I have edited this post as of March 6, 2018, as more posts are now to come.
Too many people are still being affected by the scam continuing, and I keep getting requests to post more of what they see.
For those who have read this blog before, you might want to read the end of Point 2.
This is the first time I have posted some of what has happened through the years that is behind the scams, why they exist - beyond simple greed.
It might help you fight it.
The scammers need to be made aware of what they have done that they may not know they have, using illegal specifications and certain business practices. And how much they have hurt their families, their communities, all of us.
It has to be exposed.
The one thing politicians in San Francisco were so afraid would be done.
______________________________________
Point One - For those that are reading about the scam for the first time:
Here's the first TV report of the scam, it explains it and yes I helped them . The Tremco in-House Documents I gave them, from the author of the first trade magazine report on what they were doing, which came out the year I went to the FBI, in 1997. And yes, I am on the NBC Dateline Hidden camera flown out to me from New York, on this report on WLWT in Cincinnati, I shot it - of the third company involved, Hickman, started by the Marketing executive from Tremco.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGPNJxK1ZRQ
The first Legislature to hold a hearing was California, when I called one of the Committees. Many jumped in and helped. This was the first time three of the four major roofing manufacturers came forward to talk about it - ever. The fourth, Johns Manville, owned by Warren Buffet, openly private labels product for Tremco. You will see Don Lambrecht, talking, as well as the best boutique roofing manufacturer on on the West Coast, Malarkey Roofing. Jim Miner, who had owned Hester Roofing in Sacramento, figured out how to get them all to come forward: Don't mention the names of the perpetrators....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SPGTLMKT60
The first story ever linking the scam nationally was on the front page, Sunday paper, Dayton Daily News, Oct. 22, 2000 - a Cincinnati, Ohio area major daily (Cox Newspapers, who also own the Atlanta Journal and Constitution) and was on the New York Times Newswire for 17 months. My case was linked with the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation under Chris Christie looking into the scam, and their report printed in Sept. 2000. It is not available online anymore - at the very end of this post.
----------------------------------------
The link to the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation Report:
http://www.state.nj.us/sci/pdf/Roofing_Report.pdf
The link to the California Bureau of State Audits Report in my case - it is Chapter 5, starting on page 31 of the report and page 36 of the actual .pdf and is only four short pages. They got to the point - damning of UCSF and the specs from Tremco I handed them, the same ones I gave the FBI - who "Strongly Recommended Prosecutions" of my bosses at UCSF over the illegally sole-sourced specs : https://www.auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/I2003-2.pdf
The link to the SF Weekly front page cover story "The Fix Is In" I and another person were in, backing up each other's story and going to the same FBI Agents, February 26, 2003, of the 600,000 person distribution newspaper, and yes, it's not just roofing, another big area is another hidden maintenance item - mechanical costs: http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/the-fix-is-in/Content?oid=2147025
And here's a Facilities Manager who can no longer get a job thanks to his School Board firing him for going to the FBI regarding the sole-sourcing of Garland Roofing products (an offshoot of Tremco) - which the State Legislative Committee person told his School District personnel about...to get him fired....but the now infuriated School Board President (Ken Mettler, former President of the California Republican Assembly) and members were duped by an involved School Superintendent that it was something else, completely untrue. Anyone got a job for John????
http://www.bakersfield.com/news/2014/01/07/district-paid-900-000-to-settle-whistleblower-lawsuits.html
The GSA successfully sued Tremco. The GSA called me over the weekend before they went into Tremco's offices, from Cleveland, Ohio, and then flew out here to talk to me in the Federal Building in San Francisco. I sent them many documents roofers from all over sent me. Here's a report on that suit that the GSA won: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/rpm-international-inc-and-tremco-inc-pay-nearly-61-million-failing-provide-government
_____________________________________
Point Two - The Roofing Scam and How the a Political Party Used It To Control Votes: New Jersey to California
Caution for those who think I believe the scam is a "leftist plot". No, you have assumed incorrectly.
It's not a leftist plot, it's being used by those who find it convenient, to control others for money and power.
And it has appeared to have happened primarily with one party, remarkably, from New Jersey to California. Just reporting what has been seen, in over 2 decades. Can't help that.
I hope you heard what I just said. What I have written below is a quick encapsulation of what we have seen in just one state, and what has transpired in my case alone over the past 21+ years
It's what we ran into, over and over again when trying to get something done in the scam. Others are known to have had very similar experiences.
We didn't cause who was involved to be who they were. They just are. So - don't read into this that I think it's a leftist plot.
