Wal-Mart Eavesdrops on New York Times Reporter
From the New York Times:
Wal-Mart Stores, the nation’s largest retailer, said today that a computer systems technician at its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., had secretly taped conversations between a reporter for The New York Times and members of Wal-Mart’s media-relations department from September of last year until mid-January.
The clandestine recordings were discovered in mid-January, and the company started an internal investigation, said Mona Williams, a spokeswoman for the retailer. Wal-Mart said it had also notified and begun cooperating with the United States attorney for the western district of Arkansas.
From Bloomberg News:
The retailer, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, learned of the recordings on Jan. 11 when a worker reported them, Wal-Mart said today in a statement. The unnamed technician was fired along with his supervisor, and another manager was disciplined.
The recordings took place over four months through January and didn’t break state and federal laws, Wal-Mart said. Last year Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairman Patricia Dunn and other officials resigned after company representatives improperly obtained phone records of reporters and board members.
“We’re looking at this to determine if there is a violation of federal law within our jurisdiction,” said Deborah Groom, the first assistant U.S. attorney in the Western District of Arkansas. The Federal Bureau is also investigating, said Wal-Mart, which first notified the U.S. attorney’s office Jan. 13.
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Posted by Russ Fagaly on Monday, March 05 | 26 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart fires technician for intercepting communications
From MarketWatch:
Wal-Mart Stores Monday said it’s terminated a systems technician for intercepting text messages and recording telephone conversations without authorization. The Bentonville, Ark., retailing giant said the decision follows an internal investigation that started on Jan. 11. The probe found the technician had monitored and recorded telephone conversations between Wal-Mart public relations associates and a reporter with The New York Times, which was notified of the situation earlier on Monday. Wal-Mart, a Dow component, added that the technician didn’t violate any laws because company policy states its communications systems are subject to monitoring and recording. The company said that it has kept the U.S. Attorney informed throughout the course of its investigation and that it learned on March 1 the U.S. Attorney plans to conduct a probe of the pager intercepts and phone call recordings.
Posted by Russ Fagaly on Monday, March 05 | 19 comments | Permalink
Poll: The Politics Of Health Care
From CBS News:
Americans think the U.S. health care system is in need of major repairs, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll.
Nine out of 10 say the system needs at least fundamental changes, including 36 percent who favor a complete overhaul.
Although most Americans say they are generally satisfied with the quality of their own health care, including 41 percent who say they are very satisfied, it’s a different story when it comes to the cost of care.
Just one in five are very satisfied with what they pay for health care, while a majority (52 percent) are dissatisfied, including a third who are very dissatisfied.
- Click here to read more about the CBS News/New York Times poll.
- Click here to read about the high cost of Wal-Mart’s health care.
Posted by Russ Fagaly on Friday, March 02 | 20 comments | Permalink
News For Electeds: The Tax Man Cometh
Trademark holding companies. Real-estate investment trusts (REITs). Which tax dodges - or “plans”, if you work at KPMG or Ernst & Young - are legal and which aren’t. Which move by a state constitutes closing tax loopholes, and which is a thinly veiled tax increase on business.
These are the issues facing state lawmakers and enforcement officials. Recently, we highlighted an article in the Wall Street Journal which chronicled how Wal-Mart escaped paying taxes in certain states by paying rent to itself. From the Wall Street Journal:
The arrangement takes advantage of a tax loophole that the federal government plugged decades ago, but which many states have been slower to catch. Here’s how it works: One Wal-Mart subsidiary pays the rent to a real-estate investment trust, or REIT, which is entitled to a tax break if it pays its profits out in dividends. The REIT is 99%-owned by another Wal-Mart subsidiary, which receives the REIT’s dividends tax-free. And Wal-Mart gets to deduct the rent from state taxes as a business expense, even though the money has stayed within the company.
Before the real-estate scheme, Wal-Mart was forced to pay back taxes in several states including New Mexico and Louisiana after creating its own trademark holding company. The subsidiary was created in Delaware, where many forms of corporate income are not taxed. By transferring the trademarks to a subsidiary, and then leasing them back to itself, Wal-Mart was able to deduct those lease payments from local income tax.
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Friday, February 23 | 15 comments | Permalink
News For Electeds: States And Feds Grapple With How Best To Help Uninsured
Health care has been a frequent topic covered in recent weeks, especially with the announcement last week that Wal-Mart and SEIU would be spearheading a committee devoted to restructuring the health care system in the United States. But until that change begins to be realized, states have been forced to take matters into their own hands, even if their methods conflict with proposals coming out of the White House.
