On obvious question of course is that the govs of NY and California
are Republicans, so, how could a contribution to the Democrats cause
the Republicans to approve the deal?
Well, that is easy. In fact, the semocrats in NY did not object to
what the Republicans were doing [or actually not doing.] Here in NY,
I was sort of amazed that no democrat went after Pataki and Vacco
(the NY AG) for giving West a free pass [what a great issue to have
used in Rochester.] I guess with 69K in the Democratic coffers,
Pataki and Vacco had no fear of criticism from the Democrats. [One
wonders what one would find if one checked state Republican
contributions. Dwight Opperman is known to contribute on the
Republican side.]
Of course, since the merger, New West shut down the old West facility
in Westbury, NY, the old-Thomosn facility in Webster NY, and moved
and laid of scads of employees in Rochester NY and other places.
Plus, West now completely and overhwelmingly dominates NY legal
publishing.
Finally, in the spring of 1996 I was dealing with the NY AG antitrust
division and then they basically went incommunicado with me -- and
that was in late May, 1996.
At the last DOJ v. Thomson hearing in DC in Feb. 1997, the Assistant
NY AG said to me "it would be inappropriate to be speaking to you"
and then waltzed down the courtroom corridor huddled in an animated
conversation almost shoulder
to shoulder with West lawyer James Schatz.
The California angle is clear as well?
But why was Washington State and Rhode Island on the list? Could it
be because Scott Wetzel of CD-Law had been pressing the Washington
State AG (as disclosed in public filings by Scott). Similarly,
Kendall Svengalis, State of Rhode Island Law Librarian was the most
persistent and articulate librarian providing factual information
which tore away the underpinnings of the DOJ-Thomson-West fantasy
script. Svengalis was also in contact with the RI State Attorney
General, something that was well known.
ADS
<---- Begin Included Message ---->
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 1997 14:11:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: James Love <love@tap.org>
Reply-To: tap-juris@essential.org
Sender: tap-juris@essential.org
Subject: West/Thomson Merger - State Angle
To: tap-juris-owner@essential.org
I looked over the CNN story, and then looked at the states that
received
the money, and compared them to the plaintiffs in the West/Thomson
merger. Guess what -- nice overlap.
California $25,000
Connecticut 4,000
Illinois
Massachusetts
New York $69,000
Washington $11,000
Wisconsin
Of the $155 k in money Opperman shipped to state
committees
days after the merger approval, $109 was spent on democratic
committees
in states which were plaintifs in the case. The rest went to NJ, RI
and CO.
A few other items regarding dates.
Date of Ledger June 4, 1996
Date deal on merger was announced June 19, 1996
Date money delivered to RI July 5, 1996
Date money delivered to NJ July 8, 1996
Date Bingaman resigns of DOJ August 1, 1996 (date of Reno
release on this topic)
>From the CNN Story:
Moving Money Through State Capitals
A big Democratic donor makes 'directed donations' to
state parties, By Brooks Jackson/CNN
A secret ledger sheet at the Democratic National Committee, dated
June 4
last year, lists Opperman for eight contributions, totaling $155,000.
The
money went not directly to the national party; that would attract
national attention.
The ledger shows the donations directed to states: $25,000 to the
California party, $25,000 to New Jersey, $69,000 to New York, $5,000
to
Colorado, $5,000 to Connecticut, $4,000 to Maryland, $11,000 to Rhode
Island, and $11,000 to Washington.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AT
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 1996 (202) 616- 2771
TDD (202) 514- 1888
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AND 7 STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL REQUIRE THOMSON
CORP. AND
WEST PUBLISHING CO. TO RESTRUCTURE $3.4 BILLION MERGER
Largest Joint Federal & State Antitrust Action
WASHINGTON, D.C. - - The Department of Justice and Attorneys General
from
seven states today agreed to allow the $3.4 billion merger of two of
the
nation's largest legal publishers- - The Thomson Corp. and West
Publishing
Co.- - as long as Thompson sells more than 50 legal publications
valued at a
quarter of a billion dollars, openly licenses West's page numbering
system,
and provides other relief to resolve anticompetitive concerns. This
is the
largest number of states that has ever joined with the federal
government in
challenging an antitrust violation.
The Department's Antitrust Division, along with Attorneys General
from
California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York,
Washington and
Wisconsin, filed a joint antitrust suit and a proposed settlement in
U.S.
District Court in Washington.
[snip]
________________________________________________________________
James Love / love@tap.org / P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
Voice: 202/387-8030; Fax 202/234-5176
Center for Study of Responsive Law
Consumer Project on Technology: http://www.cptech.org
CSRL Antitrust page: http://www.essential.org/antitrust
<---- End Included Message ---->
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Alan D. Sugarman Federal Appeals on Disc tm CD-ROM ::
:: President Opinions of US Courts of Appeals ::
:: 1993 to Date - All Circuits ::
:: HyperLaw, Inc. Registered Trademark ::
:: P.O. Box 1176 DO NOT SHORT CIRCUIT YOUR CLIENTS ::
:: New York, NY 10023 ::
:: sugarman@hyperlaw.com 212-787-2812 212-496-4138(fax) ::
:: ::
:: http://www.hyperlaw.com ::
:: ::
:: /// /// /// [R] ::
:: /// /// /// ::
:: /// /// /// ::
:: //////////////// /// ::
:: //////////////// /// ::
:: /// /// /// ::
:: /// /// /////////// ::
:: /// /// /////////// ::
:: ::
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
<---- End Included Message ---->
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Alan D. Sugarman Federal Appeals on Disc tm CD-ROM ::
:: President Opinions of US Courts of Appeals ::
:: 1993 to Date - All Circuits ::
:: HyperLaw, Inc. Registered Trademark ::
:: P.O. Box 1176 DO NOT SHORT CIRCUIT YOUR CLIENTS ::
:: New York, NY 10023 ::
:: sugarman@hyperlaw.com 212-787-2812 212-496-4138(fax) ::
:: ::
:: http://www.hyperlaw.com ::
:: ::
:: /// /// /// [R] ::
:: /// /// /// ::
:: /// /// /// ::
:: //////////////// /// ::
:: //////////////// /// ::
:: /// /// /// ::
:: /// /// /////////// ::
:: /// /// /////////// ::
:: ::
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 14 2007 - 20:49:33 PST