Gubernatorial candidates vetted at West Michigan Policy Forum
Day two of the West Michigan Regional Policy Forum began with the editors of the GR Press and Crain’s Detroit Business acting as “moderators” for gubernatorial candidates Virg Bernero and Rick Snyder.
Choosing a business paper editor and a business friendly for-profit newspaper editor made it clear from the beginning what kind of questions would be asked of the candidates and which would not. It was also clear that the two candidates were being vetted to the members of the West Michigan regional Policy Forum, since the questions fit right into the legislative agenda of the group, particularly the 5 main directives established in 2008.
Virg Bernero
The format was to ask them questions one at a time on stage, with Bernero going first. The moderators asked the same questions to both Bernero and Snyder. When was asked what he thought about the Michigan Business Tax (MBT), Bernero said he would eliminate the surcharge and then look to reform the MBT. Bernero then went out of his way to say he was pro-business and that he has had the endorsement the Lansing Chamber of Commerce both times he ran for Mayor.
Bernero also said that he would not add any new taxes for small businesses, but made no additional commitment on issues of taxation, such as a progressive income tax policy for businesses. “I’m willing to consider anything that will help get us off the ground.”
On the matter of job creation, Bernero said that the main thing to do is to figure out a way to bring investment capital into the state. Bernero is proposing the Main Street Bank initiative, based on what North Dakota does. Bernero also wants to attract foreign businesses to Michigan and set up green manufacturing zones.
The Democratic candidate was then asked what he thought about Michigan being a right-to-work state. Bernero said he is definitely against the idea and then added that Lansing just won a manufacturing contract against states that have a right-to-work policies in order to underscore his point that you don’t need it to be economically competitive.
The GR Press editor then asked if economic development should be targeted, such as the film industry and green manufacturing or should it be broader. Bernero said that you have to look at individual cases, but in order for it to be successful it needs to be more broad, with an emphasis on manufacturing.
When asked about what he thought about the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), Bernero believes that the MEDC needs to be held more accountable and more creative. “If there are things that are not making money for the state, such as film making, then the state should not be supporting it.”
Mary Kramer (editor of Crain’s) asked Bernero about jobs again and wondered what do you do when you have jobs but unqualified people. Bernero said that what he has done as Mayor of Lansing was to partner with MSU to help facilitate students and graduates to stay and work in Michigan. The gubernatorial candidate also thought that we needed to continue the Michigan Works program and even expand what it does.
On the matter of health care Bernero said we need to figure out ways to attract and retain nurses and doctors to Michigan, particularly with primary care and not just specialized medicine. When asked what he would do to look at health care costs for Michigan he would set up more community-based health care centers so that people don’t use emergency rooms as a primary health care location.
Bernero was then asked what he would do to deal with the budget deficit for Michigan. His response was that he has balanced the budget in Lansing the past 5 years in a row. Bernero said there are no real easy answers, but he did say government needs to be more efficient. Bernero even went as far as to suggest that local governments should consolidate.
The next question addressed the issue of how to fund public education. Bernero expressed concern over the growing disparity within K-12 education across the state. He does support private education and any other form as long as it gets “positive results,” even though he did not qualify what he meant by that.
Bernero was then asked about the Democratic attack ads on outsourcing of jobs. Bernero said that people in Michigan are suffering from free trade, not fair trade. Bernero said he is a supporter of capitalism, but felt that there is a double standard on trade policy between the US and China in particular. This was an interesting comment since Bernero earlier said he wanted to get foreign companies to do business in Michigan which would potentially have the same impact on communities in other parts of the world.
The Democratic candidate for Governor was then asked about the label of being the “Angry Mayor,” a titled given to him after an interview he did on Fox news when another GM plant was being shut down in Lansing. Bernero said he gets angry as would anyone should when people lose their jobs, but he went on to reiterate that when he ran for Mayor of Lansing he ran as the pro-business candidate and received the support of most local Republicans. He also said that some of the unions in Lansing hate him and that he is not a “tool of big labor.”
Rick Snyder
Snyder said the Michigan Business Tax needs to be eliminated and replaced with a flat 6% corporate tax. “This will shift Michigan from a job killer tax state to a job creating tax state,” Snyder said.
Snyder doesn’t think Michigan needs a progressive income tax, rather the state needs to be more efficient and stop spending money on programs that do not work. Snyder believes that the goal of government is not to support itself, but to serve the public and get out of the way of business so that the economy can flourish.
On the matter of job creation Snyder says that it is less about bringing new businesses from outside of the state and instead provide opportunities and incentives for people currently in Michigan to create new jobs and businesses.
When asked what he thought about right-to-work what Snyder said was that he was opposed to it because he thinks it further divides people. He does think that Michigan businesses and labor need to come together to figure about ways to maintain and create new jobs instead of having policies that are divisive.
On the issue of targeted economic development like film industry incentives he clearly opposed it since it is a “winners and losers model.” Snyder says he used to be with the MEDC when it was winning awards, so he is in favor of creating a healthy economic development climate. Snyder again said that Michigan does not need to court companies from outside the state or country, instead we need to provide incentives and opportunities for existing businesses in Michigan to grow.
On the matter of getting qualified people to jobs that are available the Republican candidate felt there needs to be more coordination amongst groups that provide job training, such as Michigan Works and community colleges.
Snyder’s position on primary health care is to emphasize wellness and prevention as the two mechanisms to reduce costs. He believes that there needs to be more regional/community-based primary health care services.