From the New York Times:
In the absence of federal action, governors and state legislators around the country are transforming the nation’s health care system, putting affordable health insurance within reach of millions of Americans in hopes of reversing the steady rise in the number of uninsured, now close to 47 million.
But the states appear to be on a collision course with the Bush administration, whose latest budget proposals create a huge potential obstacle to their efforts to expand coverage. While offering to work with states by waiving requirements of federal law, the Bush administration has balked at state initiatives that increase costs to the federal government.
The current budget proposal President Bush has laid on the table presents a challenge to states looking to expand coverage, and does little to help those where money is already running out. Over a dozen states, including Georgia and New Jersey, will see their federal funds run dry within a few months. This has led Congress to face the prospect of bailing out states who run out of money, or risk the possibility that children will be removed from state health care rolls.
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Friday, February 16 | 36 comments | Permalink
What They’re Saying About The ‘Better Health Care Together’ Campaign
One week after Wal-Mart Watch President Andy Stern, Wal-Mart C.E.O. Lee Scott and other business and labor leaders announced the “Better Health Care Together” campaign to push for universal health care coverage, the initial reviews are in.
Here’s a sampling of the reaction from a wide range of health care experts, elected officials and skeptics:
- Los Angeles Times: “‘The fact they even got to the same table to talk about this in the first place is pretty amazing,’ said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, a national nonprofit organization that represents large concerns such as Exxon Mobil Corp., IBM Corp. and Procter & Gamble Co.” [Costello & Goldman, 2/8/07]
- Harrisburg (Penn.) Patriot News: “Wow. Two intelligent people with different jobs and backgrounds – arch enemies on many fronts – got together to push a mutual goal… That’s like Roosevelt teaming with Stalin to fight Hitler. Two opposing groups put aside their own serious differences so they could fight a common enemy. I mean, Stern is the head of Wal-Mart Watch, a group that monitors the retailer more closely than Israel monitors Iran’s nuclear program.” [Barstow, 2/11/06]
- USA Today: “‘What Scott’s reach does is give Republican moderates cover to do what they need to do, and Stern’s reach gives moderate Democrats cover to meet the Republicans halfway and solve the problem in a way both can live with,’ [Len] Nichols said.” [Appleby, 2/8/07]
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Posted by Media Team on Friday, February 16 | 18 comments | Permalink
EEOC Lawsuit Against Wal-Mart Revived
From the Kansas City (Mo.) Star:
A federal appeals court Tuesday reinstated a lawsuit alleging that Wal-Mart Stores violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it refused to hire a job applicant with cerebral palsy.
The case was filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in January 2004 on behalf of Steven J. Bradley Jr.
In August 2005, U.S. District Judge Gary Fenner in Kansas City granted Wal-Mart’s motion for summary judgment and threw the suit out. Fenner found that Bradley’s mobility limitations rendered him unsuitable for the positions of greeter and cashier.
In reinstating the suit, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not rule on the merits of the case. Rather, it concluded that significant facts remained in dispute, making summary judgment inappropriate.
“We’re obviously delighted with the decision,” said Robert Johnson, regional attorney for the EEOC. “We presented substantial evidence that Mr. Bradley was totally qualified to be either a greeter or a cashier, and it’s really up to the jury to decide that question, not the court, as was done here.”
A Wal-Mart spokesman did not return a call seeking comment.
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Posted by Russ Fagaly on Wednesday, February 14 | 0 comments | Permalink
Blue Cross Abandons ILC Bid
From Dow Jones:
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association said Tuesday it has secured a federal thrift charter and dropped plans to open an industrial bank. This marks the latest fallout from the public outcry over Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s application to own an industrial bank.
The banking division will be called Blue Healthcare Bank and will be based in Salt Lake City. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, along with 33 Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans, applied for an industrial loan corporation, or ILC, charter in January 2006.
This is the same type of charter that Wal-Mart requested in the summer of 2005 and that Home Depot Inc. applied for several months later.
From the Associated Press via Forbes:
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Jan. 31 extended its moratorium on applications for the special bank, known as an industrial loan corporation, for a year to give Congress time to act on the issue. This extended a moratorium that had lasted six months and had caught up Blue Cross’ application as well as those of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Home Depot Inc., DaimlerChrysler AG and other companies.
- Click here to learn more about the Bank of Wal-Mart.
Posted by Russ Fagaly on Wednesday, February 14 | 0 comments | Permalink
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