Quips Clips Rants Raves

By Diane M. Grassi

On the heels of Memorial Day 2008 and in anticipation of the 232nd celebration of United States Independence Day on July 4th 2008, Americans traditionally give thanks to our nation’s military service members.

And traditionally, Major League Baseball, (MLB) partly due to where its season falls on the calendar, including May and July, through its various teams provides public ceremonies and military displays prior to game times, during 7th inning stretches and with post-game fireworks on these holidays, in honor of U.S. active-duty troops and veterans alike.

But given the times in which we live, nearly seven years since the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil on September 11, 2001, followed by the War in Afghanistan, referred to as Operation Enduring Freedom, and in the War in Iraq, referred to as Operation Iraqi Freedom, our military remains fully engaged in fighting our enemies and the war on terrorism in two countries in the Middle East.

For purposes of this report, political ideology and foreign policy will not be discussed, but rather it will be devoted to how important it remains for Americans to maintain a connection with our fighting men and women not only in the Middle East, but around the world as well as stateside.

One way in which troops remain motivated, as we all do, is by following our favorite sports and our favorite players. Fortunately, many MLB players have made a commitment to help boost troop morale in support of our troops in various creative ways, which will be highlighted here.

For as we take pause on these holidays to salute our military, we must be more conscious to do so throughout the year, not simply when we are reminded on holidays or during the good times.

This reporter received a press release on May 16, 2008, sent by a United States Air Force Public Affairs officer serving in Bagram, Afghanistan. The unclassified memo detailed an event which took place at the Bagram Airfield on Mother’s Day, May 11, 2008. Through the efforts of Pro Sports Marketing, Ventures & Promotions (MVP) of Colorado Springs, CO, and its Heroes of the Diamond Tour in conjunction with the Morale, Welfare and Recreation division of Bagram Airfield, four MLB player retirees were afforded a visit with over 400 troops located there.

The four players making the trip were former relief pitcher, Jeff Nelson, of the Seattle Mariners and NY Yankees fame, who retired in 2007, joined by Tim Salmon, former outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels and retired in 2006, along with 3rd baseman, Dean Palmer, who last played for the Detroit Tigers and retired in 2003 and Mike Remlinger, former relief pitcher who ended his career with the Atlanta Braves in 2006.

The journey to visit the troops in Bagram, while not without complications and prior delays, required a commitment from the athlete visitors and the ability for them to be flexible with their plans, as traveling to a war zone comes with its inherent dangers requiring additional security details. But as Jeff Nelson recalls, “I’d heard stories of people going and how it can be life-changing.”

Nelson was originally on tap to travel to Bagram in 2007, but due to military concerns, the trip was postponed until April 2008, when it was postponed again until May. Nelson was not as concerned about his safety knowing that, “They’re going to try and keep you out of harm’s way.”

In my correspondence with U.S.A.F. Tech. Sergeant, Kevin P. Wallace, assigned to public affairs at Bagram Airfield, he disclosed that he got to spend some time visiting with Tim Salmon and relayed that all four players autographed baseballs, posed for photos which they also signed, and hung out with and talked with as many of the service members as possible at the Bagram Airfield Clamshell and various stops in Afghanistan and other deployed locations there where troops are serving, over a period of 10 days.
“I have been watching Tim Salmon since I was a kid, said Army Sgt. Jeff M. Lucenti. “It means a lot because I was at the last game he played in,” he said. Dean Palmer recalled that being able to talk with the service members and listening to the things that they experienced has been one of the best experiences of his life.

Air Force Lt. Col. Rob Rocco emoted, “Today is Mother’s Day and yet they sacrificed time to be here with us.” Mike Remlinger stated before the troops that, “We wanted to come and show how much we support you.” He later recalled that, “Being here with these soldiers and listening to their stories makes me realize how real this war is.”

And while giving of time to actually visit deployed U.S. troops, in this case by retired MLB players, is probably the most meaningful to U.S. service members, as well as for the athletes, there are other active MLB players who have taken on personal missions to support U.S. troops stateside.

Among MLB players making commitments, both financially and through dedicating time with active-duty troops, veterans and their families are Barry Zito of the San Francisco Giants, Scott Linebrink of the Chicago White Sox, Jeff Suppan of the Milwaukee Brewers, Jamie Walker of the Baltimore Orioles, Aaron Harang of the Cincinnati Reds and the San Diego Padres organization. In fact, the Padres are the only MLB team with a dedicated military marketing department.

Probably receiving the most attention is Barry Zito’s organization, Strikeout for Troops, started in the 2005 season, which encourages MLB players to pledge a dollar amount donation for every pitcher’s strikeout or a batter’s every RBI, homerun or hit throughout the entire season. Donations are used for the care of returning wounded troops as well as their family’s needs.

White Sox reliever, Scott Linebrink is hosting military veterans each month of the 2008 season at U.S. Cellular field. His outreach program, Scott’s Heroes, in conjunction with the Wounded Heroes Foundation, Inc., gives VIP treatment for two veterans to meet Linebrink, meeting with them on the field before batting practice and providing each with 5 tickets to the game. Linebrink, who comes from a military family, simply feels that, “I think it’s something that a lot of us need to do to voice our support for these troops.”

Jeff Suppan, the Brewers pitching starter, introduced Soup’s Troops, in partnership with the Milwaukee Brewers and the USO of Wisconsin. It benefits military service members to attend Miller Park games in the 2008 season. The Brewers donate 4 field-level seats to active military personnel as well as families of fallen soldiers. And Suppan and his wife Dana pay the tab of up to $200.00 worth of food and merchandise for each group. He also pledges $100.00 per strikeout throughout the season to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, with each amount matched by the Brewers Charities foundation. It benefits children of fallen soldiers.

Jamie Walker, relief pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, donates money to the U.S. Army Emergency Relief Fund and provides a luxury box at Camden Yards to host soldiers and wounded veterans returning from the Middle East, with food and drinks on him.

Aaron Harang, starting pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds and his Aaron’s Aces program hosts 30 military family members per game at Great American Ball Park, and they attend a meet-and-greet session in the Red’s bullpen where Harang signs autographs, gives the fans T-shirts as well as vouchers for concessions. These fans are also put on the JumboTron scoreboard in the 2nd inning. Harang importantly notes, “If we start getting other teams and players involved, we can expand it. It would be great if a bunch of guys got together to do this at different stadiums.”

Harang, who grew up in the military city of San Diego, CA and Scott Linebrink, who previously played for the San Diego Padres there, both realize the importance of service where San Diego has the largest active-duty military members’ concentration in the U.S. As such, the San Diego Padres organization has been steadfast in the support of the military community in San Diego and around the world, noted as the Team of the Military by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The San Diego Padres has joined the America Supports You program of the U.S. Department of Defense in numerous charitable causes in addition to many others ways as it remains not only the only franchise in MLB with the only dedicated military affairs marketing department but the only professional sports franchise in the nation with one.

As dedicated and generous as these aforementioned efforts matter and mean to the various players, teams and the beneficiaries of such good causes, it is frightfully deficient when looking at the big picture. And as well-meaning such philanthropic and outreach programs are, such efforts require momentum and a constant stream of like-efforts in order to remain sustainable.

Praise is deserved for those MLB players who have personally taken it upon themselves to raise awareness of the needs of our active-duty troops, veterans and their families and largely with their own funding and ingenuity. But in researching these efforts it has but crystallized the dearth of such funding and efforts generated by MLB, Inc. as well as the MLB Players Association and other MLB teams. Perhaps shortsighted on their part is that lifting the morale of U.S. troops provides a reciprocal benefit for players’, teams’ and fans’ morale as well. It is but a win-win which should be encouraged.

For as Barry Zito has expressed, “Sometimes, in a world where professional sports and celebrities are front-page news, it’s easy to forget who the real heroes are in this country.” Let us never forget.

Copyright ©2008 Diane M. Grassi
Contact: dgrassi@cox.net

Labels: MLB, U.S. Military, Veterans, Volunteerism

By Diane M. Grassi

–“I’m safer, somewhat, in Iraq than my son is on the streets of the United States. …My country let me down.” –Sgt. Anita Shaw, United States Army

March 2, 2008 in Los Angeles, CA was no different than any other in the crime-ridden areas of the City of Angels where the homicide rate has risen by 27% since the same time period in 2007. What differentiates March 2, 2008 from other days, however, is that in areas not well known to be crime-ridden, where residents in communities try to get by in doing right by their neighbors, there is a war brewing for which they are unarmed.

Jamiel Shaw, Jr., a 17-year old Los Angeles High School football star running back, finishing his junior year in high school as the Southern League’s most valuable player, was celebrated by family, friends and his community. But Jamiel Shaw, Jr. was not only celebrated for being able to run with a football or beat county records on his track team, but as one who also represented ideals that every family strives for such as his commitment to his education, his devotion to his church and his loyalty to his family.
Unfortunately, on March 2, 2008, Jamiel Shaw, Jr. was slain three houses down from his own home at 6 o’clock on that Sunday evening after returning to his neighborhood by public transportation, following a weekend football symposium in which he participated. In fact, he was talking to his father on his cell phone minutes before he turned the corner prior to walking up his block.

Within minutes, Jamiel’s father, Jamiel Shaw, Sr., heard what he thought was a back-firing vehicle on the nearby interstate, poked his head outside of the front door and saw a crowd gathering in the direction in which his son was walking. Jamiel Shaw, Sr. ran down the street, only to find his son mortally wounded with a bullet hole in his head, lying on the ground.

The national mainstream media and numerous media outlets throughout Los Angeles, primarily the week that Jamiel was murdered, reported it as another ghetto crime as the result of gang violence. That caption, however, was not only inaccurate and incomplete but was a disservice to the real issues underlying this important story on a number of fronts. But such could not be handily fit into a headline sound bite for sensational purposes. So, the story angle was spun to fit an agenda.

Important to note, however, is that the essence of Jamiel Shaw, Jr. was not simply that of an aspiring athlete, already accepting football recruitment inquiries from Stanford University, Rutgers University and Arizona State University. For Jamiel Shaw, Jr.’s family did not raise Jamiel as a footballer but as a good human being, in order to excel in whatever path he chose for his life and to hopefully inspire his friends to do the same.

The family of Jamiel Shaw, Jr. included his dedicated father, raising him and his 9-year old brother while his mother was serving her 2nd tour of duty in Iraq as a Sergeant in the United States Army. He also had an involved extended family, including school friends and church members, in what is now considered an old-school community, where folks still look after each other. And no, Jamiel did not live in a crime infested gang-banging ghetto.

