Tell It To Al

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water …

Remember the White House told us earlier this month how the oil spill had all but magically disappeared?

How what didn’t get skimmed was handily dissovled by Mother Nature herself?

Well, just because the oil is hiding thousands of feet below the surface doesn’t mean it’s gone.  New research exposes a plume beneath the surface. Click here  to read more. And more reseach is on the way. We’ll likely be dealing with the effects of this spill for years to come.

Ever wonder why suck-ups always seem to get promoted?

It’s because brown-nosing works, according to a new academic study. And the people who get seats on the boards of directors of America’s largest companies are really good at it. 

Click here to read column.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich was just convicted on one count of lying to federal investigators, but the jury was hung on all the other 23 counts.

The government boldy accused Blago, among other schemes, of trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat formerly belonging to President Obama, but all they could nail him on is lying? This is how they once felonized and locked away Martha Stewart. It’s cheap. It’s easy. It’s low-hanging fruit.

There’s that old joke: How do you know when a politician is lying? His lips are moving. So the government caught Blago moving his lips? Really?

The government has vowed to retry Blago and his brother on the counts the jury couldn’t decide, so their troubles are hardly over, but I would chalk this one up as a victory for the Blago brothers and a huge defeat for the Feds.

It also begs a questions for anybody who gets a knock on the door from federal agents: Why would you talk to them?

The correct response is always: I’m sorry sir, love to help, but you are going to have to consult my attorney first.

When I dropped in on the last days of Blago’s trial, it was hard to find anyone observing the trial who thought the government’s case was a good one. One of the courtroom observers I interviewed was law student, Charlie Harms. His take was pretty much in line with my own. He just gave me this update via email:

“Looks like it ended up the way everybody predicted–guilty on Count 24 and a hung jury with regards to the rest.

“I’m a little disappointed that they were not able to come to a conclusion on the charges against Robert, as in my opinion he’s come across as a pretty good guy, but I guess if it’s a hung jury, they must have strong proponents on both sides. I feel bad for Robert, though; he is surely going to be broke after the retrial.

“In my opinion, this trial and investigation has just been a complete waste of money, and is going to continue being a waste of money. In six months time, after the retrial, we’ll just end up right back where we are today with a hung jury, as I do not believe any jury can come to a unanimous decision one way or the other. Rod Blagojevich may have been a money-hungry sleaze-bag, but in the end, he never actually profited from any of these so-called schemes, and I imagine it’s got to be pretty tough for a jury to put away a family man based solely on the complex mess of an argument the US Attorneys presented. If something is actually going to come from this, then the US Attorneys need to be a little less arrogant and get their act together when it comes time for the retrial. ”

What would you steal from your office on your way out the door?

In an online survey by Harris Interactive and identity management company, Sailpoint, 49% of American and 52% of British workers admitted they would take something.

Among the findings:

* 29% in the U.S. and 23% in the U.K. would take customer data;
* 23% in the U.S. and 22% in the U.K. would take electronic files;
* 15% in the U.S. and 17% in the U.K. would take product information;
* 13% in the U.S. and 22% in the U.K. would take small office supplies.

Click here for more details.

“Companies should be gravely concerned with these survey responses,” said Jackie Gilbert of SailPoint. “I believe the survey illustrates that many employees may not believe that taking company data is equivalent to stealing.”

Nash Finch Co., a national grocer, on Friday admited it’s “Plus 10%” pricing scheme at its Avanza Supermarkets violated the Colorado Consumer Protection Act.

The chain’s confession came as a trial loomed Monday in a lawsuit by customers who claimed the store misled them with a complicated pricing scheme. Click here to read more in The Denver Post.

Avanza advertized “Plus 10%” pricing. What that meant was they added – not subtracted – 10% of a product’s price at the register.  Why? I could never find any good reason, other than to confuse customers.

Craig Silverman, one of the attorneys representing Avanza customers, was confident he’d win this case from the beginning.  “When we submit our attorney’s fees, we will not be adding 10%,” he told me when he first filed the lawsuit.

Now he’s getting ready to collect.

“Nash Finch has admitted liability for Theft and Colorado Consumer Protection Act violations against our clients who were Avanza supermarket customers,” he said in a press release on Saturday.   “From June 24, 2008 till April 1, 2009, Avanza Supermarkets added 10% to its shelf prices.  Weekly circulars lured grocery shoppers to Avanza with advertised prices that were not true.    Nash Finch fought us tooth and nail for two years as we represented these Avanza customers.  We were ready to present the truth at trial in Adams County District Court on Monday.” 

 Avanza targeted Latino customers, many of whom are new to this country and do not speak English. But forget about that. I went to Avanza, and then I interviewed Nash Finch’s CEO, and I could barely figure out prices myself. 

Here’s what I wrote about Avanza  in  2008:

Continue reading…

It’s always called the recovery. Never the recession.

It’s been called the fragile recovery, the sluggish recovery and  jobless recovery. Now they’re calling it the slowed recovery. Might as well call it the recovery-less recovery.

Click here to read column.

Even if Kenneth E. Marsh beats his securities fraud charges, he’s never going to get back his black, 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo.

“My white-collar clients don’t realize how draconian the forfeiture laws are,” said his attorney, Fred A. Schwartz of Adorno & Yoss LLP in Boca Raton, Fla.

Maybe he should have bought a Toyota.

Click here to read column.

Larry Ellison says that when Hewlett-Packard pushed its CEO Mark Hurd out the door, it “just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago.”

Ellison runs Oracle, but I don’t know he’s really an oracle himself.

On the face of it, Hurd was forced out over some inaccurate expense reports and a sexual harassment claim into which  H-P’s board didn’t put much stock. If that’s all there is to the story, Ellison could be right. H-P freaked out over almost nothing.

But maybe there’s more to the story that H-P and Hurd haven’t disclosed. And given the billions in shareholder value lost in this debacle, I think shareholders have a right to know the whole yarn.

Click here to read my column on the latest H-P ouster.

Westwood College CEO George Burnett vows changes after a U.S. Senate hearing took the entire for-profit school industry to task.

For-profit schools are under the fire for running admissions offices like high-pressure sales floors. In response, Burnett announced he’s getting rid of incentive-based pay. It’s a good first step.

Click here to read my column on Burnett and his initiatives to turn Westwood around. Also, click here to see my previous post and column on Westwood.

Health care reform hasn’t done anything about the skyrocketing costs of health care CEOs.

Case in point, Joel Gemunder, CEO of Omnicare, the nation’s largest supplier of drugs to nursing homes. At 71, Gemunder has stepped down as CEO and is walking away with one of the largest lump-sum pension payouts in history.

And was he worth it? Click here to read my column, which first appeared in The Wall Street Journal Sunday.