by Monday evening had not called back. Buretta said she would like to resolve them without further expense to the company. After becoming chairwoman, Buretta said "the first order of business" was to fire five attorneys hired by Henrichs , Blatchford and other members of the former majority. The lawyers had been paid with company funds to do battle against Buretta, Platt and others involved with the shareholder group Chugach for the Future, formed after the March coup.
09 Nov 2004 Red River Computer Co. Inc. of Lebanon said revenues increased 32 percent over the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2003, and that year-to-date revenues have grown 9 percent, due largely to a new sales office opened in May.
15 April 2005 Jim Gittleson Begins as Finance Director - Native Village of Eyak
16 Jul 2005 BOARD FIGHT: Faction says state job is conflict of interest. Anchorage Daily News (AK) State Commissioner Edgar Blatchford resigned as a director of his Native corporation Friday after a damaging company report surfaced alleging a variety of improprieties, all of which Blatchford denies. The move capped more than a year of controversy at Anchorage-based Chugach Alaska Corp., Alaska's most profitable Native corporation, which represents shareholders from the Prince William Sound region. Blatchford, who heads the state Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, which polices Native corporations, said he was stepping down because working for the governor and Chugach Alaska at the same time has become "untenable." He described the decision as in the best interests of the state and the company. "One thing I don't want to do is embarrass the governor. This is how they got me," Blatchford said of his corporation opponents in an interview Friday. The fight could be settled in court, "where I am virtually certain I would prevail," Blatchford said in his resignation letter. But "continued controversy benefits no one." Becky Hultberg, a spokeswoman for Gov. Frank Murkowski, said the governor continues to support Blatchford. Last year as a Chugach director, Blatchford helped engineer the midterm ouster of chairwoman Sheri Buretta. He used his swing vote on the nine-member board to replace Buretta with Cordova fisherman Robert "Moose" Henrichs . Buretta won back the seat last October. After Buretta regained control, the new board majority launched an internal investigation of events within Chugach after the March 2004 coup. A preliminary report that surfaced recently found that Blatchford and Henrichs "committed multiple breaches of their ethical duties." Henrichs allegedly charged the corporation for travel expenses he incurred while campaigning for the state Senate, billed for full-time employment when he was authorized to work only half time and had Chugach pay rent on his Anchorage apartment. Both Blatchford and Henrichs hired attorneys who wrote letters on their behalf denying all the charges. Henrichs , through his lawyer, declined an interview request Friday. The report says Blatchford acted with an apparent conflict of interest because of his dual role as Native corporation watchdog and company insider. He appears to have violated the state ethics act, the report says, by serving on a Chugach proxy committee while running for re-election to the board and by his apparent involvement in filing complaints with the Division of Banking and Securities, which he oversees, against Buretta's board faction. Blatchford said Friday that there was no conflict because he kept his state work and his Native corporation activities separate. He said he delegated Chugach matters that came before his department to a deputy, describing this as a "firewall." The report says that delegation of decision-making authority in no way absolved Blatchford of his conflict. The governor and his advisers were aware when they hired him that he was involved with his Native corporation, Blatchford said. They encouraged him to remain active as long as a firewall was erected, he said. Buretta brought her concerns about Blatchford to Murkowski chief of staff Jim Clark in January. They met in Anchorage and Clark promised to get back to her but didn't, Buretta said. "I was surprised that I didn't get a response," Buretta said. Clark, reached on vacation in Hawaii late Friday, said Buretta told him an investigation of Blatchford was under way and he told her he would withhold judgment until the company's investigation was done. The report also found it disturbing that Blatchford's state special-projects manager was moonlighting as a consultant to Chugach. Jared Brandner was brought on to help Blatchford and other board members parse financial statements and identify trends. At the time, Blatchford was treasurer of Chugach. But according to the preliminary report, Brandner, who had a contract signed by Buretta, did more than just prepare financial materials. "It is also troubling that an employee in Mr. Blatchford's department, Jared Brandner, was apparently heavily involved in the efforts of Mr. Henrichs and Mr. Blatchford to maintain their majority control over the board." In an interview Friday, Brandner acknowledged that he worked on the proxy campaign that culminated in Blatchford's re-election to the board in October. But he did so under the direction of then-chairman Henrichs and under the terms of his contract, Brandner said. He said he cleared the outside employment with the state and filed the required disclosure. Brandner is suing Chugach for nonpayment. He said he feels singled out by Buretta and her supporters on the board. "I feel like I'm in the middle of this Sheri Buretta-Edgar Blatchord-Robert Henrichs mess," Brandner said. "There certainly are days when I wish I never was associated with Chugach," he said. Buretta said the problems at Chugach are not personal. They are the result of unethical actions by a Murkowski Cabinet member, his high-ranking state employee and board member Henrichs , she said. "This is about holding people accountable for their actions," Buretta said.