The story of Jamiel Shaw, Jr., as reported, is not that of sensation but rather that of the war between our communities and our federal, state and local governments. For they have dropped the ball, not Jamiel, not his family, not his neighborhood.

Non-observation by local law enforcement and corrections officials, in confirming the legal immigration status of prisoners in U.S. county, state and federal prisons violates federal law and puts our citizens at risk. And it goes without saying that the non-arrest of persons illegally entering U.S. borders who then go on to commit criminal acts against Americans is but an act of criminality unto itself.

Such criminal and illegal aliens incarcerated in U.S. jails and in prisons serving time, upon such completion of their served time, are to be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security. They are then to arrange for the immediate deportation of such criminals back to their country of origin. Such is a requirement and a duty mandated by federal law.

The now arraigned, alleged murderer of Jamiel Shaw, Jr., Pedro Espinoza, is being held in lieu of a $1million dollar bond on first degree murder charges with a special circumstance, as an active participant in a criminal street gang, where the murder is carried out to further the activities of the criminal street gang.

But the legal status of Pedro Espinoza, a 19-year old illegal alien from Mexico, was not confirmed either by California law enforcement or the California Department of Corrections, prior to his release from the Los Angeles County Jail on March 1, 2008. He had been serving a prison term of less than 4 months for assault with a deadly weapon, possession of an unregistered handgun, carrying a concealed weapon without a license and resisting arrest. Moreover, he was never charged with being in the U.S. illegally.

Had the system worked properly, Pedro Espinoza would not have been let back into the community from which he was supposed to have been deported, and within 24 hours of his release he would not have been able to acquire another handgun, only to murder Jamiel Shaw, Jr.
Furthermore, when Jamiel Shaw, Jr. was gunned down in cold blood, it was not simply a matter of another street gang statistic.

For Pedro Espinoza belonged to the 18th Street Gang, a trans-national organization with direct ties to the Mexican Mafia. And some of Mexico’s largest drug cartels, with human smuggling and para-military weaponry operations, and some of the most powerful in all of Central and South America have direct ties to the Mexican Mafia gang.

Mexican drug cartels are now utilizing U.S. based Mexican gangs to aid them with the illegal U.S. importation of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, all of which wind up on American streets. No, the 18th Street Gang is not your garden variety neighborhood gang-banger operation.

But the convenient and continual spin by both Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles Police Commissioner William Bratton is that policing by enforcing immigration laws and obtaining gang members’ legal status but violates their civil rights.

They refer to Special Order 40, originally passed by the Los Angeles City Council in 1979 in order to encourage illegal aliens at that time to report crimes within their neighborhoods. Nearly 30 years later, and now a much different world, due to the neglect of our federal government in protecting the U.S. southern border, Special Order 40 has but backfired on the very people it was intended to protect. It designated Los Angeles as a “sanctuary city” for those illegally entering the U.S. and now by extension to felons of trans-national organized crime. It has outlived its intended purpose.

Since the death of their son, Jamiel’s parents have become pro-active in working to amend Special Order 40, in proposed legislation called Jamiel’s Law, through the efforts of prospective Los Angeles mayoral candidate, Walter Moore. Also, through a motion introduced by Los Angeles Councilman, Dennis Zine, to the Los Angeles City Council on 4/08/08 similar revisions were submitted. The goal is to eliminate the unabated and federally unlawful protective status accorded illegal aliens, now overwhelming the 9,600 member police force of Los Angeles.

The Shaw Family will now utilize this moment to help elevate all of us as Americans in coming together, not to divide our cities, unlike our politicians and bureaucrats who so relish in doing so. The Shaw Family’s hope is to engage our law enforcement officials with the very communities they purport to protect.

And Jamiel’s father believes that he has a calling not only on behalf of his now deceased son Jamiel, but his young son, Thomas, who no longer wants to be a footballer like his big brother was, but “a scientist” so that he can “invent a time machine” and turn back time in order to spare his big brother’s ultimate fate.

Copyright © 2008 Diane M. Grassi
Contact: Dgrassi@cox.net

Labels: Illegal Alien Gangs, Illegal Immigration, Sanctuary City, Special Order 40, Sports Industry

Energy Department Trumps States' Rights

(Part 2 of A Series)

By Diane M. Grassi

As discussed in Fallout from the Energy Policy Act of 2005 Part I of a Series, the United States federal government is taking a more and more integral role in the distribution and transmission of electricity and in the energy sector throughout the U.S.

And such is the result of both federal regulations and laws mandating the deregulation of public utilities as well as the repeal of the Public Utilities Holding Company Act (PUHCA) of 1935, as mandated in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005). It will prove to have profound impacts on the future of not only the fiscal health of public utilities but the oversight of their maintenance and the future construction of transmission lines.

This Part II continuing report, on the exploration of EPAct 2005, will focus upon a section of the law which has not been clearly articulated for the American people by either the Department of Energy (DOE) or members of either the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate. Yet, this complex and important body of law represents but an ad hoc and unilateral takeover of not only the direction of energy policy but the very delivery system which Americans rely upon in order to live.

EPAct 2005 sets forth specific mandates whose ramifications are unprecedented with respect to U.S. energy law, states' constitutional rights and sovereignty, as well as interstate commerce. Specifically, Section 1221 of EPAct 2005 updates Section 216 of the Federal Power Act (FPA).

It provides for, among other things, the requirement of a National Electric Transmission Congestion Study, first completed in August 2006, a year after enactment of EPAct 2005. Such a Congestion Study will then be repeated every 3 years thereafter.

And it is the National Transmission Congestion Study which paved the way for the mandated National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETC). According to Section 1221(a) of EPAct 2005 (Section 326 of FPA, 16 U.S.C. Section 824p) the Secretary of Energy may designate "any geographic area experiencing electric energy transmission capacity constraints or congestion that adversely affects consumers as a national interest electric transmission corridor."

And the DOE then proposed as a direct result of the study two transmission corridors which consist of the Mid-Atlantic Area National Corridor and the Southwest Area National Corridor. The draft NIETC was issued in April 2007 and finalized in October 2007 by the DOE.

Why you may not be aware of such transmission corridors and their intended purpose can be answered simply because the public and consumers of public utilities were given little or no notice of opportunities to weigh in and attend very limited public hearings, abruptly announced in May 2007 by the DOE to take place in the very same month. That gave little time for proper public notice for participation by residents, lawmakers, ratepayers and consumer advocates, to name but a few.

Even more disconcerting is that the DOE claims that EPAct 2005 does not require it to hold any public hearings regarding the NIETC. And in spite of over 2000 written comments and reports submitted to the DOE by state governors, U.S. state and federal elected representatives, consumer advocacy organizations, and environmental and historic preservation organizations, which all protested such corridors because of the lack of public input, the DOE would have none of it.

Instead, the DOE made no changes or acted upon any of the recommendations it received on its draft proposal by finalizing the NIETC in October 2007, as originally drafted.

In terms of the enormous implications in the construct of the Mid-Atlantic Area National Corridor, on paper at least, there now exists an exact list of those states which are encompassed by it and will be impacted in a variety of ways; legislatively, constitutionally, economically, environmentally and historically.

Following is a list of those states and counties designated in the Mid-Atlantic Area National Corridor: the entireties of New Jersey, Delaware, and Washington, D.C.; 22 of 24 counties in Maryland and all of Baltimore City, MD; 47 of 62 counties of New York; 7 of 88 counties of Ohio; 52 of 67 counties of PA; 15 of 95 counties and 7of 39 independent cities of Virginia; 42 of 55 counties of West Virginia.

By contrast, the Southwest Area National Corridor includes 7 of 58 counties of California and 3 of 15 counties of Arizona, albeit the most heavily populated areas of these states.

The NIETC lays the groundwork for transmission siting approval in the construct of High-Voltage Direct-Current (HVDC) Transmission lines above ground and throughout all NIETC designated states, and whether or not that particular state in fact has an electricity congestion problem. Initially problematic is that nearly the entirety of the U.S. power grid, as it presently exists, uses High-Voltage Alternating-Current (HVAC) Transmission lines and allows current to automatically reverse direction at regular intervals if necessary. HVDC requires an operator to reverse direction and its current flows in one direction only.

Only 2% of all electrical transmission line miles in the U.S. are presently HVDC. While the DOE insists that HVDC technology includes lower costs over long distances, in reality constructing HVDC lines costs more than construction of HVAC lines for short distances over a wide expanse of area. And according to the Government Accountability Office Report of February 1, 2008, (GAO-08-347R) with respect to HVDC, there will be "higher costs for short-distance lines due to the cost of equipment needed to convert DC into AC electricity used by residents and a lack of electricity benefits to consumers living along these lines –unless converter stations are installed at intermediate locations – because such lines are generally not connected to local electricity lines."

The rationalization for designation corridors is not to facilitate or dictate how the states' regions, transmission providers or electric utilities should meet their own energy challenges, according to the DOE. But truth be told, it is quite the opposite.

"The process is geared more toward expediting the approval and siting of transmission corridors than it is geared toward respecting states' rights about their residents' energy future and needs…and by a heavy-handed centralized one-size fits all approach..," according to Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY). And it is precisely such sentiments that have been raised to the Secretary of Energy, Samuel Bodman, by both federal and state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in all 10 states and Washington, D.C. that will be directly impacted by NIETC.

And most crucial to note, EPAct 2005 enables eminent domain law over states by the federal government on a scale unlike the U.S. has ever seen.
In its effort to modernize the transmission lines infrastructure, EPAct 2005 provides for the DOE to assign the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) siting authority.

To review from Part I of this series, FERC is central to the regulation of energy policy both fiscally as well has been given oversight authority on the applications of new construction of transmission line sites.

Under Section 216(b) of EPAct 2005 –Back-Stop Siting Authority –FERC is given authority "to issue permits for the construction or modification of transmission facilities in a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor if FERC finds that: (1)(A) a state in which the facilities are to be constructed is without authority to approve the siting of the facilities or to consider the interstate benefits expected to be achieved by the project; (B) the applicant for a permit is a transmitting utility that does qualify for a permit federally but does not qualify for a permit under state law because it does not serve end-use customers; or (C) the state has siting authority but (i) it has withheld approval for the later of one year after the filing of an application; or (ii) conditioned approval in such a way that the proposed construction will not significantly reduce transmission congestion or is not economically feasible."

And to add insult to injury, Section 216(e) of EPAct 2005 on Rights-of-Way, "If a permit holder cannot obtain the necessary rights-of-way for the project, the permit holder can acquire the rights-of-way through an eminent domain proceeding in the federal district court where the property is located."