When asked about balancing the state budget Snyder said we need to be more efficient and eliminate programming that do not have positive, measurable outcomes. Snyder also believes we need to have better government employee accountability. The Republican candidate also feels that we need to be honest with the public and share the facts about what the current debt is at the state. Once people really know what we are faced with we can better move forward to make changes.
On the matter of K-12 education Snyder said that instead of beginning the discussion with funding it should be focused on how do we better educate the state’s children. Snyder thinks that there is adequate funding that exists, but it is currently not being spent well.
When asked about what he will do if elected is that Snyder said he has a vision and a plan to turn Michigan around, even though he did not qualify what that vision and plan is.
On the matter of debating Bernero, Snyder said he would do 3 TV debates and he wanted to do them before the absentee ballots go out. He went on to talk about what happened recently with Bernero at one of his scheduled public gatherings but felt that town hall meetings are better because he would rather take questions and have a dialogue with citizens.
Snyder believes that free enterprise works. He is not anti-manufacturing, but he also thinks that Michigan needs to diversify and not be stuck in just an automotive and manufacturing jobs focus. Snyder ended by saying he wants to make a “smaller, faster, cheaper government.”
It was difficult to see much of a fundamental difference between the two candidates for governor, particularly on economic matters. There are some tactical differences, but both candidates are ardent supporters of the “free market system,” and both went out of their way to present themselves as business friendly to a crowd of mostly business professionals.
Make no mistake that the morning session with the two gubernatorial candidates was a vetting process to determine which of the candidates they will endorse in November’s election. The West Michigan Regional Policy Forum has already endorsed candidates for all other state offices in this part of the state and even though they did not list party affiliation it appears that all but one of the candidates are Republicans. The group also provided everyone in attendance with a voter guide and other election resources.
Workers’ and consumers’ rights will take swan dive if economist has his way
(This is one of several articles that GRIID will post over the next few days based upon our attendance at the West Michigan Regional Policy Forum.)
Brian Wesbury’s lunch hour remarks at the West Michigan Regional Policy Forum reiterated the event’s goal of influencing government to free business from taxation and regulation.
Wesbury’s bio lists him as Chief Economist at First Trust Advisors L.P., a financial services firm based in Wheaton, Illinois. The Wall Street Journal ranked Wesbury the nation’s #1 U.S. economic forecaster in 2001. These credentials, no doubt, brought him great credibility among the elite business crowd in attendance.
Wesbury’s topic was, “Back to the basics for Michigan’s recovery.” He started off with an analogy based on his recent visit to the 88,000 square-foot Dodge mansion, which now stands on the campus of Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. “The wealth that was in Michigan in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, the kind of wealth that could build a mansion like that, do you know where it came from? . . . That wealth, like all wealth, came from the increased productivity of our economy.”
Wesbury went on to tell the stories of Michigan’s farmers who were forced off the farms and into factory work that they hated because technology increased agricultural production. “That transformation created massive wealth that was built on the blood, tears and cries of farmers due to increased productivity brought about by the invention of the interbnal combustion engine.”
Don’t sympathize with those farmers of years past. Wesbury doesn’t. Instead he compares that so-called “progress” to today’s economic scene. Simply stated, technology has eliminated out-of-date manufacturing jobs but, not to worry, Americans are buying more stuff than ever before. “We produce three to four more times more stuff than we did in 1950. Thirty percent of all US workers were in manufacturing in the 50s, nine percent are now,” he said. “This is what happens when technology transforms the economy.”
Wesbury made no mention of free trade policies that have moved jobs to countries where sweatshops, slave labor and dangerous working conditions are the norm.
He also compared Michigan’s current economic woes to those experienced at the turn of the 20th century. At this juncture, an image of a black swan was projected on the overhead screens. “Today we have populists. People feel uneasy. And in the middle of this unease, we get a black swan. We have the idea that all swans are white until we see a black one. Once we see a black one, it changes all our paradigms,” he said. “Everybody thinks black swans are bad. ‘It’s going to take us down. We’re going to get pecked to death at any moment.’ It dawned on me, black swans can be positive too. ”
Wesbury identifies today’s economy as a black swan. In other words, there’s nothing to worry about. We just have to be positive. ” We suffer from economic hypochondria,” Westbury said.
Wesbury then described the economic history of humankind as a hockey stick. It was horizontal, with no change, until 1750, and then, with the writing of the U.S. Constitution, economic growth went straight up. He exclaimed, “We went straight up. That’s America. The world got freedom. The US constitution. Do you believe that’s over? That a pack of wild black swans have finished us off? Nobody in their right mind can beleve it.”
While he admitted with a chuckle that other factors might have been involved in that upward movement, he made no attempt to verify this claim, or any of the others he made, except by means of flashy charts and graphs on the overhead screens.
Wesbury then turned his focus to the subprime interest crisis that resulted in the massive bank bailouts and millions of families losing (and still losing) their homes to foreclosure. “Guess what, people borrowed too much. They took losses. So what. (The crisis was caused by) the government’s reaction to people who borrowed more than they should have to buy a house,” he said.
Wesbury went on to state that the 2008 finincial crisis was smaller than crises in the 70s and 80s. He credited then President Ronald Reagan with solving the earlier crisis by cutting taxes, cutting spending and raising interest rates. Wesbury fails to mention that Reagan’s deregulation policies were at the root of the predatory lending practices and mortgage lending crisis that has caused America’s families to lose their homes.