20 Jul 2005 Commerce chief steps down days after leaving corporate job - BLATCHFORD: He wants to spare the governor any embarrassment from fight. Anchorage Daily News (AK) - July 20, 2005 Edgar Blatchford has resigned as Alaska's commerce commissioner, four days after stepping down as a director of Chugach Alaska Corp. The resignation, announced Tuesday, follows allegations that Blatchford acted unethically on the firm's board, in a recent corporate election and in bringing his state special assistant onto the Chugach payroll to help get him re-elected. Blatchford has denied the allegations but said he was stepping down from his Cabinet post to avoid embarrassing the governor. "The events of the last several days, as reflected in a recent newspaper story, cause me to be concerned about embarrassment to the administration," Blatchford wrote in a letter to Gov. Frank Murkowski. "Because of my respect for you and my colleagues, I do not want that to happen and believe my resignation will prevent it." The resignation takes effect Friday. Deputy commissioner Al Clough has been named acting commissioner of the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. Blatchford, who earned $124,752 annually as commissioner, could not be reached Tuesday. Asked what prompted the Cabinet resignation, Blatchford's attorney, Ken Jacobus, said it was "nothing more than wanting to protect the governor from controversy." The department that Blatchford headed oversees Native corporations, private companies that fall outside the scrutiny of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It polices corporate elections and referees fights within the often-contentious companies, where shareholders and board members are frequently related through blood and marriage. In an interview Friday, the journalism professor and former Seward mayor said there was no truth to allegations contained in an internal company report that carried a long list of charges against Blatchford and Robert "Moose" Henrichs , a Chugach board member and Cordova commercial fisherman. Blatchford said an opposing faction on the Chugach board simply wanted to trash him. "Their goal was to create a vacancy on the board. I'm the target," he said. "This is not about Native politics," said Sheri Buretta, Chugach chairwoman. Blatchford put his personal ambitions above his responsibilities as a high-ranking public servant, she said. The report, whose authors are not named, said Blatchford acted with an apparent conflict of interest because of his dual role as Native corporation watchdog and company insider. He appears to have violated the state ethics act by serving on a Chugach proxy committee while running for re-election to the board and by his apparent involvement in filing complaints with the Division of Banking and Securities, which he oversees, against other board members, the report said. The report also highlighted the role Blatchford's special assistant, Jared Brandner, played in Chugach's corporate election in October. Brandner, who makes $84,036 in his state job, was "heavily involved" in efforts to get Blatchford re-elected and retain control of the board, the report found. The report resulted from a two-month investigation conducted by a special committee of the Chugach board after Buretta won back control of the company. Blatchford orchestrated a coup last year against Buretta. He used his swing vote on the nine-member board to oust her mid-year in a move that stunned many shareholders. Henrichs replaced Buretta until last October, when she regained the chairwoman's seat. Blatchford has never said why Buretta needed to go. He simply said the chair serves at the board's discretion. Blatchford has no one but himself to blame for the situation he's in, Buretta said. "It's depressing, but in the big picture we have to believe that our public servants -- even in Native corporations -- are serving the people. That's what this is about," she said. "I can't pretend like these things don't happen when I'm aware of them." It's sad that shareholders, like elder John Borodkin, wrote to Murkowski to share their concerns about Blatchford's conflict of interest and never got a reply, she said. Murkowski spokeswoman Becky Hultberg said the governor views the Blatchford situation as a dispute between a director and a private company. Acting commissioner Clough spoke on behalf of the administration about Blatchford's departure. "Edgar Blatchford is a man who cares deeply about the state, particularly rural Alaska," Clough wrote in a prepared statement. "He has been tireless in his pursuit for a better life for all Alaskans." Clough did not respond to an interview request.