And furthermore, in Section 216(f), "A right-of-way acquired in an eminent domain proceeding is a taking of private property for which the landowner must receive just compensation, which is the fair market value on the date of exercise of eminent domain."

Therefore, any fluctuation or rise in real estate property values during the course of the proceeding and including any period of time due to litigation arising from such a proceeding to the time of completion of the project, if finally approved, would not be taken into consideration.

And the compensation or fair market value of the property to its owner would be locked in by the date of the initial date of the proceeding, which could potentially be years, as in the case of Kelo v. City of New London, CT 545 U.S. 469 (2005).

Crucial in understanding the bone of contention raised primarily by the 10 states within the Mid-Atlantic Area and Southwest Area National Corridors, is that historically, federal jurisdiction of the siting of transmission lines in states has been reserved for federal lands within respective states. It has been the state utility commissions of each given state which have otherwise been the regulators of siting permits and applications.

And it is only reasonable to understand the indignation and concerns by state governors and state representatives to learn that FERC has been granted a new breadth of authority that many believe is counter-productive to the best interests of their respective states and citizens which they believe they know best.

As discussed in Part I of this series, with the repeal of the Public Utilities Holding Company Act of 1935, (PUHCA) holding companies both foreign and domestic will now be the applicants for siting permits in both the Mid-Atlantic Area and the Southwest Area National Corridors for aboveground HVDC transmission lines which will range from 150-160 feet high. That is roughly three times the height of our present HVAC lines throughout the U.S. And they will cover thousands of total miles throughout NIETC, or these 10 states and Washington, D.C.

And in what could be the first official challenge to back-stop transmission authority given FERC, as prescribed by such EPAct 2005 mandate, has been pre-filed for consultation with FERC. A Southern California Edison (SCE) application to the Arizona Corporation Commission, (ACC) the public utility commission of Arizona, was rejected in May 2007 by ACC. SCE merely wanted to run a 230-mile transmission line from Arizona to California at a cost of $242 million to Arizona ratepayers. And the benefit to Arizona? None, as it would specifically be to serve Californians and their growing energy needs.

The ACC described SCE's project as "a 230-mile extension cord" into Arizona's generation supply. And likewise in his letter to Secretary Bodman in November 2007, after the NIETC was finalized, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell wrote, "These transmission lines will be on our land and depreciate our property values, but they may not offer any benefit to Pennsylvania consumers. This designation and action by the federal government is a blatant abuse of states' rights," Governor Rendell said.

Yet, this is likely just the beginning, exemplifying a dysfunctional remedy, to "fix" the U.S. power grid and growing domestic energy needs, by way of EPAct 2005. It will essentially be a power grab for power both literally and figuratively, the sights of which the U.S. has never seen.

Part III of Fallout from the Energy Policy Act of 2005, will take a look at: the various federal and state laws which the NIETC either directly or potentially violate or conflict with; proposed or pending pieces of legislation in Congress in order to amend specific sections of EPAct 2005; and the mechanisms that the DOE and FERC either already have or expect to have in place in the future in order to maintain effective oversight of such a massive body of law and its unprecedented changes in U.S. energy policy.

Copyright ©2008 Diane M. Grassi
Contact: dgrassi@cox.net

Labels: Economy, Energy, Globalization, Legislation, Multi-nationals

By Diane M. Grassi

(Part 1 of a Series)

"Energy independence from foreign sources."

A mantra repeated over and over again by Al Gore, by the Hollywood elite and by candidates running for the 2008 Presidential nomination. But rarely is it ever pointed out how this phrase is but an oxymoron with respect to United States energy policy, which becomes ever more vulnerable, not just as the result of its failing infrastructure, but from misguided public policy decisions.

But never is the topic broached publicly in how much of the U.S. energy infrastructure and lines of transmission have been consumed by a constant stream of foreign direct investors and diversified holding companies. Also unbeknownst to most consumers is that such activity was hailed from Wall Street to Capitol Hill as the answer to resolving U.S. energy woes.

And now those very foreign investors have been granted even greater leeway as now realized by such mandates of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) which essentially eliminated the Public Utilities Holding Company Act (PUHCA) of 1935.

And in 2007, barely after the ink dried from EPAct 2005, the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 was passed by federal lawmakers and signed into law. EISA conveniently serves to obfuscate critical issues that continue to stress the U.S. electrical power grid, its energy generation and transmission capacity. Yet, EPAct 2005 has continually escaped public scrutiny and a lack of accountability in both houses of the U.S. Congress.

But U.S. energy policy and the generation of power is a complex web of public policy, law, economics, infrastructure and ever-present globalization. So for purposes of this report, and in order to best comprehend current U.S. energy policy, it will be helpful to take stock of the more recent evolution of such and to examine its many and varied elements which have changed again post-2005.

In addition to the repeal of PUHCA 1935, EPAct 2005 amended Section 203 of the Federal Power Act (FPA) which will have an unprecedented and profound impact of its own on how future transactions in the energy industry will be handled by the federal government, impact matters of states' sovereignty and regulating costs to consumers.

For over 70 years, federal laws have played a vital and critical role in the operation, production, distribution and protection of the U.S. electrical power grid. Federal laws in concert with state laws and regulations have necessarily dictated that the power grid be shielded from market manipulation and criminal behavior.

But as the nearly 100 year old power grid has aged, facing a growing population and higher load demands for power, the industry has simultaneously become more and more deregulated by mandate.

And deregulation has led to less and less necessary preventative maintenance, upgrades in technology as well as necessary investment in research and development. And the poorly maintained grid in many of the areas of the country, predominantly the mid-Atlantic and northeast states, has but put even more stress upon its transmission lines.

The basic structure of the North American transmission system is made up of over 140 control centers and approximately 3500 utility providers covering over 200,000 miles. Utility generating plants, transmission and sub-transmission systems, distribution systems and customer loads travel over a two-part power grid; one in the east and one in the west. Texas has its own grid.

Compounding the vast network and intricacy of the grid is the interconnectivity and delivery of power that in many cases is incompatible with widely varying levels of equipment integrity, data systems and personnel training. It is the secondary system which supplies the distribution of electricity to consumers, where most of the power failures occur, and that which require time to repair.

And the network of sub-stations feeding electricity to neighborhoods, via feeders which flow to transformers, is where supposed problems arise during local outages, further exacerbated by non-maintained equipment.

But although deregulation of the utility industry began over two decades ago, it was the 1992 Energy Policy Act which changed the way electricity was sold to local consumers for the first time. Energy companies were permitted to install their own plants and sought customers throughout the country, but not necessarily in the same geographic region. Energy brokers then entered into the picture and utilized the open market to buy and sell power.

And thus began the potential unreliability of energy delivery.

Purchasing power from plants hundreds of miles away from a respective region put unprecedented burdens upon the transmission system, raising the likelihood of power failures at the local level. Most importantly, the electrical grid, as it was originally envisioned, was never designed to absorb the transmission of high voltage capacity across the continent, and especially in absence of comparable and upgraded systems in place.

Although Enron became the poster child for electrical power market manipulation, which came to light after the rolling blackouts of California in 2000 and 2001, U.S. public policy and lawmakers must be held responsible for even further erosion of federal regulations and mandates now realized in EPAct 2005.

The initial most striking change that EPAct 2005 provides is the repeal of PUHCA 1935, now amended as PUHCA 2005, and now administered by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). PUHCA 1935 became law after the height of the Great Depression and after the stock market crash of 1929 and was a cornerstone of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal industry legislation.

It called for the prohibition of market manipulation, specifically to prevent then super-sized utility conglomerates, to prevent mega-mergers and to prevent monopolies from overtaking geographic regions. And just as importantly, PUHCA 1935 made it unfeasible for non-energy corporations to purchase a public utility.

Such abuses led to severe problems in the electric and gas industry in the 1920's and in the 1930's when three utility holding companies owned one-half of the electric utilities in the entire U.S. Thus, the emergence and formation of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1934, which preceded PUHCA1935, and together became essential in safe-guarding the public trust and in protecting consumers and investors alike, as PUHCA 1935 delegated multi-state utility ownership regulation to the SEC.

Fast-forward to February 8, 2006, six months to the day of the enactment of EPAct 2005, when the official repeal of PUHCA 1935 was realized. As a direct result, the SEC vacated its regulatory authority over multi-state utility ownership by holding companies and only retains the ability to protect investors, not utility consumers or to prevent mega-mergers from consolidating. And now the FERC will assume cursory merger authority over generating plants and holding companies.

The repeal of PUHCA 1935 will not only allow multi-state transactions but also mergers of distribution facilities, utilities merging with non-utility corporations, and including foreign ownership over domestic utilities.

Furthermore, oil companies may now own electricity and natural gas utilities, paving the way, yet again, for the formation of cartels. In addition, construction and infrastructure companies, especially those from abroad, are eager to partake in being afforded carte blanche in the acquisition of U.S. public utility operations.

In the post-PUHCA 1935 era, no individual state or federal agency will have the jurisdictional teeth to effectively regulate the finances of U.S. public utility assets totaling more than one trillion U.S. dollars. Nor will there be required oversight of such holding or parent companies such as investment banks from speculating and investing in far riskier businesses, with utility rate-payer revenues. - We have already seen evidence of such with the current sub-prime mortgage loan crisis.

At cost? The reliability standards of U.S. public utilities, which could have grave ramifications on U.S. national security, the U.S. economy and the well-being and safety of the American people; all with the blessings of the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Congress and the global stock market.

To be continued in Part 2 of a Series. Next Up: Energy Department Uses Power to Trump States' Rights

Copyright©2008 Diane M. Grassi
Contact: dgrassi@cox.net

Labels: Economy, Energy, Globalization, Infrastructure, Public Policy

There Goes the Neighborhood!

By Diane M. Grassi

It would make one wonder if indeed MLB believes that it is but recession-proof, given the $6.75 billion dollars in revenue it took in for the 2007 MLB season and its $5.2 billion totals for 2006.

But it is a reality that less and less discretionary income is available to average or marginal baseball fans going into the 2008 MLB season. And at the same time, gas prices at the pump are expected to flirt with $4.00 a gallon.

Even so, it has not deterred MLB and two of its two major league teams from cashing in on public entitlements, courtesy of the City of New York. It is well known throughout the country that tax abatements and waived property taxes are the modus operandi for many cities and counties in order to supposedly retain major corporate conglomerates, threatening to relocate elsewhere.

That brings us to New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg who in 2004 gave himself credit for ending the squeeze by corporations from getting tax breaks to remain in NYC.

“We’ve essentially ended corporate welfare as we know it, by no longer paying companies -- who wouldn’t have left anyway -- to stay in our great city,” Bloomberg said back then.