It is, however, a scam being used by those who find it available and convenient to control others for money and power.
Which gets back to what else? Greed.
I am not responsible for who chose to do it. Reporting the facts as to who did it is simply that - facts. It's false to assume otherwise.
For those who don't believe the scam has somehow been used in political hoo-doo: Just read what happened in New Jersey Sept. 6, 2007, after just one School Board member was targeted in the Roofing Scam Sting paired with Insurance Fraud....he pointed to someone across the state who controlled another board, who pointed them to another and so on - the FBI arrested 11 Democrats, including 2 Mayors, 5 City Council Members and 4 School Board Members. CNN reported on it here: http://www.cnn.com/.../POLI.../09/06/nj.arrets/index.html...
One of those arrested in that sting? On Hillary Clinton's panel of Mayors supporting her in her first Presidential bid. He describes how it was done....and what they controlled:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/clinton-supporter-arrested-in-nj-corruption-sting/?_r=1
The backstory I have never posted with everything that happened - so you can fight the scam effectively where you are:
It was three Democrats in San Francisco who threatened me over continuing my whistleblowing case.
Those are facts. No Republican did, after I left the Dems and went to the Republicans. Only one Republican tried to stop others from listening once - but he was directly involved with one of the three Dems who threatened me.
The first was the then Mayor/former 20-year State Assembly Leader, still controlling Mayors in San Francisco, then two San Francisco School Board Presidents - who were also on the Democrat Central Committee in San Francisco. One told me that she had been called before a Grand Jury regarding her Facilities Director being caught stealing millions from the San Francisco School District. She said that when she was "asked about kickbacks" she told them that "Everybody was doing it!" - laughing as she told me. Then she threatened my life, twice in the next two minutes.
Yes, both really happened.
The third, another San Francisco School Board President? Kept tabs on this blogger for about 10 years with a brother-in-law, unknown to myself their relationship, doing a design for a "cabin in the woods" just south of San Francisco. About 18 months before he was picked up with 27 others by the FBI for bribery and corruption, with yet another San Francisco School Board President for the same, I discovered the relationship. At that point, they approached me to have me do work on one of their houses, but through a daughter....and then he wanted to meet. He spoke sweetly but if looks could kill! - and did it again, outside. That was Sept. 2013. Then four years ago, the FBI picked him up, and he was convicted. Do you think they stopped at that point with the contacts? No.
Yes, it's real.
The threats exposed to investigators and myself how the Dems were using the illegally, sole-sourced specs in roofing (amongst others) paired apparently with kickbacks to own and control votes on the lowest boards and councils. If "everybody" was taking kickbacks, other than greed, who profited?
So at least here and it appears in New Jersey, these practices fostered an easy atmosphere of corruption to attain power and money....owning it appears boards and council's votes.
That might - think about it - explain the Dems' ability to own votes without any discussion and good working out of issues, that we see in so many bodies. And why the Republicans appear to be free to fight it out, and come up with solutions that seem to be working better, at least nowadays.
Just an observation. One not just made by myself.
And if that 1941 report from a psychologist was correct, the scam has been going on since the 1930's. Makes you wonder when the politicians grabbed it for a way to get more money and power for themselves. Ingenious, if you think about it.
After trying to report the problem in Dem-controlled San Francisco, I went to the Republicans.
It was interesting in that the Republicans in San Francisco appeared to have a wide diversity of thought and discussion, albeit being crippled. Crippled by Dem-friendlies inside, a couple of "moderates" in that were involved in trade groups, involved in similar activities in other construction products. Who got in and controlled what they could. It became very clear when watching and hearing exactly what they said and did. Blatant, in fact.
But it turned out the Republicans acted differently. If they were on the take, it would be done singularly and spectacularly.
Like what happened in California, with US House of Representatives Duke Cunningham (R), caught doing so singularly and spectacularly.
Politicians in the two parties seem to act differently, it appears, when it comes to illegal contracts and kickbacks. At least in California and New Jersey.
The wing of the Republican party members most interested in stopping the scam?
Conservatives.
I tested the waters, so to speak, and repeatedly - started with the Democrats when they approached me and threatened me, I did not go looking for that! - and that's what came out. Very interesting.
So which party threatened, which party had people that wanted to do something? And which party votes alllll the way down the line the same or get threatened by party leaders like Pelosi and are afraid enough to sit down instead of continuing clapping at something President Trump said at the State of the Union Address this year? (As an example).
After being threatened by three prominent Dems in San Francisco over a report I made to the FBI at the University of California, which none of them were involved with, you can't help but do addition: one plus one does equal two.
