Bad News from Texas: Judge Gives Millions to Hurwitz; New Campaign to End Clear Cutting

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>>>Hurwitz is enriched--once again<<<


A federal judge issued an order for the FDIC to pay Charles Hurwitz up to $72 million, sanctioning the federal agency for its lawsuits against Hurwitz.


If you remember the Debt for Nature campaign, you will recall that federal banking regulators took unprecedented and courageous action to obtain justice in the face of Charles Hurwitz's Maxxam Corp. plundering of public trust resources and his corporate raider banditry.


Based on the crashing of a Texas Savings & Loan that left the U.S. taxpayers holding a $1.6 billion bag in bailout costs, the agency that insures bank funds, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) filed suit, seeking $250 in restitution based on its findings of wrongdoing, followed by a similar suit filed by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) seeking to recoup $821 million.


Advocates for Headwaters Forest weighed in with a particularly innovative solution that could uniquely serve ecological goals and taxpayer justice: a "debt for nature" swap that would accept critical forest land owned by Maxxam subsidiary Pacific Lumber (PL) to satisfy the federal claims against the parent company, putting valuable assets, if not cash, in the public domain. While this solution attracted significant support in government, public and other circles, it did not come to fruition before the OTS claim was ultimately settled in 2002 by Maxxam's payment of $206,000 and a restriction barring Hurwitz from affiliating with or running banking institutions for three years.


Not only was Hurwitz charged with duping regulators and violating rules governing thrift institutions, it was alleged that his shady dealings including laundering money for Michael Milkin, prosecuted in Wall Street's biggest criminal prosecution every, charged with 98 counts of fraud and racketeering, bringing him a 10 year prison sentence. Milkin helped Hurwitz put together the junk bond financing for the take over of Pacific Lumber.


In light of the long history of blatant violation of hundreds of federal, state and regulatory laws and rules, this decision is a huge disappointment. It is all the more stinging because of the language in the opinion, incredibly portraying the poor corporate raider Hurwitz standing his ground against the "Goliath" of government agencies responsible for protecting the public trust. We can send you the Texas judge's opinion in a pdf document if you request it from us.




>>>NEW CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT CLEAR CUTTING<<<


Citing the massive damage done to steams, forest soil, wildlife habitat and drinking water by the practice of clearcutting, a new campaign is emerging to get the practice outlawed in California. Clearcutting is still allowed on private forestland in California, and is now the primary logging method used in the Sierra Nevada. In fact, Sierra Pacific Industries plans to clearcut one million acres of their one and a half million acres of timberland in the Sierras.


The California Board of Forestry has not acted to protect California's forest resources from this destructive practice. To plug in in the early stages, you can contact StopClearcutting@motherlode.sierraclub.org, or call Patricia Jones from the Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club's Wilderness Sub Committee at 510-548-2204
--AND you can write a letter to Sen. Don Perata about a current Board of Forestry appointment.


To urge responsible and knowledgeable BoF appoints to make the right decisions to end clearcutting, tell Don Perata that the current appointment of Ron Nehring is not acceptable.


Write to
Don Perata
Chair, Senate Rules Cttee
State Capitol, Rm 205
Sacramento, CA 95814


You can make these points in your letter:
>>Mr. Nehring does not meet the qualifications for the job, as outlined in Sec. 731 of the Public Resources Code of California


>>Mr. Nehring hs no experience dealing with problems relating to watershed management (including hydrology and soil science), forest management practices, fish and wildlife, range management, forest economics or land use planning.


>>California's forests deserve better leadership. Ask Sen. Perata to NOT confirm Mr. Nehring to this position.
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