But even after Mayor Bloomberg lauded himself as the anti-corporate welfare czar, monies to the tune of $650 million in city and state subsidies were given to Goldman Sachs to build its headquarters in Battery Park City, or 9/11’s Ground Zero, and $240 million were allocated in givebacks to JP Morgan Chase, also to build in lower Manhattan, after stating that it would move to Stamford, CT, and later unsubstantiated by the City of Stamford.

Under the guise of revitalizing lower Manhattan after the streets were deserted as the result of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, this ploy by Mayor Bloomberg was somehow forgivable by the legislators and politicos of NYC and New York State.

Then came the new Yankee Stadium and the new stadium for the Mets. Both the Yankees and the Mets essentially led successful swindles, as both stole home with the blessings of City Hall.

As both stadiums near the end of construction, with both planned to be ready for the 2009 MLB season, the tallying of total costs to the NYC and NY state taxpayers has begun.

On his weekly radio show on WABC New York on February 29, 2008, Mayor Bloomberg stated that, “Hey, we got a good deal at only spending $75 million each on Yankee and Shea…er..Citi Field stadiums.”
He was referring to the outlay in real costs by NYC for each of the NYC stadiums for the Yankees and the Mets.

But for the owner and founder of Bloomberg Communications and self-made billionaire, Mayor Bloomberg seems to have forgotten his arithmetic along the way. For the actual costs to the city and state of NY for the new Yankee Stadium will total over $800 million and for Citi Field, or what will be known as the new Mets stadium, $500 million has been tallied for a grand total of $1.3 billion in public funding for the two stadiums combined.

This includes tax-exempt bonds, on which the government will pay the interest, tax abatements on property taxes, new street construction, a new railroad station stop for Yankee Stadium, new car garages as well as re-construction of open space for the parks outside of Yankee Stadium, which were completely destroyed.

In fact, the residents of the area outside of Yankee Stadium, a minority community, are now without 400 trees and 21.5 acres of less park space, greenery and playing fields. Although NYC and the Yankees originally promised more parkland, they now include the top of the parking garages as open space, where playgrounds will be put.

And while there is no shortage of propaganda on the benefits that new professional sports stadiums supposedly bring to metropolitan areas, that topic alone is worthy of an additional in-depth report and a far more realistic and intelligent discussion.

And as much as MLB and its owners want to praise themselves for their reputed black ink, it comes but at the expense of taxpayers and local communities, whether they are baseball fans or not.

And more often than not, it comes at the expense of the poorer minority neighborhoods, which are but expendable to big business and to City Hall.

But the latest feat by MLB should make even bona fide global capitalists wince. For in a coup by one of the largest realty developers in the U.S., Vornado Realty Trust, has been granted by NYC’s Planning Commission a waiver to building height restrictions on 125th Street and Park Avenue, which is the main thoroughfare of the historic neighborhood known as Harlem.

In addition, Mayor Bloomberg has been campaigning to rezone the entirety of Harlem allowing massive buildings as tall as 29 stories in order to attract even more major corporate partners.

As part of the waiver to Vornado, which raises the height limit to 21 stories, or an additional four stories, in this mixed-use residential and commercial area, the building will include 630,000 square feet of office space and will contain a variety of corporate businesses.
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With the steep rise in real estate costs in NYC, many corporate entities are willing to move uptown to save on leasing costs, even at the expense of displacing thousands of people from their residences or crushing over 70 small local businesses in the neighborhoods made up of African-Americans and Hispanic communities.

Of significance, is that those 4 extra stories, most likely to be approved by the NYC Council in the near future, will be occupied by none other than MLB and its new cable television baseball channel. MLB would occupy two floors for executive offices and the top two floors for television studios.

And the Vornado organization also gave NYC an ultimatum along with the height restriction being lifted. They said that without the additional four stories it would be a deal-breaker for them attracting MLB as an anchor tenant in its building and thereby the whole deal would be off.

But it gets even worse, as Vornado also demanded $15 million in a public funding incentive package for itself and an additional $5 million package of incentives to be paid directly to MLB by the City of NY.

Out of that $5 million package part of it would be allowed to cover the costs for redecorating Commissioner Bud Selig’s MLB headquarter offices at 245 Park Avenue, in mid-town Manhattan. This brings but new meaning to corporate-welfare.

The projection of revenue for the MLB baseball television channel, to launch in January 2009, and to be located temporarily in Secaucus, NJ, is somewhere around $550 million over its first seven years, with a guarantee of a minimum of $80 million per year during that time.

It expects between 40 and 50 million viewers upon startup and will initially carry only 26 non-exclusive live games, with the rest of the 24/7 coverage comprised of all-things-baseball.

In 2007 when MLB threatened to remove its MLB Extra Innings packages --allowing fans to pay a premium to cable providers to access many out-of-market games -- from all cable and satellite broadcasters with the exception of Direct TV, it was Senator John Kerry and the Senate Commerce Committee which pushed MLB to allow Extra Innings to continue its agreements with Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and the Comcast Corp. and they were allowed to continue to broadcast MLB Extra Innings for the 2007 season.

However, as the result of that arrangement in 2007, an agreement was made that MLB will own a 66.6% interest in its MLB television channel with Direct TV, Time Warner, Cox and Comcast divvying up the remaining shares along with a commitment from them to carry the baseball network for the next seven years.

There is no word as of yet on the status of the MLB channel on such remaining digital and cable broadcasters as Dish TV or Adelphia Communications nor confirmation that MLB will offer the channel on basic cable television.

But MLB in its arrogance, by taking its present fan-base for granted, should be doing some real world soul-searching right about now. For after 15 years of Bud Selig’s reign of denial of illegal drugs in baseball and after the off-season MLB has suffered in light of the Mitchell Report, looking for handouts should be the last thing with which MLB should be associated.

It is bad enough that much of MLB’s revenues come by way of the very taxpayers it seeks to disenfranchise, and namely the African-American communities in the inner cities. But for it to muscle its way into Harlem’s neighborhood is more than ironic and should not merely be accepted as gentrification for a better NYC.

Some have speculated that by moving corporate jobs to Harlem, such will endear MLB to the black community it has virtually lost, both as active professional baseball players and as fans, and yet woo them back to baseball. And such speculation should be an insult to all baseball fans alike.

But until MLB makes an asserted commitment to retain its present fan-base as well as makes an investment in future generations to come, such as an in bringing African-American children and families back to MLB, it has no moral right to demand givebacks; much less in Harlem or outside of Yankee Stadium.

And perhaps a good way for MLB to make amends would be to start by using some of those givebacks to build some decent baseball fields for the kids of Harlem, rather than picking out new wallpaper patterns for its executives’ office suites.

Copyright ©2008 Diane M. Grassi
Contact: dgrassi@cox.net

Labels: Gentrification, MLB, Real Estate, Sports Industry

By Diane M. Grassi

Major League Baseball (MLB) and drugs. The two have been linked for decades and their relationship has never waned. The drug ingredients are different, the players acquiring them have changed and the performance benefits have been enhanced.

But MLB has not learned much in the past couple of decades when it comes to the integrity of the game, in obeying the law and in protecting the best interests of its athletes, its most precious commodity.

In 1985, Pittsburgh U.S. Attorney, J. Alan Johnson, implicated 19 MLB players for possession of and use of cocaine. Then-MLB Commissioner, Peter Ueberroth, imposed penalties on 11 of the 19, while none were criminally prosecuted. Similar to the BALCO case and to the recent Mitchell Report, the depth of the problem among athletes using cocaine or illegal drugs made for sensational headlines.

But the way in which the drug culture was arguably enabled by MLB and its subsequent punishments were laughable and was perhaps the precursor to the abuse of steroids and HGH in the 1990’s and into the 21st century.
Although it was documented at the time that at least 40% of MLB players were recreationally using cocaine in the ‘80’s, only a handful were punished. But such star players such as Keith Hernandez, Dave Parker, and Lonnie Smith were punished not by the federal government but by MLB.

They were required to perform 100 hours of community service and to avail themselves to drug testing. Four other players were suspended for 60 days. Since the drug dealers were nabbed by the feds, MLB was off the hook and essentially did what it felt was appropriate for the “good of the game.”

Fast-forward to 2003 when grand jury testimony was taken in the federal BALCO investigation involving MLB’s Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, Benito Santiago, Olympic medalist Marion Jones and NFL star Bill Romanowski, to name but a few of the few implicated. Again, only a handful of athletes from the entire professional athletic world were threatened and eventually given immunity, in order to take down BALCO President, Vic Conte, personal trainer, Greg Anderson and the illicit sale, distribution and administration of illegal performance enhancing substances.

Marion Jones will serve 6 months in prison neither for buying and illegally using controlled substances nor for her check fraud to the tune of $200,000.00, but for lying under oath to a federal grand jury about the use of drugs. Ditto for Barry Bonds. His scheduled perjury trial is to be held in April 2008.

The latest fiasco with “personal trainer,” Brian McNamee, former NY Mets clubhouse employee, Kirk Radomski and MLB stars Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte following former Senator George Mitchell’s report on behalf of MLB, is but another failed attempt at exposing the so-called truth.

But truth has been absent from baseball for a very long time. Moreover, implicating only 30 active players for a grand total of 89 for using performance enhancing drugs over the past decade is not only laughable but terribly sad. Given the resources and legal expenses tallied around $20‒30 million and paid to George Mitchell’s law firm by MLB, the Mitchell Report’s omissions should raise as many eyebrows as its contents.

But more importantly is the absence of a cry for accountability from MLB by the federal government in essentially allowing it to be in the drug business. For its owners and its teams’ staff members not to admit any wrong doing is beyond arrogance. A lack of efforts to look into those areas in which there was first-hand knowledge of possible illicit drug use or non-credentialed employees working in the area of strength training was but blind neglect.

To wit, according to the Mitchell Report, San Francisco Giants General Manager, Brian Sabean, was alerted by the Giants’ staff athletic trainer, Stan Conte, that a player had asked him about whether he should buy steroids from Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson, as far back as 2002. Additionally, the Giants’ longtime equipment manager, Mike Murphy, found syringes in the locker of catcher Benito Santiago.

Conte said he reported both incidents to Sabean immediately. Sabean told Conte that if he had a problem with Bonds’ trainer he should handle it himself. But it was obvious to Conte that it was not his place to confront Barry Bonds. And apparently no one else in the Giants organization felt it was their place either, as per their MLB obligation to report illicit drug use.