Watch what they do. Not what anyone else says about them, what they do.
All you have to do is test, test, test the waters, and watch, watch watch. You will see who is involved and who is not in your area. It could be different in different areas, just watch.
And work around them.
For those fighting the scam, be aware of that. It's key to what gets done and not where you are at.
In some or most cases, you are probably talking to the foxes in the henhouse.
In my case? It was the US Attorney General in San Francisco in 1997-8 that stopped prosecutions of bosses involved in the illegal specifications. The FBI had "Strongly recommended prosecutions" - but the DOJ - Department of Justice - refused to do anything.
Which means they knew what would be uncovered if they did prosecute, I understand. I know from the deposition of the FBI Agent in my case that he probably said more than the boss sitting there wanted him to - and he gave my attorneys more than they thought they would get.
It would be many more years later that I would find out that they had "strongly recommended prosecutions" of my bosses - and been stopped. Stopped by the the US Attorney General here. Who was the San Francisco US Attorney General around that time?
Robert Mueller.
I can't make this up. It's what it is and was. I still can't believe it, but it's what happened.
What would you do if that happened to you? Keep mum for two decades as I have about it? What did it gain?
In the early 2000's, I got complaints from folks back east trying to get something done, that FBI Agents were told "we don't investigate School Boards".
Who was the head of the FBI for about ten years, from 2001 on and during that time?
Robert Mueller.
Left me speechless. I don't know what to say other than I can't make this up. It's just what it is.
How can you explain that? I can't. Other than to note it. Observe.
How much got done during that time, and how many FBI agents wanted to do something but could not?
Only one got something done.
Again, and I stress: It's not a leftist plot, it appears that the scam is being used by those who find it convenient, to control others for money and power.
Please recognize this may be going on in your area. The potential political involvement can affect whether or not you can get anything done in the scam in your area.
Just be aware.
Now you know the rest of the story.
Except this: A Russian firm is very, very interested in how this scam works, out of St. Petersburg, Moscow and Palo Alto.
With recent events, it's become clearer as to why. Find ways to disrupt us all, perhaps?
They now know most assuredly how these illegal specifications and contracts can be and have been used to control Politicians.
Can this scam and how it has been used be good for any of us?
________________________________________________________
The first national news story on the scam:
OHIO COMPANIES FIGURE IN N.J. BID PROBE
Officials say specs were rigged to benefit roofers
BYLINE: Steve Bennish and Cathy Mong DAYTON DAILY NEWS
DATE: October 22, 2000
PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH) EDITION: CITY
SECTION: NEWS PAGE: 1A
MEMO: Contact Steve Bennish at 225-7407 or e-mail him at steve_bennish@coxohio.com
Janet Campbell says she was trying to do the taxpayers a good turn in 1997 when she took her suspicions about inflated costs in University of California-San Francisco roof replacement jobs to the FBI.
The move ultimately cost her a senior architect's job at the university, Campbell, now the plaintiff in a federal whistle-blower lawsuit, said. But a newly released investigative report in New Jersey shows the issue of price-gouging on public sector roofing contracts spreads well beyond California. The company involved in Campbell's complaint, Tremco Inc. of Beachwood, is one of two Ohio companies targeted in a New Jersey Commission of Investigation report that alleges systematic `cost-gouging, unscrupulous bidding practices, contract manipulation, questionable design, installation and inspection procedures and other abuses'' in the multi-billion-dollar roofing industry.
The report calls the abuse "national in scope," and the commission referred the findings to the U.S. Attorney and the Internal Revenue Service. Gov. Christine Todd Whitman has also asked the New Jersey attorney general and the state's inspector general to recommend safeguards as the state embarks on an $8.6 billion school construction program.
The Dayton Daily News first spotlighted public school re-roofing practices in 1996, finding that the costs of roof repair projects in area school contracts were driven up by specifications that favored a single roof supply manufacturer. Tremco specs were dropped in two roof jobs in the Dayton area after school officials had bid specifications rewritten to make the bidding more competitive.
The New Jersey report says Tremco and W.P. Hickman Systems of Solon, or individuals with company links, controlled the bidding on roof projects by writing specifications that favored the companies over other bidders and inflated construction costs.
Tremco spokesman Carl Zeitz on Friday declined comment on the Campbell lawsuit, saying the company was unaware of it. He said Tremco cooperated fully with New Jersey investigators, adding that "building owners have a right to get quality roofing and roofing service. Tremco has been in the business of doing that for 70 years.''