02 AUG 2005 | 3AN-05-10182CI Chugach Alaska Corporation vs. Henrichs, Robert J
Civil Superior Ct (3AN) - Summary 3AN-05-11014CI Henrichs, Robert J et al plaintiffs, vs. Chugach Alaska Corporation, defendant
12 Oct 2005 Times Argus, The (Montpelier-Barre, VT) - October 12, 2005 WASHINGTON - Trying to track who's getting what portion of the billions of dollars in federal Hurricane Katrina aid is enough to give any auditor a headache - and is a problem that critics say creates alarming gaps in public oversight. The database of contracts is incomplete. Information released by federal agencies is spotty and sporadic. And disclosure of many no-bid contracts isn't required by law. "On any given day, the government is spending millions of taxpayer dollars, but we simply have no visibility on these purchases," said Christopher Yukins, a contracting law professor at George Washington University. "They just buy from the same person year after year." Under federal election law, a click of a mouse traces every campaign donation. Yet no comprehensive public database exists for federal contracts. Both Republican and Democratic critics long have bemoaned the dearth of contract information available. Some say it violates the Freedom of Information Act, the federal law giving the public the right to access most information held by agencies. Others say it creates barriers to rooting out cronyism and waste. That call is intensifying as the Federal Emergency Management Agency pledged last week to rebid millions of dollars of federal contracts that were handed out with little or no competition. President Bush "should announce now that he wants the FOIA applied in advance to all documents for Katrina recovery programs," said Mark Tapscott, a director at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Federal law requires that agencies disclose contract awards, typically via one of two government-sponsored databases. But through loopholes, waivers of contract rules and technical glitches, information is omitted or can go unreported for months. The omissions since Katrina struck include a $236 million contract with Carnival Cruise Lines to provide housing for evacuees that lawmakers have criticized as wasteful, and open-ended contracts with Intelsat and Bechtel Corp. awarded partly because of their prior relationships with the government. They also include emergency supplies and equipment procured by federal employees using government-issued credit cards with purchase limits of $250,000. The White House since has reduced the limit to $15,000, while details of the contract deals were eventually disclosed by the companies. The concerns have prompted several bills that would require full disclosure of contract awards in one centralized database. The aim is to improve accountability by providing information such as contract terms, a contractor's past history of spending abuse or political ties. "An easily accessible and transparent database of contract information will bring sunshine into the confusing and sometimes shadowy practice of government contracting," said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who plans hearings to determine how the government can better track its spending. Some of the problems: The government Web site devoted to disclosing all agency contracts in compliance with federal law currently lacks Katrina information from the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA - the two agencies awarding the most contracts - because of time delays and other glitches. The Web site for contract offers has little Katrina information because disclosure requirements were initially waived for the disaster. Because only new contracts must be disclosed, agencies need not reveal information when awarding no-bid work to politically connected companies such as Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root that have pre-existing government contracts. Vice President Dick Cheney headed Halliburton from 1995 to 2000. Responding to initial criticism, Army Corps and FEMA officials say they will strive to post weekly updates of awards on their Web sites. Other agencies, such as the Defense Department, are issuing daily contract announcements or submit their data to the government databases. "We're committed to making that information available," said Larry Orluskie, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA. But a Government Accountability Office audit last month found the primary database, known as the Federal Procurement Data System, was inaccurate and incomplete, citing in part repeated delays by the Pentagon in switching to a new system that would allow the department to report its awards in real time. "In the absence of timely and accurate data, that makes effective oversight more difficult," said Bill Woods, a director at GAO, the investigative arm of Congress. Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, spent a week trying to put together an authoritative list of contracts and found himself checking no less than a half-dozen agency sites and sources, many of which posted conflicting if not inaccurate information. Among his findings: a FEMA contract with Red River Computer Co. of Lebanon, N.H., for 1,000 Gateway M460G XGA laptops at a total cost of $1,457,200 - or $1,457.20 per machine. On the Gateway Website, the computers sell for $1,151 each, a price that would have saved taxpayers $306,200. "I have better things to do than hunting around for where the money is hidden," Ashdown said. "We would rather the government be doing this, creating a one-stop shop. Is that really too much to ask?" Scott Amey, general counsel of the Project on Government Oversight, said his group compiled its own database of contractors with a history of spending waste or other misconduct and said some of the culprits - politically connected Fluor, Bechtel and Halliburton - were among the biggest initial winners of Katrina contracts. None of that information can be found on government lists.
