Chairman Jay Hupp said the special meeting was called to handle an urgent issue. The urgent issue was to shut Jack Miles up. The pesky citizens weren't allowed to speak because this was a special meeting of such an urgent nature.
Readers, I hope you will feel free to add your comments to help us all understand this meeting from a legal perspective. But I just can't go there. Here's what this simple minded blogger noted at this special meeting.
First of all, what's up with the nameplates? Why are Commissioners Miles and Wallitner's names in lower case but JAY HUPP is all in caps? I know this is neither here nor there and perhaps off topic or not. But today for the first time my eyes just keyed into this. What's going on there? The caps lock must have gotten stuck when they made Jay's name plate. On the other hand, I own chickens therefore I understand pecking order. I also have done a little time in the Pentagon and could write pages on bureaucratic power structures and mechanisms used to project power.
Back to the special meeting. The urgent need today to hush Jack up was a result of last week's meeting when he shared with the public that John Dobson may have conflicts of interest regarding the Port and other business interests. Did Jay, Tom and the attorney (Skip) miss the substantive issue at hand requiring some action and explanation? That seems one heck of a lot more urgent to this blogger. Instead of dealing with the real issue in the minds of the public, Jay and Tom instead reaffirmed the authority they've given their Port Manager - in addition to hushing Jack up.
Does John Dobson have a conflict of interest? We pesky citizens have a right to know.
Monday, June 7, 2010
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So how do we find out if John Dobson has a finacial stake in Areva? Perhaps Dr. Greg Helms with his financial expertise knows how to find this information?
ReplyDeleteMoney is changing hands, that's for sure. There is no other reason to be for such a thing. Hupp, Dobson and Wallitner certainly appear to be well fed. Do any of them have a stake in John Deere?
I guess it's a lot of money if Dobson, Hupp and Wallitner are willing to poison all of us and turn a blind eye to deforestation.
I think you mean Craig Watson instead of Dr Greg Helms. But I get your point. We need some straight answers. Today was all about processes and appearances instead of the substance.
ReplyDeleteWhat do our neighbors to the North think of wood burning biomass incinerators? All this pollution will go to Canada as well. Is the Canadian timber industry powerful enough to get this non-sense labeled as green too?
ReplyDeleteAt issue here is not the sophomoric behavior of a couple of old war horses linked against a common enemy, Jack Miles, but a concerted effort to deprive the people of their constitutional right to vote on matters impacting their health and general quality of life. Toward this end a campaign to pressure Tom and Jay to initiate an advisory ballot will be most effective. Jack will bring up just such a motion at next Tuesday’s Port meeting. If nothing else, having two of the three Port Commissioners go on record as being against that which others have fought and died for will bring their untenable position into the public light.
ReplyDeleteHow did they "hush Jack up?"
ReplyDeleteJack cannot ask anything directly of the director or staff. Everything must come from the Board. Both Jay and Tom told him he has no authority as an individual. All authority comes from the Board. You know they cannot really make him be quiet. Everything today was all about process and who has the upper hand.
ReplyDeleteHere's my take on today's Port Commissioner's meeting. I should state right up front, I am NOT a lawyer, but I have run a nationwide non-profit corporation registered in the state of California and I understand Boards of Directors (essentially the same as Port Directors) and their individual legal obligations and responsibilities. As such, I understand there is no motion a Board can make to absolve themselves collectively or individually of the law.
ReplyDeleteThe Port Commissioners (two anyway) made a blanket motion that is only partly legal, or more correctly, legal so long as they do not fail to act lawfully themselves. While actual direction of port business and interaction with Port employees is correctly covered by the motion, when it comes to commissioner responsibilities there are some areas where the motion is overly broad and has no bearing or limitations on the actions of any Port Commissioner.
If a Commissioner is personally given information by a port employee that reveals a possible conflict of interest or indicates some state or federal law is being broken as a result of being a port employee or that has bearing on the port or puts the port at risk legally, he/she is obligated to investigate and do something about it regardless if his fellow commissioners agree by vote or not. He or she should bring it to the attention of the Commissioners and the port attorney and ask that they obtain the necessary information and act upon it if required to protect the port and the public interest. If they fail to act appropriately he or she should forward this information and question to the State Attorney General in writing. This way he/she complies with the port protocol and performs his/her public duty as he/she is sworn to do.
The other commissioners are actually breaking the law if THEY fail to act within the law.
All Monday's motion really does is reiterate the basic understanding that employee matters are handled in a closed executive session, UNLESS that employee makes the information or issue public first, which may have been the case this time.
