Financial topics

[Higgenbotham]

Lastly, I gave all the tapes to an investigative news reporter at a local television station. He was astounded and angry. His conclusion in so many words was that these people are even bigger scumbags than I could have imagined - and as an investigative reporter he ought to know. Think how much stuff never makes it on the air.

[John]

> Lastly, I gave all the tapes to an investigative news reporter at
> a local television station. He was astounded and angry. His
> conclusion in so many words was that these people are even bigger
> scumbags than I could have imagined - and as an investigative
> reporter he ought to know. Think how much stuff never makes it on
> the air.

So was the investigative reporter able to use the material in a news
story? Or did his management force him to bury it, which is standard
practice at CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN about stories that are embarrassing
to the Obama administration?

[Higgenbotham]

> Lastly, I gave all the tapes to an investigative news reporter at
> a local television station. He was astounded and angry. His
> conclusion in so many words was that these people are even bigger
> scumbags than I could have imagined - and as an investigative
> reporter he ought to know. Think how much stuff never makes it on
> the air.

So was the investigative reporter able to use the material in a news
story? Or did his management force him to bury it, which is standard
practice at CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN about stories that are embarrassing
to the Obama administration?

He didn't source from the tapes or even use material from the tapes indirectly. But he did run a story that he said was the longest investigative report he had run to that point. I often wondered why his management let him run it. Normally when the investigative reports were run, they were posted on their website but even though this was an 18 minute report (and the longest one that he ever did, according to him) it was never posted. I think it was because it involved the largest company in the state.

He won an award for the story. Due to that, the tape was played at an EPA conference and I got a call at home from EPA Headquarters in Washington, which was a conference call with 2 or 3 people from EPA. EPA was also appalled at the corruption in Wisconsin.

The story had 3 parts. The first part was about how a glass recycler was allowed to spew broken glass shards into the neighborhood, violating particulate air standards, and the state did nothing. The second part was about how the largest company in the state, SC Johnson, had numerous air pollution violations, disconnecting EPA required monitors and not reporting 40 tons of emissions, and the state did nothing. The third part was about how the Milwaukee County baseball stadium was demolished without removing the asbestos, and the report showed a huge cloud of dust rising from the demolition that was laced with asbestos.

The tapes gave him impetus to really go after the story and believe there was something there. He did a great job but really barely scratched the surface.

[Higgenbotham]

An important point to add. That story was run in 2002, which was really still pre collapse and pre Dark Age. No way that story would run today, in my opinion. In 2002 some thinking peole still believed this mess could be saved and it probably could have been. But not now; it's useless.

[John]

An important point to add. That story was run in 2002, which was really still pre collapse and pre Dark Age. No way that story would run today, in my opinion. In 2002 some thinking people still believed this mess could be saved and it probably could have been. But not now; it's useless.

I'm going to guess that the investigative reporter was not a Gen-Xer.

[Higgenbotham]

An important point to add. That story was run in 2002, which was really still pre collapse and pre Dark Age. No way that story would run today, in my opinion. In 2002 some thinking people still believed this mess could be saved and it probably could have been. But not now; it's useless.

I'm going to guess that the investigative reporter was not a Gen-Xer.

I think he is 44.

This is him:

http://www.wthr.com/story/4809527/bob-segall

Over the past decade, Bob's investigations have earned four separate Peabodys, including a 2012 award for Investigating the IRS and a 2010 award for Where are the Jobs? The ongoing series about Indiana's misleading employment statistics was also honored with a national Emmy award for investigative reporting, an Edward R. Murrow Award and a 2011 duPont-Columbia Award. Columbia University cited Bob's work as "dogged reporting that exposed government fraud and prompted reform." The duPont-Columbia Award is the electronic news media's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize and considered one the highest honors in broadcast journalism.

Bob's in-depth reports focus on topics ranging from education, healthcare and technology to transportation, the environment and government spending. (See more details of Bob's investigations below.)

Before coming to WTHR, Bob was an investigative reporter at WITI-TV in Milwaukee. He led WITI to its first Peabody Award with The Bully Project, a year-long series of investigative reports that spawned a documentary, a public service campaign and a new state law benefiting hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin children. His investigations significantly impacted local and state policy, earning him the title of Milwaukee's "Best TV Investigative Reporter" from Milwaukee magazine. Prior to his role as investigative reporter, Bob was a general assignment reporter at WITI. He also worked as a reporter at WJRT-TV in Flint, WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids and WGEM-TV in Quincy.

I would note there was another Gen-Xer from another television station who had a first crack at the story and turned it down. Bob told me he asked him why after the story ran and he didn't have an answer.

[Higgenbotham]

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 879,518000

This article is somewhat accurate but it really confuses the issue.

OK, so SC Johnson disconnected a required continuous emissions monitor, then reconnected it when I caught them. The article says their spokesperson says they "fixed the problem", like I got caught robbing the bank and so I gave the money back.

As far as the fines go, we all know here what is going on. Power companies and banks pay fines because they have a way to socialize losses so, what the heck, they go ahead and pay them and Bernanke prints off more money for them or they raise their rates. No big deal. If they settle with EPA on the condition of doing a pollution abatement project that is more jobs for them and more cost for you.

Companies like SC Johnson, General Electric, or what have you don't pay fines because it comes out of the family fortune or the company's "bag of money". Instead they pay lawyers to smear people and make phone calls to senators, governors or even the presidential adminstration if they have to. That's really how it works - I saw it happen first hand. Then, if they want to, they can go ahead and disconnect their monitor again. There will be no consequences if they do.

When she says, "There is no correlation," that is correct.

Notice how they always lie no matter what and get in your face with their lies. He says the fine is not being passed onto customers when you and I know it is directly passed onto customers. Do they take pay cuts when they get fined?

[John]

From your newspaper article:

Capture.GIF (63.44 KiB) Viewed 3036 times

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 879,518000

[Higgenbotham]

I think everyone knows what I mean regarding fines. Like when a power company or a financial company pays fines it can be in the millions or tens of millions, they don't care.

If GE gets sued for their Fukushima liability, it disappears into a black hole. Or if SC Johnson does something particularly nasty, they may get a fine that amounts to about the same thing as a campaign donation (bribe) of a few hundred thousand. The only exception I know of is if it's something really horrendous like the BP Oil Spill or Exxon Valdez. But even with something as horrible as Fukushima if they can find a way out of owning up to their responsibility they will do it.

Being a liar is big business in our culture.

[John]

I have to say, Higgie, you were pretty brave to do all that --
confronting criminals, recording conversations, reporting them,
turning tapes over to the press. Someone might easily have decided to
kill you. Putting out a contract on you might have been cheaper than
the amount of money they lost letting you live.