Wesbury proclaimed, “US citizens today are purchasing more than they have ever purchased in the history of America. . . We are in the midst of a strong recovery.” Tell that to your friends who can’t find a job that pays a living wage, do not have health insurance and are back living in an apartment because a bank took their home away. He presented no figures on who exactly is making all these purchases or what their income levels were.
Wesbury blames high unemployment rates on high government spending. Does he mean the more than $1,080,974,500,000 spent on the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq? Does he mean the billions given annually to Israel’s military for their criminal occupation of Gaza? Does he mean the millions of dollars in subsidies given to corporations and big agriculture? No. It’s all the welfare crowd’s fault. He referred to 18% of Americans receiving government assistance. “82 people are pulling the wagon. 18 people are in the wagon. . . They’re living off their fellow man. They’re not doing what they were put on earth to do.”
Wesbury summed his arguments up with graphs comparing Michigan to Texas. The graphs supported his claim that eliminating taxes on and regulation of businesses, becoming a Right to Work state and reducing government spending would turn Michigan’s economy around. His last slide was a photo of a price gun, used to affix price tags to merchandise on store shelves.
“You have to label every item for sale in this state. There are two reasons for this. One, it’s a job. It’s a union thing. Two, people don’t trust you. . . We don’t trust business so the state has to regulate them. That’s a serious problem in a relationhsip between business and the government. It’s government’s way of signallung ‘these people aren’t trustworthy,” Wesbury said. “The head economist at the IMF said that technology has taken off so fast that we need more government (regulation). I look at the world totally the opposite. The more technolgy, the more entrepreneurship and the more capitalism we have, the more stable things are. We need to fight for freedom. Have faith in people . . .You have to go on a campaign to make them trust business. If you dont trust it, you don’t have an economy.”
Front Group Front Man Rick Berman: anti-union tactics for a right-to-work campaign
One of the afternoon presenters at the West Michigan Regional Policy Forum was Rick Berman. The promotional literature for the forum listed Berman as President of Berman and Company, which “specializes in strategic research, communications and creative advertising.”
To those who do real grassroots education and organizing Berman engages in political counter-insurgency by setting up front groups that both undermine the work of real grassroots groups and acts as a deceptive arm of corporate America. Berman has worked for the tobacco industry, alcohol industry, corporate agribusiness and numerous entities that oppose animal rights.
However, one of the issues that Berman has been at the forefront of and the reason for his presence at the policy forum was to talk about ways to undermine unions and promote right-to-work policies. One example of an anti-union front group is the Employee Freedom Action Committee, which was formed by Berman to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act. Berman’s talk today was entitled “Organized Labor – Rethinking Reform.”
Berman began his presentation with a look at how the country has evolved on its view of unions. He showed a Gallop chart, which shows the decline of union support. Berman makes the point that if businesses want to get people to support a right-to-work policy they need to do something bold.
Berman said that the legacy of the union movement is still strong in Michigan, which he believes is why many businesses will not take a strong stand in favor of right-to-work. So how does one get a right-to-work law passed?
Currently there are 22 states that have right-to-work policies and the last state that passed one was 10 years ago, according to Berman. Berman thinks that it is difficult to pass a right-to-work law, since most politicians don’t want to do it and ballot initiatives do not work unless there is a two-thirds public support for such a policy.
Berman says that business circles need to quietly develop public opinion on this issue. Berman also believes that tactically it is more important to begin with the problem and not present a solution too soon. In other words, don’t give unions a target to counter your efforts.
Berman then talk quite contemptuously about the public and referred to them as amazingly uniformed, thus the business community needs to make it a point to work hard to “educate” people on this issue. Berman said there are several guide posts to changing public opinion on this issue.
First, the business community needs to create common knowledge on the issue of right-to-work. You also need to engage in what he called a pre-emptive strategy and change the opposition’s position. In other words, make the opposition look more negative than they really are. Berman says that more people in the auto industry lost their jobs in Michigan in recent years than in southern states. This point was certainly true, but it omits the fact that the auto industry moved south so they could pay fewer wages to unions.
Berman believes that those who work on policy change have to embrace an advertising mentality where there is a constant campaign to convince people that a right-to-work policy is in the public’s best interest. This is especially the case with negative messaging. Berman gave the example of when the polling numbers shifted dramatically during the Kerry/Bush race in 2004. The negative message that hurt the Kerry campaign was the Swift Boat claims.
A negative message campaign that Berman shared with the audience was an anti-union commercial that wanted to push the idea that unions are corrupt and is made up of fat cats. Here is one of his anti-union ads.
To continue this idea of creating a common base of knowledge, Berman says that businesses need to create campaigns that look at the reasons why companies avoid Michigan and articulate those reasons. He emphasized that if you do this well you never have to mention right-to-work, but you lay a strong foundation for getting that policy passed in the state.
Berman also made it clear that the unions will fight hard on this issue. He claimed that the unions will use legal means, dirty tactics and lots of money, even though he never provided hard data or clear examples on this other than a ballot initiative in Colorado which would hold corporate CEOs responsible for corporate wrong doing.
Essentially, Berman’s presentation was laying the groundwork for how businesses and other anti-union sectors could work to get a right-to-work policy without even talking about right-to-work.