The Port Commission, especially the Chairman, is responsible for obtaining and retaining all documents and paperwork needed to ascertain if port employees are acting lawfully and complying with confidentiality, conflict of interest and securities and exchange laws and they are responsible for acting on this information if necessary.
Just taking someone's word for it is insufficient.
The same is true of the open meetings laws. If a commissioner is overridden or outvoted and certain work is ordered done by the port manager in an attempt by the majority commissioners to avoid revealing what otherwise would be subject to open meeting laws then this should be communicated to the port commission in writing and copied to the port attorney and the State Attorney General.
No motion can absolve a commissioner of fulfilling his sworn duties as a public official and no other public official can legally infringe on the rights of any other person or citizen. This is codified in the RCW and there is no motion outside of the legislature that can change that.
I agree with Brenda, today was all about process and had little to do with answering the underlying question. The two majority Port Commissioners need to address this question, otherwise it needs to be referred to the Washington State AG and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for investigation.
Anonymous;
ReplyDeleteWhat specifically are you suggesting was illegal? That there was a conflict of interest because maybe the Port manager owned stock in AREVA or is it that perhaps he may have made contact with ADAGE? The stock thing is a non-issue with me. But any dealing with ADAGE outside of the public eye is a different story. This all kind of has a nasty smell to it.
Anonymous, there you have it. We don't know what the truth is. This issue must be dealt with in public.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the pressure, Brenda! Also, is there anything we can be doing now to show our support of Jack? Maybe Jane would consider adding him to the messages in the Journal in opposition to Adage? Maybe a great big thank you ad in the Journal for being THE ONLY politician who not only listens to the citizens, but then champions their cause - at significant professional risk to himself. I would happily contribute some dollars to see something in the newspaper. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteWe have this little thing here in this country called the LAW. And the LAW says that citizens can't trade on priviledged non-public information, that is information not in the public realm, or they are guilty of something called "insider trading". So if a person employed by a public entity, like the government or a port, is in charge of negotiating 'secret' contracts with a consortium owned by a publically traded firm(s) like Duke Energy and Areva US, then he has to absolve him or herself by divesting of his/her interest in said firms or their consortium or resigning and become a trader. Trading or attempting to profit from non-public information is illegal.
ReplyDeleteThe port commissioners are bound by law and their sworn oath to do something about it.
They can actually direct the port manager to negotiate contracts with Areva, but there is some grey area there as they can't just do so to avoid public disclosure, and public disclosure is determined by several factors, of which future litigation is one, and the port being disadvantaged the other. But, since there is no pending litigation and the port hasn't leased this property in over 30 years, it seems rather unlikely that these two reasons are germain.
Besides, what politician wouldn't be wanting to tout some wonderful deal if it were truly wonderful? It's only when something stinks that politicians get out their shovels and attempt digging and burying. Human nature doesn't change.
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ReplyDeleteYes but any agreement by ADAGE would be de minimis to a company of the size of Duke or AREVA. I see no real issue here - unless of course someone got some benefit out of the deal. But it could - would - be important as a local issue. If Olympia politicians persuaded or coerced compliant local politicians to grant favorable terms of any kind to ADAGE, then of course that should concern us all. That much of this has been done seemingly outside of the public's eye is especially troubling. But, does that make it illegal? I'm seriously asking that question as I don't know the answer. As to is it smelly - you darn bet it is and every one of these politicians working for something NOT in the best interest of the people who elected them shouldn't be surprised if the public sends them to the unemployment line.
http://sheltonwashington.blogspot.com/2010/06/special-meeting-at-port-of-shelton.html for pictures of this meeting. Hey Brenda could you add my blog to your blog roll? I think my pictures go well with your posts. It would be nice to see them together in blog format.
ReplyDeleteDuke is the number 3 producer of Carbon on the US. Areva is in trouble for it's radiation in Nigeria. I can see why they joined and changed the name.
ReplyDelete"I can see why they joined and changed the name. "
ReplyDeleteWell they didn't really change their name - they created a new entity under the LLC laws I believe. This has become a new trick of corporate America whereby they don't bring the liability of their actions upon the parent companies. ADAGE then moves operations to an operating company moving one more layer between the parent company and those dealing with local officials.
As I see it, they're taking very little risk as they get big cash incentives at Federal level and take out a loan and if it works the parent company benefits and if it doesn't work they walk away - or sell it to a third party that then is unbinded by the obligations made by ADAGE. The local government then desperate to get someone to take on the project make even more concessions.