Brian Sabean stated in the Mitchell Report that he “was unaware of the obligation to report drug use to the Commissioner’s Office.” Former Mets General Manager, Steve Phillips, and Kirk Radomski’s employer, also plead ignorance on reporting illicit drug use to the Commissioner’s Office. Ironically now, Phillips is paid by ESPN to analyze and to inform the public about MLB’s policies.

Greg Anderson was given full accessibility to the Giants’ clubhouse. Stan Conte did not believe it was proper let alone legal. But in order to placate Bonds, the Giants also accorded him two additional trainers, Harvey Shields and Greg Oliver. All three traveled with the team. In fact, Oliver and Shields were added to the Giants’ payroll to account for their presence in the clubhouse, whereby they could advise other players as well.

Peter Magowan, CEO and Managing Partner of the S.F. Giants asked Sabean whether the Giants “had a problem” with regard to steroids after reading the news concerning the BALCO case and Greg Anderson, according to the Mitchell Report. But Sabean told Mitchell he did not recall that conversation.

The issue was not only that of illicit drugs permeating the Giants’ locker room but the issue of personal trainers, such as Greg Anderson giving out advice about steroids. None of Bonds’ trainers were certified to give out that advice nor licensed to either dispense of or speak about drug administration. Their certifications and schooling as personal trainers is also in question.

The lack of background checks on supposed strength coaches and personal trainers was rampant in MLB until 2004 when MLB limited access to clubhouses by personal trainers and ancillary clubhouse personnel not on the payroll. Due to the BALCO case, MLB did it more for security reasons, as the vetting of a trainer’s certification and background still has many lapses, to say the least.

In 2004, Sandy Krum, former assistant athletic trainer for the Chicago Cubs, was terminated, he believes, for informing Cubs’ General Manager Jim Hendry that head athletic trainer, Dave Groeschner, was operating without an Illinois state required license.

Unlike a personal trainer, an athletic trainer works under the auspices of a medical doctor and 43 states require such a license. Additionally, athletic trainers are not authorized in Illinois or NY to give injections to players. Coincidentally, Groeschner followed Cubs Manager Dusty Baker from San Francisco. In 2005, the Cubs fired Groeschner. Dusty is now with the Cincinnati Reds.

We have heard ad naseum about the McNamee-Clemens soap opera which will be played out before the Congressional House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on February 13, 2008. But little light has been shed upon the underlying facts about how McNamee helped weave his own web, in which the Toronto Blue Jays and the NY Yankees play no small part.

McNamee earned an undergraduate degree from St. John’s University in NY where he played on the baseball team as a catcher but did not have enough talent for MLB. He then followed his father’s lead and joined the NYPD in 1990. He was an officer for three years, serving two years undercover and then quit the force. He was suspended for 30 days at the end of his service for allowing a prisoner to escape from custody, but said he took the fall for someone else.

Former St. John’s school mate, Tim McCleary, was the assistant General Manager of the Yankees in 1993 and hired McNamee as the bullpen catcher, where he stayed until 1995. McNamee then decided to get into personal training. In 1998, McCleary was hired by Toronto, and he then hired McNamee as a strength coach and where he met Roger Clemens.

He also befriended Jose Canseco who at the time was also a Blue Jay.
After Clemens was traded to NY in 1999, McNamee joined him in 2000 when the Yankees put him on the payroll as a strength coach as well until 2001, when allegations immerged of rape and illegally giving the involved woman GHB ‒the date-rape drug‒ a nearly fatal dose.

Charges were not filed as the woman did not want to pursue them supposedly because she was having an affair with one of the Yankees’ married players. But McNamee was spotted having sex with a nearly comatose woman in one of the team’s hotel pools on the night of a Devil Rays game in St. Petersburg in October of 2001. His account to police was filled with inconsistencies, including denying he was the man in the pool when spotted by security and another Yankee staffer. Again, McNamee was the victim.

GHB is illegally used by athletes to recover from strenuous workouts and was also part of McNamee’s medicine cabinet. Even so, Clemens gave McNamee the benefit of the doubt about the alleged rape. The Yankees, however, let McNamee go before the 2002 season without disclosing the reason. But Clemens hired him as his personal trainer and employed him through June 2007. Andy Pettitte also paid McNamee for his training services during that time.

McNamee’s credentials were never checked by either the Toronto Blue Jays or the NY Yankees. During their employ of his services he was never a certified strength coach. He may have been a personal trainer, but certification is not legally required to be a personal trainer, although such certification only requires an exam and no course work or field training.

McNamee’s credentials are dubious at best, not to mention his phony PhD that he acquired in 2000 from an implicated internet diploma mill known as Columbus University, supposedly located in Louisiana, and since sold off to another entity in another state due to its being nailed by authorities.

McNamee was advertising himself on the internet as Dr. McNamee, PhD in order to market his In-Vite nutritional supplements and his strength training services. He was also getting involved in other enterprises which Clemens was helping to bankroll to help out his career. Although McNamee made claims he was certified, he was not certified as a strength coach until nearly 2006.

According to Dr. Jeff Falkel, Chairman of the Executive Council Certification Commission of the National Strength and Conditioning Association, (NSCA) recently on Will Carroll’s BaseballProspectus.com radio show, stated that McNamee did not even take his Certified Strength Conditioning Specialist exam until October 2005.

And unbelievably, MLB does not require certifications of its personal trainers or strength coaches but does require its staff athletic trainers be licensed only as required by law. The NFL, NBA, NHL and NCAA are also lax about certifications other than athletic trainers who work with medical physicians. They still do not require that their strength trainers be credentialed by the NSCA.

What we can conclude from this unveiling of the lack of professionalism and clubhouse culture throughout MLB is that without the cooperation of all of its participants, from the executive level on down to the groundskeepers, it cannot be trusted to police itself, based upon its putrid record thus far. And the business decisions made on the executive level from Commissioner to owner to GM to player to staff employees has been dismal and in disrepair.

Ultimately, greed has been the prevailing culprit, influencing both owners and players alike. But to single out a few super stars will never cure baseball or professional sports of its ills. It is shortsighted by MLB and not surprisingly so by our U.S. Congress. While there is no ready solution, using some common sense might be a good start.

Copyright ©2008 Diane M. Grassi
Contact: dgrassi@cox.net

Labels: Congress, Drug culture, MLB, Sports Industry, Steroids

By Diane M. Grassi

Much in the way the United States government’s foreign policy is a complex and sometimes unfathomable, inconsistent exercise in supposed worldwide diplomacy, it should be noted that in 2007 Major League Baseball vastly increased its global reach, similarly leaving foreign governments, economists and U.S. business leaders scratching their proverbial heads.

But questions need to be asked, as the 2008 MLB season approaches, as to whether America’s Pastime has bitten off more than it can chew in entering the world of global politics. In order to remain a successful and positive example worldwide, it must not alienate certain countries while at the same time disguise its craving for riches garnered off the backs of the impoverished.

For MLB was not originally set up to necessarily grow the sport globally. It was always assumed, perhaps naively so, that the best baseball players in the world would end up in the U.S. And to its credit, MLB has thought outside the box in the past couple of decades. But now it does so with the risk of discriminating against some groups or cultures while rewarding others at the behest of the almighty dollar.

To wit, there has been a growing hostility between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the U.S. government, most notably when Chavez gave a speech at the United Nations in November 2006 and referred to U.S. President George Bush as “el diablo” or “the devil.” Since that time, Chavez was reelected for another 6 year term as President of Venezuela in December 2006 and most recently in December 2007, the Venezuelan people, by a slim margin, defeated Chavez’ constitutional referendum to amend the constitution in order for him to remain President indefinitely.

Chavez has already made plans to nationalize certain industries in Venezuela, since he took office in 1999. He is a socialist and self-admitted revolutionary. Namely, electricity and oil and the telecom industries would be state controlled. And the vast oil reserves Venezuela enjoys has but enhanced Chavez’ control and position amongst world leaders.

But since the 1980’s the people of Venezuela, who once lived in a thriving country due to its oil resources, have also been its victims and now face rampant unemployment closing in on 20%, with little savings for secondary education. After oil prices plummeted in the ‘80’s, the government devalued the country’s currency. Since that time, the people of Venezuela have had to deal with civil unrest. And the Venezuelan capitol, Caracas, has presently earned the unpleasant distinction of having the highest per capita murder rate in the entire world.

Ironically, subsequent to the ‘80’s, the age of the multi-million dollar major leaguer greeted many Venezuelan players, and some speculate as the direct result of the country’s poverty. At one time a family hoped their children would end up become professionals, not professional baseball players, which was never seriously looked upon as a credible way to make a living.

In 1989, however, that all changed. The Houston Astros took the risk of becoming the first MLB club to build an academy in Venezuela, through the efforts of then scouting director, Andres Reiner, in hopes of developing baseball players on a regular basis. The thinking was that it was an untapped goldmine of a country of 25 million. Soon, other teams followed and there were as many as 19 team-sponsored academies. The likes of Luis Aparicio, Tony Armas and Andres Galarraga were among its first superstars. Their successors included shortstops, Omar Vizquel and Ozzie Guillen. More recently, its superstars include pitchers, Johan Santana, Carlos Zambrano, Kelvin Escobar and Francisco Rodriguez; outfielder Magglio Ordonez; shortstop Carlos Guillen; 3rd basemen Melvin Mora and Miguel Cabrera; catcher Victor Martinez; among other high quality players.

There were between 45 and 50 Venezuelan players on major league rosters at any one time during the 2007 season, which has remained stagnant for the past few years. However, Venezuelan players still represent the third largest group of major league players from any one country, after the U.S. and the Dominican Republic, which numbered 105 players in 2007.

But in the past 5 years, due to the country’s heightened violence, crime and kidnappings of high profile athletes, there are but 9 teams which still have academies that remain in Venezuela. And in addition to the concerns that MLB has about the security and safety of its players and representatives, there is also equal concern about the future intentions of Hugo Chavez and his possibly nationalizing the sport of baseball.

Current Orioles 3rd baseman, Melvin Mora, in 2006 contacted Jim Duquette, the Orioles former Vice President of Baseball Operations, about wanting to build his own academy in Venezuela. Duquette advised Mora to speak to MLB’s Vice President for International Operations, Lou Melendez. Melendez’ response to Mora’s interest was, “I’m just telling you that there are movements afoot there that may impact what you want to do. When you see certain industries that are being nationalized, you begin to wonder if they are going to nationalize the baseball industry in Venezuela.”

Mora then took it upon himself to meet with the Venezuelan Sports Minister, Eduardo Alvarez. With the help of Mora, Melendez set up a meeting with Alvarez in early 2007. At that time, Melendez was assured that nationalization of baseball was not on the agenda.