For anyone who cares about preserving unions and not turning Michigan in to a right-to-work state it would do them well to understand the tactics and strategy that Berman presented to the West Michigan Regional Policy Forum. If working people and unions fail to come to terms with this well financed effort will do so at their own peril.
You can find more of these tactics on Berman’s website UnionFacts.com. An additional resource on Berman’s history and work with creating front groups go to Berman Exposed.
West Michigan Elites host policy forum
(This is the first of several articles that GRIID will post over the next few days based upon our attendance at the West Michigan Regional Policy Forum.)
Today and tomorrow marks the West Michigan Regional Policy Forum in Grand Rapids. This is the second summit that seeks to build on the work of the first summit held in 2008.
The summit brings together many of the local economic and political power players, such as the DeVos & Van Andel families, Peter Seechia, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, local CEOs, lawyers and government leaders.
Secchia gave the open comments and began by taking a swipe at the Governor Granholm and vague remarks about the political climate that he claimed supports their platform. Seechia began with a progress report on the goals that the group came up with in 2008. Those goals are:
- Governance: Eliminate the MBT with corresponding spending cuts.
- Workforce of the Future: Implement a right-to-work status for Michigan.
- Health Care and Life Sciences: Increase funding for providers with effective prevention practices.
- Manufacturing and Design for the Future: Streamline the permitting process within state government.
- Attraction and Retention of Talent: Update funding mechanisms for transportation infrastructure.
Seechia claims that candidates who support the elimination of the MBT will be elected in November. Seechia believes that the ground is now fertile for pushing for a right-to-work policy for Michigan and trashed the GR Press for editorializing against it, despite the fact that the Press articles on the subject were biased in favor of the anti-union policy.
Seechia points to the ongoing development of “medical mile” as evidence of the success of point number three, but did not provide any commentary on goal 4 and 5. Seechia concluded by saying that they have made much progress on the goal set forth in 2008.
Seechia gave the microphone over to Doug DeVos who continued to present information about the goals and objectives of the policy forum. DeVos spent quite a bit of time on the theme of “quality of life.” DeVos said that what the forum’s work is really about was “quality of life,” which is an interesting comment considering that DeVos comes from the wealthiest family in the area. His comments also ignore high-levels of poverty and growing number of unemployment and under-employment.
DeVos then made an interesting comment when he said that in a recent conversation with Bill Clinton, the former President in relation to his “relief work” in Haiti, that what “Haitians needed was economic development and not looking for a hand out.” This statement not only is clear lie, it omits the well-documented history of US military and economic intervention in Haiti.
The first invited speaker of the day was Michael Flemming, President of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives. In a strange Orwellian way, Flemming’s talk was about how to do grassroots lobbying.
Flemming began with a joke, which in many ways reflected his attitudes about the economy and workers. The joke he claimed was from Minnesota and what they felt about people in Iowa. “Iowans don’t give their workers coffee breaks because they are afraid they won’t have enough time to retrain them.”
Flemming believes that there are five fundamental points for “grassroots lobbying.” First, is that businesses have to take positions and not remain neutral on policy. Second, businesses and trade associations need to have a broad perspective on economic and policy matters. What Flemming meant by that is business needs to not just think about profits in and of themselves, rather they need to see that thinking about public education may be relevant for the future of their business.
Third, business must adopt a regional strategy, which is what this forum is all about. Flemming also said that doing regional policy is more important than branding regional economies. The fourth imperative, according to Flemming, was that it is no longer about mass movements, but developing influence and influential’s. He said the business community needs to underwrite the “grassroots” working being done on policy matters.
The fifth and final imperative is that this strategy needs to work collaboratively with local governments. As Flemming talked about this issue what he really meant was the importance of what the business people refer to as private/public partnerships. This is really code for what people in Third World countries know as structural adjustment, where public services are defunded and privatized.
Flemming then gave some points about how to move forward with these 5 grassroots lobbying principles. He said people need to lead without authority, which he said was that since people in the business community are not elected they just need to lead because it is the right thing to do. Flemming gave Gandhi as an example of a leader who led without authority, which is an accurate example, but I find it hard to believe that most people in the room were aware of Gandhi’s views on economics, which would be in clear conflict with those of the West Michigan Policy Forum.
“The rich cannot accumulate wealth without the co-operation of the poor in society. If this knowledge were to penetrate to and spread amongst the poor, they would become strong and would learn how to free themselves by means of nonviolence.” Gandhi
Blackwater’s Black Ops
(This article by Jeremy Scahill is re-posted from The Nation.)
Over the past several years, entities closely linked to the private security firm Blackwater have provided intelligence, training and security services to US and foreign governments as well as several multinational corporations, including Monsanto, Chevron, the Walt Disney Company, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and banking giants Deutsche Bank and Barclays, according to documents obtained by The Nation. Blackwater’s work for corporations and government agencies was contracted using two companies owned by Blackwater’s owner and founder, Erik Prince: Total Intelligence Solutions and the Terrorism Research Center (TRC). Prince is listed as the chairman of both companies in internal company documents, which show how the web of companies functions as a highly coordinated operation. Officials from Total Intelligence, TRC and Blackwater (which now calls itself Xe Services) did not respond to numerous requests for comment for this article. One of the most incendiary details in the documents is that Blackwater, through Total Intelligence, sought to become the “intel arm” of Monsanto, offering to provide operatives to infiltrate activist groups organizing against the multinational biotech firm.
