THE SEC ATTORNEY THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SOLUCORP CASE COMES FROM THE LAW FIRM (SIDLEY & AUSTIN) THAT HAS REPRESENTED SLUP'S TWO MAJOR COMPETITORS --- THE CEMENT INDUSTRY (THE PORTLAND CEMENT ASSOCIATION) AND BROWNING FERRIS INDUSTRIES. AT THE VERY LEAST THIS GIVES THE APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Portland Cement is the alternative method of processing metal laden soils (although it is not considered a permanent solution). However, it is a very restrictive solution, and quite lucrative to the Portland Cement industry and the contractors that utilize it due to it's labor intensity. MBS would virtually replace Portland Cement for the simple facts of its cost-effectiveness and that after being treated, the soil can be put back in place and built on. Remember, that after SLUP's successful SITE demonstration at Midvale, the EPA reversed its decision to use the cementing process there.
THERE IS A PROBLEM HERE!!! Government agencies and employees are required to AVOID ANY APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY!! Hawkeye is not saying, or even suggesting, that the SEC attorney is "on the take" or has been influenced by her prior associations or current or past conversations with her current friends and former colleagues at Sidley and Austin. What Hawkeye is saying is that we do not know if such is the case. If the SEC attorney did not have a prior association with the cement industry's and Browning Ferriss's law firm we wouldn't have to be asking these questions and that is the very reason that she should not have worked on the case. Because she has worked the case, the entire proceeding is tainted and should be thrown out!!!!!!!
For many months, Hawkeye has heard rumblings that the instigation for the May 1, 1998 suspension came from the cement industry. Hawkeye has even heard it said that some cement company has a great deal of influence at the SEC. When Hawkeye learned of the SEC attorney's prior employment with Sidley and Austin (which lasted at least up until 1995) and its having represented the Portland Cement Assoctiation in a major anti-trust case he was stunned.
I do not know if the SEC attorney ever worked on a Portland Cement or Browning-Ferris matter. But that is not entirely relevant. We are not addressing an issue of the technical legal aspects of what constitutes a "conflict of interest". The issue is one of the ethical standards to which government agencies and personnel are held. In spite of what your impressions may be resulting from headline news involving the foibles of high level elected officials and appointees,, the fact is that the staff of the federal agencies, including hawkeye, are expected to act according to a higher ethical standard than the private sector. Federal employees take this obligation very seriously. It is part and parcel of how we survive the ever changing political climate that pervades this capital city.
The issue is one of Government Ethics and maintaining the public trust!!! Essential to this is AVOIDING THE APPEARANCE of ANYTHING that could be interpreted as being inappropriate. We are talking about a young company with an important, innovative, and beneficial technology that is being bled to death by a government investigation that may have been instigated, informed, and inspired by anti-competitive elements. THE PORTLAND CEMENT INDUSTRY AND BROWNING FERRIS STAND TO LOSE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN REMDIATION WORK IF SLUP IS SET FREE!!!!! I can guarandamnteeit that if the supervisory staff at the SEC's Office of Enforcement had been aware of the relationship between the Portland Cement Industry and the MBS process, and if it had been aware that the very powerful and well funded Portland Cement Association and Browning-Ferris were on the client list of the attorney's former employer, they would, or should, have found another attorney to handle the case.
Clearly, now more than ever, there are questions that have arisen regarding the integrity of the process that led to the initial suspension and subsequent investigation and outcome. Certainly you would prefer to have an individual on the government's side of this matter that had no reason to be biased. Someone who does not have friends that may have a financial interest in the outcome of the SLUP case! Someone to whom the allies of the Portland Cement Industry and Browning Ferris do not have personal access to!!! Again, hawkeye wishes to emphasize that he is not saying that such wrongdoings occurred here. RATHER, IT IS THE CLEAR POSSIBILITY THAT THEY COULD HAVE OCCURRED THAT IS AT THE HEART OF WHAT IS WRONG HERE!!!!!!!!!!! IT STINKS!!!!!!!!!!!