Hickman officials did not respond to a request for comment about the report.
As a senior architect, Campbell says she was ordered by her boss to use overly elaborate specifications for campus roofing jobs that only one roof supply company could possibly meet: Tremco, Inc. The bid specifications are known in the industry as "proprietary.''
When FBI agents visited UCSF officials, Campbell said, her bosses easily targeted her as a dissident inside source since she had already authored a critical memo. Then, she contends, they forced her into more menial work and, finally, a layoff.
Campbell, 46, alleges that UCSF intentionally thwarted state-mandated competitive bidding requirements in 10 roofing projects, saddling taxpayers with $944,000 in needless expenses.
`It's mind-boggling that in public service you are told to do something against the law and people look the other way,'' she said. `Architects can't do that if we take our licenses seriously.''
The New Jersey commission estimated overcharges of $10 million on $37.8 million spent on replacement roofs, mainly because of overpriced proprietary roofing materials such as polymer-modified tar or asphalts marketed by a single manufacturer.
`It's major,'' said New Jersey commission staffer Lee Seglem, who helped write the final report. `Taxpayers are getting hosed from one coast to another. These ripoffs have clearly repeated themselves in other states.''
The report said "unscrupulous" individuals in the roofing industry exploit taxpayers by taking advantage of "unsuspecting, technically unsophisticated school district officials."
UCSF counsel Chris Patti acknowledged university administrators favored Tremco enough to let the company "help" write roof replacement specifications, calling Tremco an "industry leader." He also acknowledged the FBI investigation, but said no charges resulted and university officials didn't suspect Campbell as the tipster.
Patti insisted the roof jobs were open to competitive bidding. Campbell disputes that by citing bid specs that either mention Tremco products by name or mandate exact lab tests for particular materials. Tremco-formulated asphalts and other materials are the only ones that can meet the test numbers, Campbell said.
"It's a restrictive performance spec, which is in essence a closed spec,'' Campbell said.
In Ohio, schools have saved money by keeping bid specs free of proprietary language. Wright State University officials told the Daily News in 1996 that it saved $146,300 by tossing out roof replacement designs written by Tremco and The Garland Co. Inc., of Cleveland. West Carrollton schools jettisoned Tremco specs and saved an estimated $150,000 on two elementary school roof replacements, according to officials there.
David Fromma, a local roofing industry estimator, last week said bid manipulation in the public sector has decreased in Ohio. `If you get competition, you will get the right price,'' he said.
The New Jersey commission detailed a dozen examples of bid manipulation linked to Tremco or Hickman. For example, between 1998 and 1999 the School District of the Chathams in Morris County spent $356,000 on high school and middle school roofs based on strict Tremco "boilerplate" company specs submitted by company sales reps. The commission said the school district could have saved between $25,000 and $60,000 by keeping specs open. Tremco also shut out competition in the Green Twp. School District, costing the district $30,000 too much on a $176,000 job, the report said.
Tremco spokesman Zeitz said in both cases school officials preferred more reliable Tremco company products.
Charlotte Gaal, the commission's attorney who headed the probe, said abuses reached a high point in the Edison Twp. Board of Education's $6.67 million, 17-roof replacement project that began in 1997.
Key players: roofing consultant Thomas M. Saltzgueber of Mount Holly N.J., a convicted felon in a 1980s-era car wreck insurance scheme; and C. Kelcy Pegler, a Hickman Systems sales rep.
The report said Saltzgueber manipulated bidding and contract specs to ensure that Hickman received millions of dollars in materials supply contracts. At the same time, the report says, Saltzgueber and companies that he and his son controlled received more than $361,000 in secret payments disguised as fees for roof inspections from Hickman from 1995 to 1998. The probe said Pegler and Saltzgueber together pocketed $764,000 in fees and commissions on the Edison jobs.
Saltzgueber was portrayed as an aggressive salesman: He took school officials and contractors on lunches and golf outings and even lost $480 in a golf wager to one school official in Egg Harbor Twp.
Roofing experts told the commission Edison spent $1.1 million more than necessary.
Pegler and Saltzgueber declined to testify before the commission. Hickman also declined.
Campbell said school officials need to hire independent architects to keep the system honest.
"I don't like the fact that taxpayers are being so badly ripped off,'' she said.
Copyright, 2000, Cox Ohio Publishing. All rights reserved.
· Illustration: PHOTO: JANET CAMPBELL alleges that University of
California at San Francisco intentionally evaded state-mandated
competitive bidding requirements in 10 roofing projects.