Governmental recipients of intelligence services and counterterrorism training from Prince’s companies include the Kingdom of Jordan, the Canadian military and the Netherlands police, as well as several US military bases, including Fort Bragg, home of the elite Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), and Fort Huachuca, where military interrogators are trained, according to the documents. In addition, Blackwater worked through the companies for the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the US European Command.
On September 3 the New York Times reported that Blackwater had “created a web of more than 30 shell companies or subsidiaries in part to obtain millions of dollars in American government contracts after the security company came under intense criticism for reckless conduct in Iraq.” The documents obtained by The Nation reveal previously unreported details of several such companies and open a rare window into the sensitive intelligence and security operations Blackwater performs for a range of powerful corporations and government agencies. The new evidence also sheds light on the key roles of several former top CIA officials who went on to work for Blackwater.
The coordinator of Blackwater’s covert CIA business, former CIA paramilitary officer Enrique “Ric” Prado, set up a global network of foreign operatives, offering their “deniability” as a “big plus” for potential Blackwater customers, according to company documents. The CIA has long used proxy forces to carry out extralegal actions or to shield US government involvement in unsavory operations from scrutiny. In some cases, these “deniable” foreign forces don’t even know who they are working for. Prado and Prince built up a network of such foreigners while Blackwater was at the center of the CIA’s assassination program, beginning in 2004. They trained special missions units at one of Prince’s properties in Virginia with the intent of hunting terrorism suspects globally, often working with foreign operatives. A former senior CIA official said the benefit of using Blackwater’s foreign operatives in CIA operations was that “you wouldn’t want to have American fingerprints on it.”
While the network was originally established for use in CIA operations, documents show that Prado viewed it as potentially valuable to other government agencies. In an e-mail in October 2007 with the subject line “Possible Opportunity in DEA—Read and Delete,” Prado wrote to a Total Intelligence executive with a pitch for the Drug Enforcement Administration. That executive was an eighteen-year DEA veteran with extensive government connections who had recently joined the firm. Prado explained that Blackwater had developed “a rapidly growing, worldwide network of folks that can do everything from surveillance to ground truth to disruption operations.” He added, “These are all foreign nationals (except for a few cases where US persons are the conduit but no longer ‘play’ on the street), so deniability is built in and should be a big plus.”
The executive wrote back and suggested there “may be an interest” in those services. The executive suggested that “one of the best places to start may be the Special Operations Division, (SOD) which is located in Chantilly, VA,” telling Prado the name of the special agent in charge. The SOD is a secretive joint command within the Justice Department, run by the DEA. It serves as the command-and-control center for some of the most sensitive counternarcotics and law enforcement operations conducted by federal forces. The executive also told Prado that US attachés in Mexico; Bogotá, Colombia; and Bangkok, Thailand, would potentially be interested in Prado’s network. Whether this network was activated, and for what customers, cannot be confirmed. A former Blackwater employee who worked on the company’s CIA program declined to comment on Prado’s work for the company, citing its classified status.
In November 2007 officials from Prince’s companies developed a pricing structure for security and intelligence services for private companies and wealthy individuals. One official wrote that Prado had the capacity to “develop infrastructures” and “conduct ground-truth and security activities.” According to the pricing chart, potential customers could hire Prado and other Blackwater officials to operate in the United States and globally: in Latin America, North Africa, francophone countries, the Middle East, Europe, China, Russia, Japan, and Central and Southeast Asia. A four-man team headed by Prado for countersurveillance in the United States cost $33,600 weekly, while “safehouses” could be established for $250,000, plus operational costs. Identical services were offered globally. For $5,000 a day, clients could hire Prado or former senior CIA officials Cofer Black and Robert Richer for “representation” to national “decision-makers.” Before joining Blackwater, Black, a twenty-eight-year CIA veteran, ran the agency’s counterterrorism center, while Richer was the agency’s deputy director of operations. (Neither Black nor Richer currently works for the company.)
As Blackwater became embroiled in controversy following the Nisour Square massacre, Prado set up his own company, Constellation Consulting Group (CCG), apparently taking some of Blackwater’s covert CIA work with him, though he maintained close ties to his former employer. In an e-mail to a Total Intelligence executive in February 2008, Prado wrote that he “recently had major success in developing capabilities in Mali [Africa] that are of extreme interest to our major sponsor and which will soon launch a substantial effort via my small shop.” He requested Total Intelligence’s help in analyzing the “North Mali/Niger terrorist problem.”
In October 2009 Blackwater executives faced a crisis when they could not account for their government-issued Secure Telephone Unit, which is used by the CIA, the National Security Agency and other military and intelligence services for secure communications. A flurry of e-mails were sent around as personnel from various Blackwater entities tried to locate the device. One former Blackwater official wrote that because he had left the company it was “not really my problem,” while another declared, “I have no ‘dog in this fight.'” Eventually, Prado stepped in, e-mailing the Blackwater officials to “pass my number” to the “OGA POC,” meaning the Other Government Agency (parlance for CIA) Point of Contact.
What relationship Prado’s CCG has with the CIA is not known. An early version of his company’s website boasted that “CCG professionals have already conducted operations on five continents, and have proven their ability to meet the most demanding client needs” and that the company has the “ability to manage highly-classified contracts.” CCG, the site said, “is uniquely positioned to deliver services that no other company can, and can deliver results in the most remote areas with little or no outside support.” Among the services advertised were “Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence (human and electronic), Unconventional Military Operations, Counterdrug Operations, Aviation Services, Competitive Intelligence, Denied Area Access…and Paramilitary Training.”