De minimis is relative. Let's say you are the number 3 polluter in the U.S.A. and you are responsible for almost 3% of all CO2 emissions in the U.S. Let's then say that the U.S. Senate is in the process of working on a cap and trade carbon offset bill that isn't going exactly as you planned and instead of granting you offsets they are going to auction them off and 25% of those are going to be given to non CO2 polluting energy producers like hydro, wind, solar and nuclear and that means you will have to pay $200 BILLION the first year and raise your customers electric rates by 40%.
ReplyDeleteNow envision that the geniuses in the Senate have a virtual army of energy and timber lobbyists that have snuck in this carbon loophole for woody biomass and you can build "a fleet" (according to one Areva employee) of these plants and you can then obtain a whole bunch of cheap carbon offsets to sell or use to offset your substantial coal generation emissions.
Does this help you understand why we see a virtual gold rush style frenzy to permit and build hundreds of these CO2 belching incinerators with 30% paid for by the taxpayers? $200 Billion is a lot of money and apparently politicians are not as expensive as they used to be.
I would think our grandkids, who we are enslaving with this debt, would really want to kill us IF THEY WERE ALIVE to defend themselves.
It's always easy for politicians to spend someone else's money, but even easier if they aren't born yet.
Have you seen the Mason County budget? Tim Sheldon signed it "NAY". So he gets to play fiscal conservative on TV, but in reality saddle us and our kids and grandkids with federal and state debt while not taking any responsibility for it. I think the term for that is hypocrite.
Now think about this.....the carbon offset business is the fastest growing industry in the world.
It was $116 Billion in the U.S. alone in 2008 and is projected to be $2 TRILLION by 2020.
Here is a quote from the NY Times magazine "A Green coal Baron? Jim Rogers"- that explains a lot: "As Rogers (CEO of Duke) went on the attack, critics countered that he sounded less like an environmental statesman and more like an old-school C.E.O. fighting for government pork, arguing baldly that what’s best for Duke is what’s best for the country — that cap-and-trade will only work if it’s set up in a way that best benefits Duke. John Rowe, the chief executive of Exelon — the country’s largest nuclear power company, which will profit handsomely by selling its allowances — argues that it’s only fair to hit Duke and others with higher costs. Customers in nuclear states have paid higher electric bills for years, because nuclear power is inherently more expensive to generate, Rowe points out. Duke could have switched to nuclear decades ago but didn’t, so now it must pay the price."
“Duke’s customers had a big cost advantage for a very long time,” Rowe told me. “And our feeling is you’re not entitled to have that made virtually permanent.”
Now THINK about OUR power rates. We have inexpensive hydro which allows us to remain competitive with companies like Boeing, Alcoa, Kaiser, Weyerhauser, Simpson, etc. The perfect storm for Duke, looking to offset a future 40% increase in coal power rates, get a 30% kickback, possible farm bill fuel subsidies, tax breaks, offsets and credits, and the possibility of luring a company like Boeing to North Carolina, while raising our NW rates up to 33% higher for this "green" biomass power. I suspect I know what "green" they are talking about!
That is a hell of high price to pay for short-sighted politicians looking to pad their re-election coffers and 24 power plant jobs paying $40K and costing over $3 million EACH.
The term penny wise and dollar foolish was made for these clowns.
I think the special meeting of the Port of Shelton Commission yesterday was a desperate attempt to widen the smokescreen between them and the public. I'm interested in seeing a copy of the minutes of their May 18 meeting. During the public comment period of that meeting, Carol asked two direct questions concerning the possibility of a conflict of interest between Port officials and ADAGE/Duke Energy/AREVA. She respectfully requested that her questions and their answers be made part of the public record. Jay Hupp curtly advised her that she would need to submit her questions in writing (which she immediately did), and I bet they were given to their corporate attorney to dissect. Unless I've missed something, Carol's questions have still not been answered by the Port Commissioners. In my humble opinion, the "gag order" they issued to silence Jack Miles yesterday was their shrewd attempt to divert public attention away from unanswered questions.
ReplyDeleteI worry that the Simpson Incinerator will slip in under the radar while we fight ADAGE. Simpton is NOT THE BACKBONE of our community. It is not even in the top ten in terms of employment. Sadly the Little Creek Casino is the Backbone, i.e., the biggiest employer in the county.
ReplyDeleteThe Simpson incinerator will be almost as nasty as the ADAGE one. Simpson wants to burn one ton of wood every 107 seconds. We all know what Simpson did to this community and our forests under the 100 year sustained steal. To hell with Simpson! We owe them nothing. Kick them out and build a nice park on the water front.