This whole affair never made sense to begin with. Remember, Solucorp did not have to subject itself to the scrutiny of the SEC. It voluntarily became an SEC reporting company. Why would Mantia and Kemprowski have subjected themselves to SEC scrutiny if they were up to no good?????? If fraud was what they had in mind, there would have been better opportunities if they remained a non-reporting, unregulated, NASDQ Bulletin Board stock totally free from any sort of oversight. Why was the SEC so concerned with the existence of contracts that the company never said that it had?????? The company's recent success with the Bohai deal clearly evidences the fact the the Solucorp-Smart relationship is more than fully legitimate. If the SEC had evidence of fraud when it suspended the stock, why did it take 18 months for it to conclude its investigation. The suspicious nature of the SEC's actions directed against Solucorp and its existing shareholders has only been increased by this current revelation.
Is all of this just an innocent coincidence??? Maybe Yes, Maybe Not. The point is that the bar against creating an appearance of impropriety is to avoid such a situation where the public's trust in government may be eroded by justifiable suspicion.
CALL/WRITE RICHARD WALKER, DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF ENFORCEMENT AT THE SEC--MAKE CERTAIN HE IS AWARE OF WHAT HAS OCCURRED IN HIS OFFICE!!!!!!!!CALL/WRITE ARTHUR LEVITT!!!!CHAIRMAN--MAKE CERTAIN HE IS AWARE OF WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED AT THE SEC UNDER HIS CHARGE!!!!!!!!!!CALL/WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN--LET HIM/HER KNOW HOW THE MOST COST-EFFECTIVE METHOD OF TOXIC SOIL REMEDIATION HAS BEEN REPRESSED BY A MISGUIDED GOVERNMENT AGENCY!!!!!!!!!!!CALL 7-ON-YOUR SIDE!!!!!!CALL THE POPE!!!!!!!!!!!
chairmanoffice@sec.gov
enforcement@sec.gov
SEC Division of Enforcement
Enforcement Complaint Center
Mail Stop 2-2
450 Fifth Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20549-0202
Fax Number is:(202) 942-9570
1-800-SEC-0330
hpi.www.com
hpi.www.com
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<< JUSTICE, NOT VENGEANCE >>!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1883 SET SLUP FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hawkeye Oct 21 1998 11:00AM
1882 THE TRUTH BE KNOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!! hawkeye Oct 21 1998 10:58AM
1877 CEMENTGATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hawkeye Oct 21 1998 9:00AM
1876 THE TRUTH BE KNOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hawkeye Oct 21 1998 8:34AM
1875 PRIOR TO THE EPA'S APPROVAL OF MBS FOR SUPERFUND SITE REMEDIATION, CEMENT WAS hawkeye Oct 21 1998 8:31AM
1874 !!!!!!!S*O*U*T*H*D*O*W*N!!!!!!!!! hawkeye Oct 21 1998 3:53AM
1869 SEC!! ARE YOU LISTENING???????????? hawkeye Oct 20 1998 3:50PM
1864 PORTLAND CEMENT? YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING!! hawkeye Oct 19 1998 12:38AM
1863 PORTLAND CEMENT!!! SET SLUP FREE!!!!!!!!! hawkeye Oct 18 1998 11:49PM
1861 THE TRUTH BE KNOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hawkeye Oct 18 1998 7:29PM
1860 BLACK MAGIC????????????????????????? hawkeye Oct 18 1998 7:27PM
1859 hawkeye send many smoke signals. Much smoke no fire. High Grader Oct 18 1998 7:27PM
1858 WITCHCRAFT?????????????????????????????? hawkeye Oct 18 1998 7:27PM
1857 VOODOO???????????????????????? hawkeye Oct 18 1998 7:26PM
1856 PAYOFFS BY SHORTSELLERS????????????????????? hawkeye Oct 18 1998 7:25PM
1855 PORTLAND CEMENT?????????????????????????? hawkeye Oct 18 1998 7:24PM
1854 BRIBERY?????????????????????? hawkeye Oct 18 1998 7:23PM
1853 CORRUPTION????????????????????? hawkeye Oct 18 1998 7:21PM
1852 THE TRUTH BE KNOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hawkeye Oct 18 1998 6:52PM |