The Nation has previously reported on Blackwater’s work for the CIA and JSOC in Pakistan. New documents reveal a history of activity relating to Pakistan by Blackwater. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto worked with the company when she returned to Pakistan to campaign for the 2008 elections, according to the documents. In October 2007, when media reports emerged that Bhutto had hired “American security,” senior Blackwater official Robert Richer wrote to company executives, “We need to watch this carefully from a number of angles. If our name surfaces, the Pakistani press reaction will be very important. How that plays through the Muslim world will also need tracking.” Richer wrote that “we should be prepared to [sic] a communique from an affiliate of Al-Qaida if our name surfaces (BW). That will impact the security profile.” Clearly a word is missing in the e-mail or there is a typo that leaves unclear what Richer meant when he mentioned the Al Qaeda communiqué. Bhutto was assassinated two months later. Blackwater officials subsequently scheduled a meeting with her family representatives in Washington, in January 2008.
Through Total Intelligence and the Terrorism Research Center, Blackwater also did business with a range of multinational corporations. According to internal Total Intelligence communications, biotech giant Monsanto—the world’s largest supplier of genetically modified seeds—hired the firm in 2008–09. The relationship between the two companies appears to have been solidified in January 2008 when Total Intelligence chair Cofer Black traveled to Zurich to meet with Kevin Wilson, Monsanto’s security manager for global issues.
After the meeting in Zurich, Black sent an e-mail to other Blackwater executives, including to Prince and Prado at their Blackwater e-mail addresses. Black wrote that Wilson “understands that we can span collection from internet, to reach out, to boots on the ground on legit basis protecting the Monsanto [brand] name…. Ahead of the curve info and insight/heads up is what he is looking for.” Black added that Total Intelligence “would develop into acting as intel arm of Monsanto.” Black also noted that Monsanto was concerned about animal rights activists and that they discussed how Blackwater “could have our person(s) actually join [activist] group(s) legally.” Black wrote that initial payments to Total Intelligence would be paid out of Monsanto’s “generous protection budget” but would eventually become a line item in the company’s annual budget. He estimated the potential payments to Total Intelligence at between $100,000 and $500,000. According to documents, Monsanto paid Total Intelligence $127,000 in 2008 and $105,000 in 2009.
Reached by telephone and asked about the meeting with Black in Zurich, Monsanto’s Wilson initially said, “I’m not going to discuss it with you.” In a subsequent e-mail to The Nation, Wilson confirmed he met Black in Zurich and that Monsanto hired Total Intelligence in 2008 and worked with the company until early 2010. He denied that he and Black discussed infiltrating animal rights groups, stating “there was no such discussion.” He claimed that Total Intelligence only provided Monsanto “with reports about the activities of groups or individuals that could pose a risk to company personnel or operations around the world which were developed by monitoring local media reports and other publicly available information. The subject matter ranged from information regarding terrorist incidents in Asia or kidnappings in Central America to scanning the content of activist blogs and websites.” Wilson asserted that Black told him Total Intelligence was “a completely separate entity from Blackwater.”
Monsanto was hardly the only powerful corporation to enlist the services of Blackwater’s constellation of companies. The Walt Disney Company hired Total Intelligence and TRC to do a “threat assessment” for potential film shoot locations in Morocco, with former CIA officials Black and Richer reaching out to their former Moroccan intel counterparts for information. The job provided a “good chance to impress Disney,” one company executive wrote. How impressed Disney was is not clear; in 2009 the company paid Total Intelligence just $24,000.
Total Intelligence and TRC also provided intelligence assessments on China to Deutsche Bank. “The Chinese technical counterintelligence threat is one of the highest in the world,” a TRC analyst wrote, adding, “Many four and five star hotel rooms and restaurants are live-monitored with both audio and video” by Chinese intelligence. He also said that computers, PDAs and other electronic devices left unattended in hotel rooms could be cloned. Cellphones using the Chinese networks, the analyst wrote, could have their microphones remotely activated, meaning they could operate as permanent listening devices. He concluded that Deutsche Bank reps should “bring no electronic equipment into China.” Warning of the use of female Chinese agents, the analyst wrote, “If you don’t have women coming onto you all the time at home, then you should be suspicious if they start coming onto you when you arrive in China.” For these and other services, the bank paid Total Intelligence $70,000 in 2009.
TRC also did background checks on Libyan and Saudi businessmen for British banking giant Barclays. In February 2008 a TRC executive e-mailed Prado and Richer revealing that Barclays asked TRC and Total Intelligence for background research on the top executives from the Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) and their potential “associations/connections with the Royal family and connections with Osama bin Ladin.” In his report, Richer wrote that SBG’s chair, Bakr Mohammed bin Laden, “is well and favorably known to both arab and western intelligence service[s]” for cooperating in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Another SBG executive, Sheikh Saleh bin Laden, is described by Richer as “a very savvy businessman” who is “committed to operating with full transparency to Saudi’s security services” and is considered “the most vehement within the extended BL family in terms of criticizing UBL’s actions and beliefs.”
In August Blackwater and the State Department reached a $42 million settlement for hundreds of violations of US export control regulations. Among the violations cited was the unauthorized export of technical data to the Canadian military. Meanwhile, Blackwater’s dealings with Jordanian officials are the subject of a federal criminal prosecution of five former top Blackwater executives. The Jordanian government paid Total Intelligence more than $1.6 million in 2009.