But two proposals were received by Melendez thereafter from Venezuelan officials as to how Venezuela would like MLB to do business there. They included mandates such as certain employee and player protections with MLB, that MLB clubs pay 10% of player’s signing bonuses to the Venezuelan government, and to require players to apply for a license to participate as professional athletes. There also was a proposal for the Venezuelan Baseball Federation to have a hands-on role over the operations of the MLB academies.

On its face, the proposals do not look egregious. In fact, the players recruited and signed in the Dominican Republic are often victims of aggressive “buscones” or unauthorized agents who take advantage of them and their parents, leaving them with little of the agreed upon advances by MLB teams.

After all, since players in both Venezuela and the Dominican Republic are not subject to the First Year Draft Rule, they can be signed as young as the age of 16, as long as they turn 17 by the following July. While many of these players are drop outs from school, much more so than in Venezuela, many never make it to the big leagues, and are left with broken promises and sometimes penniless after they put all of their time and effort into training. This unfortunately makes it far easier for MLB to have its way, so to speak, with prospects from the Dominican Republic.

But Melendez interpreted these mandates from Venezuela by stating, “I made it clear to Minister Alvarez that we don’t pay federations for signing players anywhere in the world, and we don’t expect to do so. It’s certainly not a way to conduct business.” In fact, MLB has no intentions of complying with any of Venezuela’s requests, as it cut off its communications with any parties of either sport or government bodies there in March 2007. MLB fears that it would prove more costly to sign Venezuelan players under such mandates.

However, Mr. Melendez either needs to be informed or needs to refresh his memory that earlier in 2007, the NY Yankees, sanctioned by MLB, signed a working agreement with the Peoples’ Republic of China, (PRC) in the first ever contract between MLB and the Chinese Baseball Association, which is under the auspices of the Communist government of China. MLB is also providing the Peoples’ Republic of China’s National Olympic Team with former U.S. MLB manager, Jim Lefebvre, who is the manager of the Peoples’ Republic of China’s baseball team that will compete in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

The NY Yankees and MLB will also be lending additional coaches and equipment to the PRC National team prior to the 2008 Olympics. The Yankees additionally have an agreement to start development of Chinese players in Communist China with eventual plans to build academies there.
MLB is also in preliminary talks about the aftermath of the Fidel Castro regime of Cuba, upon his death. MLB is drooling at the thought of building academies there as well and formal discussions have taken place within MLB according to MLB Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations, Joe Garagiola, Jr. “There may not be any significant changes with our relationship with Cuba in the near term, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be thinking about these things”, he said at the start of the 2007 MLB season.

Meanwhile, Puerto Rico, after 69 years went without its winter league operating this 2007-2008 off-season, due to budget shortfalls of its league development. MLB has yet to take a stance on the state of baseball in Puerto Rico which must adhere to the same rules of U.S. born players, having to finish high school and be 18 years of age to sign a minor league contract, attend a junior college or complete at least 3 years of a 4-year college and/or be 21 years of age if the 3rd year is not completed.

It hardly seems fair for a small Caribbean island, although a territory of the U.S, to not be able to compete on an even playing field with either Venezuela or the Dominican Republic. But without the funding to develop its young prospects, it appears Puerto Rico has become too costly an investment for MLB.

And Panama, literally a banana republic, once the home for Chiquita Bananas International, until it moved to Costa Rica where labor was cheaper, also has largely been ignored by MLB. Only 5 major leaguers from Panama remained on MLB rosters in 2007, most notably NY Yankees pitcher, Mariano Rivera, and Houston Astros outfielder, Carlos Lee. Hall of Famer, Rod Carew also hailed from Panama. But Panama development would require a long-term investment. And there too the national baseball federation is at odds with MLB.

Korea and Japan have players which are developed in their own countries, with which MLB clubs can then negotiate for hefty sums. The individual pro teams in Japan require a complex posting process and upwards of $50 million per player in addition to multi-year deals for the player. Such an example was the signing of Daisuke Matsuzaka by the Boston Red Sox at the start of the 2007, for his services for 3 years. The total posting fee as well as his contract was well over $100 million. But after all, the Red Sox got a ready-made big leaguer without having to invest in his development. So the thinking is that it is worth such cost.

What this all comes down to is not some noble attempt for MLB to spread baseball throughout the world, such as the U.S. government would like us to believe that globalization is about democratizing the rest of world. It is all about the dollar, no matter if young boys and men of the Dominican Republic are exploited, or whether Venezuelan’s are threatened with the possibility of losing their now national pastime.

And why MLB can negotiate with Communist China but does not see fit to redevelop baseball again in its own territory of Puerto Rico, also deserves questioning.
But if MLB does not proceed with caution and realize that it has not merely entered the domain of industrial globalization but the world of global politics and diplomacy, it could prove damaging.

After all, the good of the game and human decency should still be a priority for MLB. And when it comes time for MLB to count its $6 billion revenue dollars it realized from the 2007 MLB season, it perhaps should take heed, in order to remain accountable for its actions, before it becomes political fodder with unrealized repercussions on the world’s stage.

Copyright ©2007 Diane M. Grassi

Contact:
dgrassi@cox.net

By Diane M. Grassi

On October 16, 2007 Major League Baseball (MLB) struck out for the second time in its pursuit to limit and essentially monopolize the Fantasy League business which utilizes statistical information associated with MLB players’ names.

While this did get some coverage in the mainstream press, the ultimate impact of such a decision impacts not only all of the professional sports leagues but other commercial enterprises which make use of any kind of player statistical information such as the video game and software industries.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit out of St. Louis, MO in handing down a ruling by a three-judge panel was an affirmation of the underlying appeal heard before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Mary Ann Medler, also out of St. Louis, and her opinion issued August 8, 2006. In the underlying Summary Judgment, Judge Medler found that “the players do not have a right of publicity in their names and playing records as used in fantasy games.” And furthermore, that “the First Amendment takes precedence over such a right.”

But offering only a peripheral view of the issues involved in this case does a disservice to fans not only of MLB but the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA) as well as the National Hockey League (NHL). In fact, MLB, the NFL and the NBA all partake in their own fantasy leagues through such commercial ventures run by their league websites MLB.com, NFL.com and NBA.com, respectively.

The litigation involving MLB Advanced Media, L.P. (MLBAM) as well as the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) originated over 2½ years ago when CBC Distribution and Marketing, Inc. d/b/a CDM, Inc. or CDMSports.com, of St. Louis, MO, filed a lawsuit against MLBAM for the right to operate its CDM Fantasy Sports League with the necessary statistical data on MLB players in order to do so.

But not emphasized thoroughly enough in reports is that from 1994‒2004 it was the MLBPA which licensed rights to fantasy leagues. And as such, CBC, which licensed its use of the names and data about MLB players, had agreements in both 1995 and 2002, the latter of which expired in 2005.
CBC was the very first independent fantasy league license holder with MLB, by way of its contract with the MLBPA, well before the internet played its now predominant role in the fantasy league business, now generating upwards of $2 billion annually from MLB, the NFL and the NBA alone.

It was in 2005 when MLBAM purchased the exclusive rights to use baseball players’ names and performance information from the MLBPA “for exploitation of all interactive media” to the tune of $50 million, for a period of 5 years. And it was at that point that MLBAM began to provide fantasy baseball games on its own website, MLB.com.

When CBC applied for its license in 2005, it was outright denied by MLBAM due to its claim of the players’ “right of publicity” which gave CBC no other recourse but to sue MLBAM in court. CBC saw this as a deliberate attempt by MLBAM to monopolize the fantasy league business now that small operators had turned it into a lucrative investment waiting to be swept up. In fact, in its arrogance, MLB offered CBC in exchange for a commission, a license to promote MLB.com’s fantasy baseball games on CBC’s website, provided CBC discontinue its own fantasy products.

Additionally, ESPN, CBS Sportsline, Sporting News and Yahoo! Sports were awarded licenses by MLBAM who pay $2 million annually to MLBAM for the right to run their own fantasy leagues. And it appears rather evident that the issue is not about the “right of publicity” but the right to cash in on and control another entity which MLB has yet to conquer

Since statistical information had always been considered in the public domain according to prior case law, it was a rather creative leap in legal gymnastics that MLBAM came up with in order to ward off the use of problematic future technologies or entities which could arise and make use of such statistical data.

MLB was joined through amicus briefs, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, by the NFL, the NHL, the NBA, the NFL Players Association, the PGA Tour, and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, amongst others. It is clear that there is a big business expectation of windfall profits for such a venture which at one point started out not all that long ago with a bunch of guys sitting around drinking beers talking about forming a rotisserie league for fun.

But lost in all of the legal shenanigans of this litigation is perhaps the message that ensues at its result. And that is that essentially fantasy leagues are a form of gambling. It is more than ironic, given all of the history and more recent threats to the integrity of professional sports, such as officiating in the NBA, which now prohibits any type of gambling amongst its referees year round, and MLB’s historic credo of zero tolerance when it comes to gambling on its sport.

The promotion of fantasy leagues by MLB, the NFL and now the NBA is a distinct conflict of interest. But that did not prevent MLB and the MLBPA from testifying before the U.S. Congress, prior to its passage of the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, in lobbying for fantasy leagues to be exempt from the Act.

Yet, amazingly MLB does not consider fantasy leagues to fall under the same umbrella as gambling since it does not directly “attempt to influence the outcome of a game or a baseball player’s performance.” MLB went as far as saying that playing in a fantasy league is a game of skill not of chance such as in a gambling casino and thereby is not really betting.

Well, in its astute discretion, the U.S. Congress agreed with MLB allowing the continued organized fantasy leagues to remain on the internet and officially exempt from the 2006 law. But whether or not fantasy leagues have a direct bearing on the outcome of a MLB, NFL or NBA game, such fantasy leagues both directly and indirectly encourage gambling.

Yet, there is little distinction made in the minds of most participants and onlookers who happen to be the fans. Most associate fantasy leagues as a form of gambling as wagers are made, money is collected and a purse is paid out to the winners. Makes one think how these professional sports leagues and players associations can get away with such nonsensical drivel.
We can only rationalize it to the extent that the leagues are willing to risk such an association with gambling and their sports if there is a buck to be made. And even it is off the backs of small operators who created the whole fantasy league business in the first place.

Next up for MLB is perhaps a second appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit before a nine- judge panel or even an attempt to petition the U.S. Supreme Court, which could either not choose to hear the case or remand it back the District Court. MLB is currently thinking about its next move.

And once again, MLB is trying to control everything baseball, even at the expense of alienating its fans or even worse to encourage that which it says it will never condone: gambling.