Then Shelton will be a tourist destination, instead of something to drive through as fast as you can while holding your nose.
Yes that is what natives of Kistap County do as they drive to the ocean. Shelton is a godawful, ugly, stinky mill town that one must drive through in order to get to the ocean. Drive through it as fast as you can and try not to look at the ugly saw mill.
Sorry to you native Sheltonions , but that is what this former Kitsap County resident has always thought of Shelton. I admit that Shelton has grown on me a bit in the five long years that I have lived here. But still the only reason I’m in Shelton is because I can no longer afford to live in Kitsap County.
Ok carry on with the deforestation and continue your love affair with Simpson aka Green Diamond..
once again I hate the constant rap against Shelton and I guess I miss all the beauty that is Kitsap County and the ship yard a piece of beauty that decorates Bremerton also no environmental issues there . I can give travelers another way to access the coast so they don't have to suffer the trauma of driving through Shelton. I agree with statement regarding the simpson project and lets not forget the other incinerators in this and all other areas of this country like funeral homes, hospitals,schools etc. Did I not hear of an addition of a bio mass project at The Evergreen State College.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many that attend these meetings that have cars that guzzel gas and leak fluids that we know enter the ground water and poison everything and everyone. How many own boats that contaminate our bodies of water with fuel leaks , bilge discharges and anti foul paint on hulls. I guess when we pick and choose the technology we want to demonize and promote fear it becomes easier to put aside the things we all do that DOES have a negative impact on our planet. keep up the good work?
I car pool to the meetings as do many others.
ReplyDeleteBut it is true that we sometimes judge others by our own morals and behaviors.
A boat, even a rather large one hardly compares to a 65 MW incinerator. That's more like apples and whales.
What if Simpson was gone and the port was a park-like area, with interesting shops and fine restaurants and an environment that invited people to relax and enjoy and loosen their pocket strings and leave some of their money in Shelton.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the writer, a former Kitsap area resident, that people drive right through Shelton with thoughts of what an ugly little mill town we are. It is unfortunate that the answer of the Shelton leaders to solving our dilemma of persons driving through was to build a clock tower. Seeing all of the tourists who now stop to take pictures of the clock tower, and then eat in local restaurants and shop in our local galleries and stores and leave their money in our community has been - less than satisfactory.
Brenda, you are right to hold the feet of our elected leaders to the fire and I appreciate you taking the time to attend the meetings and report on them here. You are a true public servant. Wish you had a salary commensurate with your efforts!
Shelton is an ugly little town, parts of it, there is no doubt, and the biggest ugliest part of it is on our waterfront. The citizens need to stop believing that Simpson is still God (or Green Diamond if you prefer, although Patty Case said "I don't work for Simpson," so they obviously don't know they are joined at the hip still).
Anyway, yes, we need to look at our waterfront as a future source of tourist dollar revenue as well as a beautiful place for Shelton residents to enjoy their time and spend their hard-earned dollars (those of us who still have jobs.)
And yes, there are more "biomass" burners out here than we knew. Mostly because no one called them that before. See the Simpson one on the way to Elma.
These things no doubt have been "grand-fathered" in and therefore are beyond the scope of this review, but I think not. I think they are all within the scope of this review and I agree that it is not only Adage that stands on the wrong side of the health of our community and our children, Simpson and Green Diamond also stand on the wrong side of the health of our community while, of course, touting it's long-history in the community and the jobs it provides today. It is not very popular to state in this town that there is anything wrong with Simpson/Green Diamond, or that they should pull up roots and find a new town to poison. However, the fact that we have only two places to move DOWN to be THE worst county in the state in terms of health suggests that the planned, as well as the existing biomass burners, are not in the best interest of the citizens. The pesky citizens, as Brenda calls us, and it appears that the power of the corporation will trump our desire to live and we will earn that last spot whether we want it or not.
I would remind people, Simpson and Green Diamond are private companies, that is, they answer only to themselves and not to stock holders.
ReplyDeleteLook at their buildings, their facilities, their vehicles, wherever they are located, Shelton, McCleary, Tacoma. Now look at Shelton, our streets, our roads, our real estate, our tax base and our fiscal problems, and ask yourself, are they serving our community or enriching themselves while taking advantage of the residents of Shelton? Yes, we expect them to make a good profit, we want and need them to make a profit, but they should also be good citizens and take care of their workers and the place they call home.