JS Consulting Articles of Organization Steve Giani NAICS Code 561110
Copper River Information Technology Cert of Organization Steve Giani NAICS Code 334111
March 6, 2006 New Hampshire Union Leader CONCORD (AP) -- New Hampshire companies landed more than $170 million in defense contracts in 2005, and defense spending is expected to continue to fuel the state's economy. "We're very much part of the supply chain in the technology sector," said Stuart Arnett, the state's director of economic development. Among other things, New Hampshire benefits from its proximity to the high-tech businesses in the greater Boston area. Arnett said the Pentagon has ordered some of the world's largest defense contractors, including BAE Systems, which has offices in Nashua, and Raytheon, based in Waltham, Mass. to take the lead on building the new generation of military equipment. Massachusetts economic development officials project the Army's $120 billion Future Combat Systems program could be worth as much as $6.9 billion to military contractors in the region and create more jobs. Over the next few decades, the Army wants to replace its arsenal of tanks and ground vehicles with manned and unmanned air and ground systems, intelligent munitions, unattended ground sensors and soldiers equipped with new technologies. There are 19 firms in Massachusetts working on the program, according to Mary McAdam, a spokeswoman for Boeing Co. Boeing is one of the lead general contractors for the program and has been directed to recruit businesses nationwide to work on the project, she said. Four companies in New Hampshire are on board, including Predictable Network Solutions in Bedford and Red River Computer Co. in Lebanon. Nationwide, the project has attracted 525 companies in 35 states, according to Steve Marion, Boeing's senior program director for the project's supplier management office. "We're in the very early stages of the program right now," he said. "I can see a thousand suppliers in the program in just the next couple of years." The Pentagon opted to award large contracts to major defense companies and let them create a chain of subcontractors as required, Arnett added.
In March 2006, the Company entered into a loan agreement to lend $600,000 to an Alaska Limited Liability Company (the “Borrower”) to provide working capital needs to a subsidiary of the Borrower (“Alaskan Company”). This obligation did not bear interest. It was the Company’s intention to seek approval of the F-106 Table of Contents Red River Computer Co., Inc. and Affiliate Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements Years Ended December 31, 2010, 2009 and 2008 Small Business Administration (the “SBA”) to enter into a Mentor-Protégé Agreement with the Alaskan Company under the SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program pursuant to the Code of Federal Regulations (“CFR”) Section 124.520. Repayment of the loan was contingent upon application to this program. During the year ended December 31, 2009, the Company decided not to pursue the Mentor-Protégé program with the SBA. Consequently the loan of $600,000 was deemed to be uncollectable and was removed from the balance sheet and was recorded as a component of general and administrative expense for the year ended December 31, 2009. In March 2007, the Company entered into a second loan agreement to lend directly to the Alaskan Company up to $1,500,000, as amended. This loan bears interest at 12% per annum. As of December 31, 2009 approximately $1,641,000 was outstanding pursuant to the loan agreement, including accrued interest. In January 2010, the Company executed a new $1,641,000 demand note agreement with the Alaskan Company that replaces the previous loan agreement. The demand note bears interest at 5% per annum, requires monthly principal and interest payments of $23,504 and matures in December 2016.
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