Copyright ©2007 Diane M. Grassi
Contact: dgrassi@cox.net

By Diane M. Grassi

It has been quite the spring and summer 2007 seasons for fans of all three major professional sports leagues, but sadly, for many of the wrong reasons. As fans have been inundated with stories of crimes, misdemeanors and the ethical transgressions by society’s ordained role models, even including those who officiate and manage games, it is but refreshing to step back and revisit a former player who more recently reappeared on the radar.

Former Major League Baseball (MLB) player, Mo Vaughn, actually may prove more exemplary in his post-playing career than he was during his 12 years on a baseball diamond. In August 2007, he was featured on ESPN’s, Outside the Lines, following brief reports in Sports Illustrated and the New York Post, among other news outlets, recalling his latest ventures. But the publicity he received sold short the true essence and importance of the work Mr. Vaughn is doing and the mission on which he remains. As such, it deserves more in-depth coverage than that of just a feel-good story.

Most ardent baseball fans will remember Mo as the burly, intimidating first baseman who played for the Boston Red Sox from 1991 until 1998, during which time he was the 1995 American League MVP, with a .336 batting average, 39 home runs and 113 RBI in that year, while steering the Red Sox to post-season berths in both 1995 and 1996. He also, however, was singled out as having one of the most lucrative contracts in MLB at the time, earning $18.3 million over his last 3 years with the BoSox.

Mo also helped sell a lot of newspapers over his 12-year career, starting with the rift he had with Red Sox management in 1997 and 1998, more so than his stellar 1995 season in Boston. He then chose to sign as a free agent with the Anaheim Angels in 1998, which paid him a guaranteed $88 million through the 2004 season. At that time it became the highest MLB contract ever offered. But Mo was plagued with injuries in both the 1999 and 2000 seasons and was on the disabled list for the entirety of 2001. He never lived up to his previous star billing. Relations with the Angels organization became strained and Mo left on less than stellar terms there as well.

The Angels were more than glad to trade Mo to the New York Mets for pitcher Kevin Appier, who helped them to earn a World Series Championship in 2002. And the Mets accommodated Mo with a 3-year $42 million contract, partially subsidized by the Angels, but fully insured. Mo welcomed the trade to NY in a new league, where he expected to play through 2004, but it never came to pass.

Still recovering from biceps surgery in 2001 and additionally dealing with chronic knee and hamstring problems made many NY fans skeptical of the signing of Vaughn by former Mets GM, Steve Phillips, now making his living as a baseball analyst for ESPN. As feared, Mo wound up playing poorly in 2002 and in only 27 games in 2003 before being diagnosed with a permanently damaged knee, only repairable with a knee replacement, thus ending his career. Mets executives felt Mo did not do enough to keep his weight under control, which they believed was a contributing factor to his injuries.

But despite his truncated career, he had impressive stats as a 3-time All Star, and AL MVP, with 328 career home runs and a .293 lifetime batting average. Mo Vaughn was Big Papi before Big Papi was Big Papi. He was an imposing figure in the batter’s box and had a commanding presence in any lineup. Had he stayed healthy and continued to produce, Mo could have had a Hall of Fame career.

And both Mo’s fans and critics are likely to have a difficult time in finding fault with what appears to be his true calling, in providing hope and facilitating life altering changes in the lives of thousands of inner city residents. While many current and former athletes do donate funds for worthwhile causes, it is more along the lines of charity dinners and celebrity golf tournaments. But Mo has transcended his celebrity lifestyle and has rededicated his life’s goals.

Since 2005, Mo Vaughn has invested his time, resources and good will in rebuilding housing projects, left to decay by slumlords as well as ignored by local government agencies, leaving law-abiding residents to fend for themselves. The collateral damage of such negligence and the oft-ignored outcry from those in these impoverished communities caught Mo’s attention. Mo and his partner, his former lawyer-agent, Eugene Schneur, who both own and operate Omni New York, LLC, have taken on deteriorated housing developments, primarily in New York City, which have gone decades without adequate maintenance or services. The sole objective is to restore them by giving them back to their deserved communities.

Mo grew up in Connecticut, went to prep school in Pawling, NY and then played college baseball for 3 years at Seton Hall College in New Jersey, so he is quite familiar with the tri-state NY area. But what Mo did not necessarily know was how many people in housing projects for lower income residents have been living in squalor, without security in drug-infested neighborhoods, while suffering from problems with such basic services as running water, heat, or working elevators in high-rise buildings.

One of the main complaints fans have about their sports heroes is that they either forget where they came from, or have no inkling about the communities for which they play, some of which are in deplorable condition mere blocks from the stadiums in which they play. The chicken banquet circuit is fine, but it nowhere nearly supplants the real work needed to be done in such communities all across the country, where more often than not, “blighted communities” are being bought up by real estate moguls who turn them into multi-million dollar complexes for the rich, in what were once flourishing working class neighborhoods, made up of regular folk.

Since teaming up with Schneur at the end of 2004, Vaughn has closed on numerous projects with the City of NY, and in Westchester, Nassau and Seneca counties in NY State. Omni has creatively crafted contracts in collaborating with numerous federal, state and local government agencies and various government programs in order to secure financing for their renovation projects. The federal agency, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the NY State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (SDHCR) and the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) of New York City are but some of the agencies with which Omni has relationships. Municipal and industrial bonds, tax abatements, tax credits and tax-free loans are additional sources of funding.

Omni NY has proven to be quite a success since 2005 with Vaughn more than living up to his promises, having renovated over 1500 individual housing units in NYC alone. He stresses security and safety first for tenants and installs state of the art security cameras along with employing the necessary security personnel. His promise is also not to displace tenants during renovations that include replacing boilers, plumbing, roofing, windows, building facades, elevators, installing new appliances, kitchen cabinets, floor tiles, and renovated lobbies and common areas. Vaughn’s Omni is a true example of how Public Private Partnerships (PPP) should work.

Omni’s hope is to expand its sites beyond NY to parts of Boston, MA and Miami, FL in 2007 and into 2008 and has looked at numerous other states as well, collaborating with other developers. “It is the mission of Omni NY to ensure that people are able to live in decent, quality housing and have a sense of pride where they live,” says Vaughn. And his style is not to make a fast buck and disappear but to continue to manage each of the properties he restores, in order to ensure that both the properties and the tenants are protected and serviced adequately into the future.

In addition, Vaughn as become a social director of sorts, applying for grants in theses communities where after-school programs for school children are held on the properties, along with vocational skills programs for young adults and those forced to change careers in mid-life.

It is obvious that Omni NY is unique in scope and in fulfilling its goals in the way it structures its deals in the best interest of people. But more importantly, Mo Vaughn has become a facilitator on behalf of those individuals in communities which have no voice or have lost their way in negotiating through bureaucratic minefields in order to maintain decent lives. And in that respect, perhaps Mo Vaughn has found his niche and is filling a vital need where government has failed its obligations.

In conclusion, whatever disappointments Mo may have been to fans or to the organizations for which he played, not unlike other players who fail to remain healthy or play past their prime, he may prove to be far more valuable an asset now that he is out of baseball. For as he says, “I don’t know how people view me……., but we know we are doing the right thing here, and that’s what it’s all about. I want to make a difference.”

Makes one think – when God made Mo, the mold may have finally been broken.

Copyright ©2007 Diane M. Grassi
Contact: dgrassi@cox.net

By Diane M. Grassi

Major League Baseball (MLB) fans over the past several years have not only been witness to those performances taking place on MLB baseball diamonds across America, but have also been privy to after-the- fact cover-ups, collusion, denials and authoritarian control of their National Pastime. And all this in spite of supposed lessons learned from its failures going back to the early 20th century with the 1919 Black Sox throwing the World Series.

But where MLB differs in the late 20th and early 21st centuries from its historic past, is by virtue of its yearly multi-billion dollar revenues it now enjoys, enabling it more unilateral power over the game of baseball in spite of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) and the World Umpires Association (WUA) with which it must collectively bargain.

MLB is given great latitude granted by the United States government, which allows MLB to continue to be the only professional sports league in the U.S. not subject to anti-trust laws, except with respect to collective bargaining with its unions. And it seemingly appears it need not explain its decisions or lack thereof to its fans, employees, or even the U.S. Congress, unless of course subpoenaed, about the “best interests of baseball.”

News arose in July 2007 that now former National Basketball Association (NBA) veteran referee, Tim Donaghy, was pending indictment by the federal government, allegedly for providing information to illegal bookmakers associated with the Gambino Crime Family in New Jersey, who wagered bets on NBA games. He allegedly funneled confidential information to them on games and personnel while he was actively refereeing for the NBA during the 2005 and 2006 seasons included the post-season. Donaghy plead guilty on federal charges in court on August 15, 2007.

And in early August 2007, MLB tried to hoist its latest unilateral decision upon the WUA in light of the perception of illegal gambling and cheating ongoing in the NBA by one or more of its officials, especially with NBA Commissioner David Stern’s assertions that he thought the NBA had had the best security detail in all of sports. Such has made for nervous Nellie’s over at MLB headquarters on Park Avenue, NYC. And although there have been complaints from players as well as from fans with how discipline and policies have been decided by David Stern, there still is a perception of a rationale and accessibility to the NBA’s Commissioner.

It will take months for the NBA to come to a conclusion regarding the reach that Donaghy may have had in the NBA and who else may have been involved, if at all, and how new security options will be implemented. But Stern made it clear that he will not react swiftly with a knee-jerk reaction as to the legalities and ethics of preserving the NBA. And that is precisely what MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has been accused of by the WUA.

It has been reported that a letter dated August 6, 2007 from the WUA to MLB stated that the WUA was breaking off talks with MLB concerning its very recent unilateral decision to require extensive credit background checks to be performed on all MLB umpires effective immediately. However, due to the lack of disclosure of how the findings of any investigations would be handled by MLB, the WUA cut off cooperation with MLB until the expiration of its Collective Bargaining Agreement which expires in 2009. The points of contention which MLB was not willing to concede or even discuss with the WUA include:

“The nature, type and scope of information that you intend to gather on the umpires.”
“The sources, legitimate and otherwise, from which you intend to collect the information.”
“The persons who will have access to the information once it is collected.”
“The vendors and consultants who will assist you in collecting and reviewing the information.”
“The frequency with which you plan to conduct the investigations.”
“The uses to which the information will be put.”
“The process by which MLB, the WUA and the affected umpires will address any concerns that might arise from the information.”
“The protections that will be put in place to ensure that the information is not misused or publicly disclosed.”
“The safeguards that will be adopted to ensure that umpires will not be subject to disciplinary or other adverse job actions stemming from or based upon any of the information.”