CREDIT: NOAH BERGER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Too many people are still being affected by the scam continuing, and I keep getting requests to post more of what they see.
For those who have read this blog before, you might want to read the end of Point 2.
This is the first time I have posted some of what has happened through the years that is behind the scams, why they exist - beyond simple greed.
It might help you fight it.
The scammers need to be made aware of what they have done that they may not know they have, using illegal specifications and certain business practices. And how much they have hurt their families, their communities, all of us.
It has to be exposed.
The one thing politicians in San Francisco were so afraid would be done.
______________________________________
Point One - For those that are reading about the scam for the first time:
Here's the first TV report of the scam, it explains it and yes I helped them . The Tremco in-House Documents I gave them, from the author of the first trade magazine report on what they were doing, which came out the year I went to the FBI, in 1997. And yes, I am on the NBC Dateline Hidden camera flown out to me from New York, on this report on WLWT in Cincinnati, I shot it - of the third company involved, Hickman, started by the Marketing executive from Tremco.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGPNJxK1ZRQ
The first Legislature to hold a hearing was California, when I called one of the Committees. Many jumped in and helped. This was the first time three of the four major roofing manufacturers came forward to talk about it - ever. The fourth, Johns Manville, owned by Warren Buffet, openly private labels product for Tremco. You will see Don Lambrecht, talking, as well as the best boutique roofing manufacturer on on the West Coast, Malarkey Roofing. Jim Miner, who had owned Hester Roofing in Sacramento, figured out how to get them all to come forward: Don't mention the names of the perpetrators....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SPGTLMKT60
The first story ever linking the scam nationally was on the front page, Sunday paper, Dayton Daily News, Oct. 22, 2000 - a Cincinnati, Ohio area major daily (Cox Newspapers, who also own the Atlanta Journal and Constitution) and was on the New York Times Newswire for 17 months. My case was linked with the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation under Chris Christie looking into the scam, and their report printed in Sept. 2000. It is not available online anymore - at the very end of this post.
----------------------------------------
The link to the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation Report:
http://www.state.nj.us/sci/pdf/Roofing_Report.pdf
The link to the California Bureau of State Audits Report in my case - it is Chapter 5, starting on page 31 of the report and page 36 of the actual .pdf and is only four short pages. They got to the point - damning of UCSF and the specs from Tremco I handed them, the same ones I gave the FBI - who "Strongly Recommended Prosecutions" of my bosses at UCSF over the illegally sole-sourced specs : https://www.auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/I2003-2.pdf
The link to the SF Weekly front page cover story "The Fix Is In" I and another person were in, backing up each other's story and going to the same FBI Agents, February 26, 2003, of the 600,000 person distribution newspaper, and yes, it's not just roofing, another big area is another hidden maintenance item - mechanical costs: http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/the-fix-is-in/Content?oid=2147025
And here's a Facilities Manager who can no longer get a job thanks to his School Board firing him for going to the FBI regarding the sole-sourcing of Garland Roofing products (an offshoot of Tremco) - which the State Legislative Committee person told his School District personnel about...to get him fired....but the now infuriated School Board President (Ken Mettler, former President of the California Republican Assembly) and members were duped by an involved School Superintendent that it was something else, completely untrue. Anyone got a job for John????
http://www.bakersfield.com/news/2014/01/07/district-paid-900-000-to-settle-whistleblower-lawsuits.html
The GSA successfully sued Tremco. The GSA called me over the weekend before they went into Tremco's offices, from Cleveland, Ohio, and then flew out here to talk to me in the Federal Building in San Francisco. I sent them many documents roofers from all over sent me. Here's a report on that suit that the GSA won: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/rpm-international-inc-and-tremco-inc-pay-nearly-61-million-failing-provide-government
_____________________________________
Point Two - The Roofing Scam and How the a Political Party Used It To Control Votes: New Jersey to California
Caution for those who think I believe the scam is a "leftist plot". No, you have assumed incorrectly.
It's not a leftist plot, it's being used by those who find it convenient, to control others for money and power.
And it has appeared to have happened primarily with one party, remarkably, from New Jersey to California. Just reporting what has been seen, in over 2 decades. Can't help that.
I hope you heard what I just said. What I have written below is a quick encapsulation of what we have seen in just one state, and what has transpired in my case alone over the past 21+ years
It's what we ran into, over and over again when trying to get something done in the scam. Others are known to have had very similar experiences.
We didn't cause who was involved to be who they were. They just are. So - don't read into this that I think it's a leftist plot.