Some of the training Blackwater provided to Canadian military forces was in Blackwater/TRC’s “Mirror Image” course, where trainees live as a mock Al Qaeda cell in an effort to understand the mindset and culture of insurgents. Company literature describes it as “a classroom and field training program designed to simulate terrorist recruitment, training, techniques and operational tactics.” Documents show that in March 2009 Blackwater/TRC spent $6,500 purchasing local tribal clothing in Afghanistan as well as assorted “propaganda materials—posters, Pakistan Urdu maps, etc.” for Mirror Image, and another $9,500 on similar materials this past January in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
According to internal documents, in 2009 alone the Canadian military paid Blackwater more than $1.6 million through TRC. A Canadian military official praised the program in a letter to the center, saying it provided “unique and valid cultural awareness and mission specific deployment training for our soldiers in Afghanistan,” adding that it was “a very effective and operationally current training program that is beneficial to our mission.”
This past summer Erik Prince put Blackwater up for sale and moved to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. But he doesn’t seem to be leaving the shadowy world of security and intelligence. He says he moved to Abu Dhabi because of its “great proximity to potential opportunities across the entire Middle East, and great logistics,” adding that it has “a friendly business climate, low to no taxes, free trade and no out of control trial lawyers or labor unions. It’s pro-business and opportunity.” It also has no extradition treaty with the United States.
Senator Levin on Private Military Contractors
Last month Michigan Senator Carl Levin released a statement about the use of “private security contractors in Afghanistan.” His statement says:
“The reliance on private security contractors in Afghanistan too often empowers local warlords and powerbrokers who operate outside the Afghan government’s control. There is even evidence that some security contractors work against coalition forces, creating the very threat that they are hired to combat. Not only do these contractors threaten the security of our troops, but they put the success of our mission at risk – an assessment that Lieutenant General David Rodriguez, the Commander of the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, and Major General Nick Carter, the Commander of Regional Command South, both shared with me during my recent trip to Afghanistan.”
Levin rightfully points out how US funding is ending up in the hands of warlords, but he leaves out the details that are important. According to an article by Pratap Chatterjee in June, “many believe that the highway warlords who provide security in turn make protection payments to insurgents to coordinate safe passage. Memos show that occasionally the contractors even worked with the insurgents to shake down the U.S. military for more money.”
Chatterjee is referring to a major report put out by the US Congress in June entitled, “WARLORD, INC. Extortion and Corruption Along the U.S. Supply Chain in Afghanistan.” The lengthy report details the extortion by warlords in the supply chain routes used by the US military and their inability to provide oversight of these private contractors that the US has contracts with.
Senator Levin also said in his statement that he agrees with Afghan President Karzai’s call for an end to the funding of such private contractors, but the Michigan Senator fails to mention that Karzai is opposed to all contractors, not just the ones involved in the military supply routes.
The Afghan President wants an end to private contractors like Blackwater, DynCorp and dozens of others that are part of the US counter-insurgency campaign in Afghanistan. The millions of dollars that these companies are receiving for their role in the US occupation has been documented by investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill.
The other omission by Senator Levin in his statement is the fact that he has voted for the funding of these private contractors in Afghanistan, which means he and other members of Congress are ultimately responsible for the use of those funds. Agreeing to end the use of private contractors in Afghanistan is a good first step, but Levin needs to publicly commit to ending the funding for those contractors and introduce legislation to do so.
Thousands Protest in Afghanistan
(This article is re-posted from Common Dreams.)
Police fired into the air in an attempt to disperse demonstrators on the biggest protests since unrest erupted last week over plans by a US pastor to burn the Koran. The pastor has since suspended the plan.
“There are more than 10,000 of the demonstrators and some of them are waving the Taliban flag,” police officer Mohammad Usman said.
The protests come three days before a parliamentary election, which the Taliban have vowed to disrupt. The election is a key test of stability in Afghanistan before US president Barack Obama conducts a war strategy review in December.
They follow three days of protests at the weekend over plans by Florida Pastor Terry Jones, which he later abandoned, to burn copies of the Koran to mark the anniversary of the September 11th, 2001, hijacked airliner attacks on the US.
Three people were killed in those protests. Observers including the top UN diplomat in Afghanistan had warned the Taliban may try to exploit the Koran-burning protests.
A police source later said one person had been killed and five wounded, and that the toll could rise.
The protests were the Reuters television pictures showed protesters waving large white flags, the symbol used by Taliban supporters. A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, said group was aware of the protests but had no role in them.
“People may have raised the Taliban flags to show their sentiment and sympathy for the Taliban,” he said.
At the Pul-e-Kandahari, or Kandahar bridge in Kabul, police were ordered to advance towards one group of hundreds of protesters who were throwing stones and shouting “Death to American slaves” at police.
Police were seen firing into the air and dragging away several protesters. At one point, volleys of gunfire could be heard. The protesters scattered, some sheltering in nearby houses in the mainly ethnic Pashtun and Tajik area of Kabul.
The protesters earlier gathered in the west of the capital, burning tires and blocking a main highway link to the south.
Thick black smoke rose above the area and police kept journalists several hundred meters back. Witnesses at the scene saw two unconscious people, covered in blood, being carried away suffering what appeared to be gunshot wounds.