And furthermore, WUA spokesman, Larnell McMorris, who also serves in such a capacity for the National Basketball Referees Association, (NBRA) said that the umpires also wanted to revisit their prior discussion with MLB regarding the use of an additional or 7th umpire for World Series games as well as the National League and American League Championship Series, given the need for an alternate in case of injury, illness or unforeseen emergencies. But Rob Manfred, MLB Executive Vice President of Labor Relations, depicted the umpires’ demands as an underhanded way to get an extra umpire for post-season play, again citing that such did not serve the ‘best interests of baseball’ and accused the WUA of not bargaining in “good faith.”

While MLB has no apparent problem with waving the ‘best interests of baseball’ banner when it sees fit for public relations purposes, it apparently is not concerned about it enough to ensure the game’s integrity in having enough umpiring officials on hand during the crucial post-season. And apparently such has been a previous concern to the WUA which remained unaddressed.

To date, when alternates are required for the 70 MLB contracted umpires, minor league umpires are called upon to pick up the slack. Although MLB umpires draw salaries ranging from a minimum of $87,000.00 to upwards of $250,000.00, minor league umpires, many whom have worked as much as many as 154 MLB games in one season, receive a pro-rata share of the minimum MLB salary. Minor league salaries are monthly, with a maximum of $3500.00 per month.

But are not games compromised when replacing MLB umpires with minor league umpires in a pinch? Especially with the use of QuesTec, the controversial computerized technology used to grade an umpire’s home plate ball and strike calls. Used since 2001, MLB has not made public the exact amount of such machines used in MLB stadiums. There are reports that as few as 13 stadiums have QuesTec and as many as 23 stadiums are equipped with it. But certainly not all 30 MLB stadiums have the systems.

While QuesTec has remained a contentious issue with MLB umpires as well as many MLB pitchers and catchers, umpires are graded on every game they call behind the plate and then evaluated by the Umpire Supervisor for MLB. Formerly former American League umpire, Frank Pulli, served in such a capacity prior to his retirement and now former National League umpire, Rich Garcia, succeeds Pulli.

But questions about the integrity of QuesTec remain. For example, the calibration of QuesTec varies from stadium to stadium and such nuances such as shadows and the locations of stands proximate to home plate can alter the placement of the equipment or change the end result of the scoring. This is noted with respect to curve balls and sliders which QuesTec cannot accurately discern as the ball may clip the corner of the plate initially but may end up outside of the batter’s box when caught by the catcher. Such would be scored as a strike, yet the umpire would correctly call it a ball.

Secondly, umpires are suspect of only one individual having full discretion to grade the umpires with use of QuesTec as he sees fit, and may not be an impartial judge, being an employee of MLB. And questions also remain about the revenue and financial arrangement which MLB has with QuesTec Systems and the monetizing of such arrangements which MLB to date refuses to disclose to its owners, players, or umpires.

That brings us to Frank Pulli and Rich Garcia and their own histories with the ‘best interests of baseball’. In 1989, after the completion of investigator John Dowd’s report on Pete Rose’s illegal sports betting activity, other indiscretions arose. We now know, as confirmed by Pete Rose himself in 2004, that he did indeed bet on MLB as well as on the team he was playing for and managing at the time, the Cincinnati Reds.

But what we did not know in 1989, until it was revealed some 13 years later in a report by the New York Daily News in 2002, was that then National League umpire Frank Pulli, then American League umpire, Rich Garcia, and then Chicago Cubs Manager, Don Zimmer, were found to have been involved in illegal sports betting on sports other than MLB, with members none other than the Genovese Crime Family in New Jersey.

At the time, then MLB Commissioner, Fay Vincent, disciplined Pulli and Garcia for associating and doing business with gamblers and bookmakers in violation of Major League Rule 21 or “the best interests of baseball.” Both came forward early on when called upon and satisfied both Dowd and Vincent. “With these guys, there was nothing involving baseball in anything they did. Anybody who doesn’t understand that misses the crux of the whole point, said Vincent.”

But the aforementioned quote was not from 1989 but from 2002, in the NY Daily News report which stated that Pulli and Garcia were put on 2 years of probation at the time. It was ultimately kept secret not by one Commissioner but two, when Bud Selig succeeded Vincent. The secret remained in Selig’s office for over 10 years and had it not been for Don Zimmer in his 2001 autobiography mentioning that he was also reprimanded by MLB, the secret might still be just that.

Now that the ‘best interests of baseball’ has reared its head again with respect to the gambling issue in the NBA, that which has never been addressed, is why sports betting by MLB umpires Pulli and Garcia was not divulged until 2002? And why were both Pulli and Garcia then subsequently rewarded by Commissioner Selig by becoming the exclusive individuals who oversee the QuesTec System and grade umpires on their calls from behind the plate? And fans are also aware, ad nauseam, about the failed oversight of performance enhancing drugs having been used throughout Selig’s administration.

It is evident now, however, as Selig nears the end of his contract with MLB which expires in 2009, and paid him a salary of $14.5 million in 2006, that he measures the success and integrity of MLB through eyes of a CEO of a Fortune 500 Company. He regaled at the beginning of the 2007 season that MLB revenue for 2006 was a resounding $5.2 billion. Yet, Selig’s continual foot-dragging on issues of concern to the fans are never addressed unless push comes to shove, such as intervention by the U.S. Congress or the threat of MLB’s losing its anti-trust exemption by the U.S. government.

But as long as MLB has benefit of Rule 21 to hide behind and use whenever it becomes convenient, it bears no resemblance to integrity whatsoever. And Commissioner Selig’s legacy more than likely will be overshadowed by how he looked the other way and how he may have forever sullied the hallowed records of America’s pastime in the process.


Copyright ©2007 Diane M. Grassi
dgrassi@cox.net

Labels: Anti-Trust, Business, MLB, Sports Industry

By Diane M. Grassi

The announcement on May 21, 2007 that the largest public company in the Middle East, by market value, would be acquiring a division of the world’s second-largest corporation, by market value, and based in the United States, could not have been any less publicized. But in the world of corporate governance, the largest transaction ever completed in the Persian Gulf, seemingly trumps all laws of reason.

However, there is little precedence established for a foreign owned totalitarian government controlled corporation acquiring a corporate entity in the U.S. Such brings us to the General Electric Co. and the sale of its GE Plastics, based in Pittsfield, MA. It has been one of its most successful divisions for over half a century. It includes numerous U.S.-based manufacturing plants and research and development offices, with additional locations spanning 20 countries. Employees total nearly 11,000 worldwide, with several thousand located in the U.S. New operational control, however, will be via offices in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, known in the Middle East as SABIC, is one of the world’s 10 largest petrochemical manufacturers and is 70% owned by the Saudi Arabian government, controlled by the Royal Saudi Kingdom and 5 other states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, including private Middle Eastern investors.
It employs approximately 17,000, worldwide, and shortly expects to be the new owner of GE Plastics in the U.S.

After GE Plastics was put on the market in January 2007, it got bids from Apollo Management, Inc., a U.S.-based private equity firm as well as Bassell, a Netherlands-based Access Industries plastics maker. Both proposed bids of GE Plastics were upwards of $10 billion. But it was the Saudi Arabian’s offer of $11.6 billion in cash and the promise of future energy ventures with its parent company, GE, which gave SABIC the upper hand in the acquisition of GE Plastics.

Wall Street portfolio managers will liken those opposed to this deal, still pending approval by the U.S. government through the Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S. (CFIUS), as protectionist, nativist and alarmist. And the U.S. has seen propositions like this before recently, such as the Bush Administration’s desire in 2005 to allow foreign ownership of U.S. airlines; the proposal by the People’s Republic of China’s state-owned CNOOC in the summer of 2005 to acquire UNOCAL of California, the ninth largest oil company in the U.S.; Dubai Ports World, of Dubai Holding, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) government-owned corporation, and its buyout of the United Kingdom corporation, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (P&O), for its port operations of six major U.S. East Coast ports in early 2006.

All of the aforementioned never came to pass, after much Congressional and public opposition, although the Bush Administration promises to revisit foreign airline ownership. However, Dubai Holding, the same UAE controlled company yearning to takeover U.S. ports was successful just months later in 2006 in acquiring the U.S. operations of Doncasters Group Ltd., a UK company based in Connecticut, and a manufacturer of precision aircraft engine parts for U.S. military and commercial aircraft engine parts manufacturers, like its competitor, GE Aviation.

GE claims that the prohibitive cost of petroleum, especially over the past year, has necessitated its sale if its plastics division, as it requires petrol for the manufacture of plastics and its various composites and resins. And although GE made a fair profit in 2006, it fell short of its 10% projected goal.

Less important to GE Plastics, however, is that there has been nothing firmly documented by SABIC, other than through verbal overtures, that they will continue to maintain GE plants in the U.S. According to SABIC CEO, Mohamed Al Mady, “We have no other plans at this time.” On the other hand he notes, “SABIC’s intention is to grow globally.” At least one of the U.S. plants is non-union, that being the one located in Selkirk, NY and over the long haul questions remain as to whether or not SABIC will move all operations to Saudi Arabia, closer in proximity to its oil fields, or to China where it currently has petrochemical operations.

Questions must also be asked when it comes to the rights and wages of American workers, who will take directives not just from a Chairman of the Board but from the Saudi Royal Kingdom, which presently restricts the rights of women in the workplace in Saudi Arabia. They are only allowed to work, and in limited industries, provided permission is granted by a male relative. And although technically Saudi Arabia must obey U.S. laws pertinent to ownership of a corporation located in the U.S., cultural differences steeped in a totalitarian regime practicing Shariah law may not properly translate to the American way of life.

Additionally, SABIC would have to adhere to the regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), such as the 1980 Superfund Law, holding corporate toxic waste polluters accountable. Such requirement is non-existent in Saudi Arabia or China. GE Plastics was mandated to clean up the PCB’s in the Housatonic River in Massachusetts and GE the Hudson River years ago, both fighting the federal government for years until a settlement was reached with the EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice in 2005. Ongoing completion and monitoring of said cleanup still remains in both bodies of water. But will SABIC fulfill GE Plastics’ obligations?

Founded in 1930 as a division of GE, GE Plastics arose from the initial results of Thomas Edison’s experiments with the use of plastic filaments in the electric light bulb as early as 1893, followed by the success of its Bakelite® synthetic plastic created in 1909. The plastics industry, however, primarily blossomed after former GE CEO, Jack Welch, assumed control of the plastics div