It is, however, a scam being used by those who find it available and convenient to control others for money and power.
Which gets back to what else? Greed.
I am not responsible for who chose to do it. Reporting the facts as to who did it is simply that - facts. It's false to assume otherwise.
For those who don't believe the scam has somehow been used in political hoo-doo: Just read what happened in New Jersey Sept. 6, 2007, after just one School Board member was targeted in the Roofing Scam Sting paired with Insurance Fraud....he pointed to someone across the state who controlled another board, who pointed them to another and so on - the FBI arrested 11 Democrats, including 2 Mayors, 5 City Council Members and 4 School Board Members. CNN reported on it here: http://www.cnn.com/.../POLI.../09/06/nj.arrets/index.html...
One of those arrested in that sting? On Hillary Clinton's panel of Mayors supporting her in her first Presidential bid. He describes how it was done....and what they controlled:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/clinton-supporter-arrested-in-nj-corruption-sting/?_r=1
The backstory I have never posted with everything that happened - so you can fight the scam effectively where you are:
It was three Democrats in San Francisco who threatened me over continuing my whistleblowing case.
Those are facts. No Republican did, after I left the Dems and went to the Republicans. Only one Republican tried to stop others from listening once - but he was directly involved with one of the three Dems who threatened me.
The first was the then Mayor/former 20-year State Assembly Leader, still controlling Mayors in San Francisco, then two San Francisco School Board Presidents - who were also on the Democrat Central Committee in San Francisco. One told me that she had been called before a Grand Jury regarding her Facilities Director being caught stealing millions from the San Francisco School District. She said that when she was "asked about kickbacks" she told them that "Everybody was doing it!" - laughing as she told me. Then she threatened my life, twice in the next two minutes.
Yes, both really happened.
The third, another San Francisco School Board President? Kept tabs on this blogger for about 10 years with a brother-in-law, unknown to myself their relationship, doing a design for a "cabin in the woods" just south of San Francisco. About 18 months before he was picked up with 27 others by the FBI for bribery and corruption, with yet another San Francisco School Board President for the same, I discovered the relationship. At that point, they approached me to have me do work on one of their houses, but through a daughter....and then he wanted to meet. He spoke sweetly but if looks could kill! - and did it again, outside. That was Sept. 2013. Then four years ago, the FBI picked him up, and he was convicted. Do you think they stopped at that point with the contacts? No.
Yes, it's real.
The threats exposed to investigators and myself how the Dems were using the illegally, sole-sourced specs in roofing (amongst others) paired apparently with kickbacks to own and control votes on the lowest boards and councils. If "everybody" was taking kickbacks, other than greed, who profited?
So at least here and it appears in New Jersey, these practices fostered an easy atmosphere of corruption to attain power and money....owning it appears boards and council's votes.
That might - think about it - explain the Dems' ability to own votes without any discussion and good working out of issues, that we see in so many bodies. And why the Republicans appear to be free to fight it out, and come up with solutions that seem to be working better, at least nowadays.
Just an observation. One not just made by myself.
And if that 1941 report from a psychologist was correct, the scam has been going on since the 1930's. Makes you wonder when the politicians grabbed it for a way to get more money and power for themselves. Ingenious, if you think about it.
After trying to report the problem in Dem-controlled San Francisco, I went to the Republicans.
It was interesting in that the Republicans in San Francisco appeared to have a wide diversity of thought and discussion, albeit being crippled. Crippled by Dem-friendlies inside, a couple of "moderates" in that were involved in trade groups, involved in similar activities in other construction products. Who got in and controlled what they could. It became very clear when watching and hearing exactly what they said and did. Blatant, in fact.
But it turned out the Republicans acted differently. If they were on the take, it would be done singularly and spectacularly.
Like what happened in California, with US House of Representatives Duke Cunningham (R), caught doing so singularly and spectacularly.
Politicians in the two parties seem to act differently, it appears, when it comes to illegal contracts and kickbacks. At least in California and New Jersey.
The wing of the Republican party members most interested in stopping the scam?
Conservatives.
I tested the waters, so to speak, and repeatedly - started with the Democrats when they approached me and threatened me, I did not go looking for that! - and that's what came out. Very interesting.
So which party threatened, which party had people that wanted to do something? And which party votes alllll the way down the line the same or get threatened by party leaders like Pelosi and are afraid enough to sit down instead of continuing clapping at something President Trump said at the State of the Union Address this year? (As an example).
After being threatened by three prominent Dems in San Francisco over a report I made to the FBI at the University of California, which none of them were involved with, you can't help but do addition: one plus one does equal two.