Kent County Commissioners vote to remove abortion as part of county employee health insurance
This morning Kent County’s Legislative and Human Resources Committee voted to end what the called elective abortions from the health plan that is currently part of the county employees health benefits.
This issue came to the attention to some at the county commission after the same issue was discussed in Kalamazoo earlier this year. Three from the Kent County Commission got together to work on a proposal to eliminate abortions as part of the current county employee health plan. The three commissioners are Democrat Bob Synk of Grand Rapids and Republicans Stan Ponstein of Grandville and Tom Antor of Sparta.
During the public comment at this morning committee meeting several people spoke on this issue. County Commissioner Jim Talen spoke first and said that in his 10 years as a commissioner only once did the issue of abortions come up.
“And now you have before you a resolution to remove elective abortions as a covered expense on one of the insurance plans available to our employees. How did that come about? Here is a resolution on a topic that has been hotly debated, not just locally, but all over our country, for decades. It is near and dear to the hearts of many in our community, reaching both extremes of the issue and everywhere in between.
And the stated rationale in support of the resolution is two-fold. First, it is the SENSE of the Board of Commissioners, the sense of the Board, that the benefit is inconsistent with the values and wishes of a large majority, not just a majority, but a large majority, of Kent County citizens. I ask you this morning – when did we lose our senses, and begin to think that simply having A SENSE about something, without any supporting data, is sufficient justification for a resolution about which our citizens have incredible passions on both sides.”
Talen was clear in his condemnation of this proposal and said that the issue should take place in the normal route with labor negotiations. The timing of this proposal also led Talen to believe that this was a political move just prior to the November elections.
The next 2 people to speak were both in favor of the proposal and against public tax dollars being used to fund county employees who chose to have an abortion. Both men want the commissioners to remove abortion rights from the health care benefits and one even called out commissioners who he believed have been silent on this issue even though they have had pro-life endorsements.
The only other person to address the commission committee was Megan Smith who stated that she supports the health care benefits as they are. She also said she was appalled that the commission is using the issue as, “political wrangling. This is about bodily integrity as was stated in Roe v Wade, “ Smith said.
Members of the commission committee then discussed the Health Care Benefits proposal beginning with one of the three who crafted the proposal, Democrat Bob Synk. Synk said he wanted to wait until the spring, but the other two commissioners pushed for the proposal to move forth now. Synk also said that his constituents are Pro-Life, that the county is and that most of the county employees are, even though he provided no evidence to support such a claim. Synk ended his comments by saying that removing abortion as one of the county employee funded benefits “will help couples be more responsible for their reproductive actions.”
One of the other commissioners responsible for crafting the proposal, Tom Antor, said that 99% of the e-mails he received from those who supported the current health care benefits were form letters, which Antor criticized because they “were not personal.” The e-mail letters were from an action alert from the Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Michigan.
Antor also stated that these letters referred to women’s reproductive rights as an entitlement. To this Antor responded by saying that abortion “is murder…..period!”.
Democratic commissioner Pete Hickey proposed to move the proposal to the full county board, but no one would second the motion. The 9 member commission committee then voted to adopt the proposal as stated, where in the Roll call was 9 – 0 in favor of the proposal.
The only other Democrat on the committee was Brandon Dillon who did not express an opinion about the proposal, although he did vote in its favor. Dillon is running for State Representative and may have chose to not take a strong position on this issue for fear that it could hurt his campaign, which is exactly the point that Commission Talen made during the public comment.
The issue will now go to the county employee union, which could voluntarily remove abortion as part of the current health care package. If they don’t do this then the County Administrator was directed to removal the benefit from the county health care package during subsequent contract negotiations with county employees. One commissioner told GRIID this may not happen until after the New Year.
Media Bites – Nissan Exploits Polar Bears
In this week’s Media Bites we take a look at a new Nissan commercial that tries to appeal to the public’s emotions about climate change by manipulating how polar bears think about human behavior.
The commercial doesn’t make us think about global warming in systemic way, rather we are led to believe that if we just buy something we can save the planet. This is a growing theme presented by corporations and defenders of capitalism.
ArtPrize: Open competition or capitalist casino?
Potluck Discussion/Critique with Grand Rapids Artists.
Saturday Sept 25 2 – 4 pm
The Bloom Collective
Steepletown Center, 671 Davis NW
(Corner of 5th & Davis)
Bring a dish to pass. The Bloom will provide vegan options.
As its non-official entry, The Bloom Collective is hosting a potluck/discussion/critique, ArtPrize: Open Competition? Or Capitalist Casino? on Saturday Sept. 25. How many artist hours are gambled away in the ArtPrize Slots? Who really gets the big pay-off? Does it truly benefit the GR arts scene?
These are some of the issues that four local artists will address while facilitating a discussion where all will be welcome to share their comments about and experience with ArtPrize.
African American Artist Derrick Hollowell will share about his experience with 2009’s ArtPrize. In spite of having a registered venue and being registered as an artist, the ArtPrize map printed in the Grand Rapids Press did not include him–not just once but every time. His Project US encouraged a collective approach that encouraged folks from African American neighborhoods to come out, visit and vote for their ArtPrize choices; his entry was a provocative collective exhibit of artists and art events.
Other local artists facilitating include Alynn Guerra of Red Hydrant Press; Brett Colley, UICA curator and GVSU Professor of Art and Paul Wittenbraker of Civic Studio, also a GVSU Professor of Art.
For info, email bloomcollective@gmail.com or visit
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 