Watch what they do. Not what anyone else says about them, what they do.
All you have to do is test, test, test the waters, and watch, watch watch. You will see who is involved and who is not in your area. It could be different in different areas, just watch.
And work around them.
For those fighting the scam, be aware of that. It's key to what gets done and not where you are at.
In some or most cases, you are probably talking to the foxes in the henhouse.
In my case? It was the US Attorney General in San Francisco in 1997-8 that stopped prosecutions of bosses involved in the illegal specifications. The FBI had "Strongly recommended prosecutions" - but the DOJ - Department of Justice - refused to do anything.
Which means they knew what would be uncovered if they did prosecute, I understand. I know from the deposition of the FBI Agent in my case that he probably said more than the boss sitting there wanted him to - and he gave my attorneys more than they thought they would get.
It would be many more years later that I would find out that they had "strongly recommended prosecutions" of my bosses - and been stopped. Stopped by the the US Attorney General here. Who was the San Francisco US Attorney General around that time?
Robert Mueller.
I can't make this up. It's what it is and was. I still can't believe it, but it's what happened.
What would you do if that happened to you? Keep mum for two decades as I have about it? What did it gain?
In the early 2000's, I got complaints from folks back east trying to get something done, that FBI Agents were told "we don't investigate School Boards".
Who was the head of the FBI for about ten years, from 2001 on and during that time?
Robert Mueller.
Left me speechless. I don't know what to say other than I can't make this up. It's just what it is.
How can you explain that? I can't. Other than to note it. Observe.
How much got done during that time, and how many FBI agents wanted to do something but could not?
Only one got something done.
Again, and I stress: It's not a leftist plot, it appears that the scam is being used by those who find it convenient, to control others for money and power.
Please recognize this may be going on in your area. The potential political involvement can affect whether or not you can get anything done in the scam in your area.
Just be aware.
Now you know the rest of the story.
Except this: A Russian firm is very, very interested in how this scam works, out of St. Petersburg, Moscow and Palo Alto.
With recent events, it's become clearer as to why. Find ways to disrupt us all, perhaps?
They now know most assuredly how these illegal specifications and contracts can be and have been used to control Politicians.
Can this scam and how it has been used be good for any of us?
________________________________________________________
The first national news story on the scam:
OHIO COMPANIES FIGURE IN N.J. BID PROBE
Officials say specs were rigged to benefit roofers
BYLINE: Steve Bennish and Cathy Mong DAYTON DAILY NEWS
DATE: October 22, 2000
PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH) EDITION: CITY
SECTION: NEWS PAGE: 1A
MEMO: Contact Steve Bennish at 225-7407 or e-mail him at steve_bennish@coxohio.com
Janet Campbell says she was trying to do the taxpayers a good turn in 1997 when she took her suspicions about inflated costs in University of California-San Francisco roof replacement jobs to the FBI.
The move ultimately cost her a senior architect's job at the university, Campbell, now the plaintiff in a federal whistle-blower lawsuit, said. But a newly released investigative report in New Jersey shows the issue of price-gouging on public sector roofing contracts spreads well beyond California. The company involved in Campbell's complaint, Tremco Inc. of Beachwood, is one of two Ohio companies targeted in a New Jersey Commission of Investigation report that alleges systematic `cost-gouging, unscrupulous bidding practices, contract manipulation, questionable design, installation and inspection procedures and other abuses'' in the multi-billion-dollar roofing industry.
The report calls the abuse "national in scope," and the commission referred the findings to the U.S. Attorney and the Internal Revenue Service. Gov. Christine Todd Whitman has also asked the New Jersey attorney general and the state's inspector general to recommend safeguards as the state embarks on an $8.6 billion school construction program.
The Dayton Daily News first spotlighted public school re-roofing practices in 1996, finding that the costs of roof repair projects in area school contracts were driven up by specifications that favored a single roof supply manufacturer. Tremco specs were dropped in two roof jobs in the Dayton area after school officials had bid specifications rewritten to make the bidding more competitive.
The New Jersey report says Tremco and W.P. Hickman Systems of Solon, or individuals with company links, controlled the bidding on roof projects by writing specifications that favored the companies over other bidders and inflated construction costs.
Tremco spokesman Carl Zeitz on Friday declined comment on the Campbell lawsuit, saying the company was unaware of it. He said Tremco cooperated fully with New Jersey investigators, adding that "building owners have a right to get quality roofing and roofing service. Tremco has been in the business of doing that for 70 years.''
Hickman officials did not respond to a request for comment about the report.
As a senior architect, Campbell says she was ordered by her boss to use overly elaborate specifications for campus roofing jobs that only one roof supply company could possibly meet: Tremco, Inc. The bid specifications are known in the industry as "proprietary.''
When FBI agents visited UCSF officials, Campbell said, her bosses easily targeted her as a dissident inside source since she had already authored a critical memo. Then, she contends, they forced her into more menial work and, finally, a layoff.
Campbell, 46, alleges that UCSF intentionally thwarted state-mandated competitive bidding requirements in 10 roofing projects, saddling taxpayers with $944,000 in needless expenses.
`It's mind-boggling that in public service you are told to do something against the law and people look the other way,'' she said. `Architects can't do that if we take our licenses seriously.''
The New Jersey commission estimated overcharges of $10 million on $37.8 million spent on replacement roofs, mainly because of overpriced proprietary roofing materials such as polymer-modified tar or asphalts marketed by a single manufacturer.
`It's major,'' said New Jersey commission staffer Lee Seglem, who helped write the final report. `Taxpayers are getting hosed from one coast to another. These ripoffs have clearly repeated themselves in other states.''
The report said "unscrupulous" individuals in the roofing industry exploit taxpayers by taking advantage of "unsuspecting, technically unsophisticated school district officials."
UCSF counsel Chris Patti acknowledged university administrators favored Tremco enough to let the company "help" write roof replacement specifications, calling Tremco an "industry leader." He also acknowledged the FBI investigation, but said no charges resulted and university officials didn't suspect Campbell as the tipster.
Patti insisted the roof jobs were open to competitive bidding. Campbell disputes that by citing bid specs that either mention Tremco products by name or mandate exact lab tests for particular materials. Tremco-formulated asphalts and other materials are the only ones that can meet the test numbers, Campbell said.
"It's a restrictive performance spec, which is in essence a closed spec,'' Campbell said.
In Ohio, schools have saved money by keeping bid specs free of proprietary language. Wright State University officials told the Daily News in 1996 that it saved $146,300 by tossing out roof replacement designs written by Tremco and The Garland Co. Inc., of Cleveland. West Carrollton schools jettisoned Tremco specs and saved an estimated $150,000 on two elementary school roof replacements, according to officials there.
David Fromma, a local roofing industry estimator, last week said bid manipulation in the public sector has decreased in Ohio. `If you get competition, you will get the right price,'' he said.
The New Jersey commission detailed a dozen examples of bid manipulation linked to Tremco or Hickman. For example, between 1998 and 1999 the School District of the Chathams in Morris County spent $356,000 on high school and middle school roofs based on strict Tremco "boilerplate" company specs submitted by company sales reps. The commission said the school district could have saved between $25,000 and $60,000 by keeping specs open. Tremco also shut out competition in the Green Twp. School District, costing the district $30,000 too much on a $176,000 job, the report said.
Tremco spokesman Zeitz said in both cases school officials preferred more reliable Tremco company products.
Charlotte Gaal, the commission's attorney who headed the probe, said abuses reached a high point in the Edison Twp. Board of Education's $6.67 million, 17-roof replacement project that began in 1997.
Key players: roofing consultant Thomas M. Saltzgueber of Mount Holly N.J., a convicted felon in a 1980s-era car wreck insurance scheme; and C. Kelcy Pegler, a Hickman Systems sales rep.
The report said Saltzgueber manipulated bidding and contract specs to ensure that Hickman received millions of dollars in materials supply contracts. At the same time, the report says, Saltzgueber and companies that he and his son controlled received more than $361,000 in secret payments disguised as fees for roof inspections from Hickman from 1995 to 1998. The probe said Pegler and Saltzgueber together pocketed $764,000 in fees and commissions on the Edison jobs.
Saltzgueber was portrayed as an aggressive salesman: He took school officials and contractors on lunches and golf outings and even lost $480 in a golf wager to one school official in Egg Harbor Twp.
Roofing experts told the commission Edison spent $1.1 million more than necessary.
Pegler and Saltzgueber declined to testify before the commission. Hickman also declined.
Campbell said school officials need to hire independent architects to keep the system honest.
"I don't like the fact that taxpayers are being so badly ripped off,'' she said.
Copyright, 2000, Cox Ohio Publishing. All rights reserved.
· Illustration: PHOTO: JANET CAMPBELL alleges that University of
California at San Francisco intentionally evaded state-mandated
competitive bidding requirements in 10 roofing projects.
CREDIT: NOAH BERGER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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