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Financial Analyst day to day responsibilities
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SFA in Denver, Colorado
110 months ago
Good point, Maria. What kind of data quality have you encountered as a Cost Accountant?
The number of Financial Analyst-type job postings in the Denver area has dropped off in recent weeks, but that may just be a seasonal thing. Recruiters have the bulk of openings, it seems. 'Tis a shame - I'd rather not work for a firm that is willing to outsource so critical a part of its business as employee selection... but that's another rant that belongs on a different forum.
In any case, I'd risk no job over boredom. Boredom results in a much higher stress level for me than having an actual high-stress job.
Maria in Montreal, Quebec
110 months ago
data quality...what do you mean?
SFA in Denver, Colorado
110 months ago
Data Quality...all too often the data upon we analysts are expected to report is wrong or incomplete. Makes the job somewhere between tough and pointless when data about volume and cost are so mis-coded as to be useless.
I've just excused myself from a project controls job where I couldn't get within $6million of the (probably) actual costs on a $50million+ project because the larger "system" made it impossible to actually get the data behind the costs...a real mess.
Was your experience as a Cost Accountant different? Did you generally have good data on which to base your analyses, allocations, etc.? What accounting package were you using?
pgd in American Canyon, California
110 months ago
I am seeking a career change/redirection from commercial banking. In my previous banking positions, I have needed a good background in finance, accounting and good analytical skills. However, with centralization, my role is now more sales driven and business development filled with quotas.
I want to transition to a FA role where I can use my analytical skills. Regarding the field of Financial Analysis, I would welcome feedback on the following issues:
1. What skills should a FA have in their toolbox? Programming,
2. Will FA's become obsolete, replaced by in-house
3. Does anyone know what the market is for FA's in San
I know this is alot, but I seem to be spinning my wheels particularly with respect to recruiters and agencies. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!!
SFA in Denver, Colorado
97 months ago
Wow. I'd like to understand the criteria for "actual value to society." Who gets to determine this?
You're spot on (I think) in that many FA's do nothing. I certainly got paid OK for laregely doing nothing, but I quit (a number of times) because I couldn't stand sitting around (in A/C, sometimes with a great view of the Front Range) doing nothing.
The object of your angst, if I may make a suggestion, should be the managers who are incapable of designing an office environment that doesn't need FA's to sort out the mess that others create through lack of training or skill, and the managers who hire FA's simply because they feel the need to have x FTE's under them to feel significant.
Do a little more research into how the world works - people don't sponateously commune together to build roads and to maintain electrical grids, etc. Somebody plans the work, creates a budget in order to track cost and production against performance, and (because the work is "beneath" the engineers/operators and too complex for straight accountants, firms hire FA's to handle the analysis that lets management know if the work being done is within cost and productivity spec, and may eb the only channel by which a manager has any real clue about how well his business is operating.
Those who are overworked and underpaid, IMHO, should step up to the plate and quit. It's a real blast, I can assure you.
FWIW, "financial analyst," as used in this forum, identifies one involved in a form of managerial accounting. You may be thinking of one of the slicksters on TV who give the blah blah blah about the stock market. Those folks don't deserve the recognition of bing the object of an online rant.
Rycher in Montreal, Quebec
97 months ago
SFA wrote "Somebody plans the work, creates a budget in order to track cost and production against performance, and (because the work is "beneath" the engineers/operators and too complex for straight accountants, firms hire FA's to handle the analysis that lets management know if the work being done is within cost and productivity"
"Sombody plans the work" and "creates a budget"
Of what use is he ACTUALLY to the planning process?
One doesn't need to go to "business school" for 4 years so that one can make a budget and ensure that one remains within the budget constraints throughout a project. That can be learned in one afternoon seminar.
SFA wrote "firms hire FA's to handle the analysis that lets management know if the work being done is within cost and productivity"
Think about it- who will know better if the work is being done within cost and productivity?
Managing a budget can be done by the actual workers with a just a few seminars of training. A 4 year degree is not required to ultimately do a few calculations on microsoft excel.
SFA in Denver, Colorado
97 months ago
Whoa, things must be stressful up in Quebec!
Read my last...I didn't say that an FA plans the work. Managers should plan the business, not out-source that to an FA. The problem (see below) is that managers (the parties held accountable for the outcome of an endeavour) can't stand creating and managing the nitty-gritty, and do their utmost to offload it to someone else, consequences be damned.
"How hard would it be to create a budget?" Try it yourself for a complex $200million project or a large operating unit and see how it goes.
Hey, don't whinge to me about what it does or doesn't take to be hired as an FA. Tell the managers of the world out there to lower their hiring standards and then see what happens. You are somehwat correct in a roundabout way, however. Less than 20% of my daily life as an FA drew upon what I learned in the course of getting a masters in accounting.
"...know better if the work is being done within cost and productivity"..."Managing a budget can be done by the actual workers"
-- You are completely off the mark here, IMHO. Actual workers almost universally hate being "made to be an accountant." Try to get an engineer, inspector, district director, or floor supervisor, or craftsman to plan and to keep records in a format that allows for efficient comaprison of actual vs. plan and you'll begin to understand. Trying to get a professional construction inspector to record real data in a real format can be incredibly difficult.
Money, money, money. So, you're an ABBA fan? Awesome. Seriously, what was the company formed to do for its shareholders, break a good sweat? A good FA working in a non-dysfunctional environment will explicitly link the work, activity, material consumption (operations) with the financial impacts, both historically and prospectively. That is the pay-off of having FA's around, and yes, having them is a complete waste of time and money if the data is garbage etc., etc.
Financial Analyst in New York, New York
97 months ago
FA...hmmm what a wide huge spectrum of jobs within that two worded title.
Corps use the title very loosely, and people following this career path my get tricked and caught in an net, when they find out they wasted years of useless FA experience , because it was not F Analysis, and now you try to get a decent job in a respectable firm, you find that the required set of skills is as if someone was posting for a completely different jobs!!!! They are not the ones who are wrong, you are just a victim of some company calling everyone from the cook to the Concierge FA, coz they donno what they need !!!
Believe it or not, where you really doing Financial Analysis, you would not have a second of relapse, there is more work than a lifetime can handle.
SFA in Denver, Colorado
97 months ago
Well said, Financial Analyst, especially, "...coz they donno what they need !!!
I push like hell for real (and believable) job descriptions...guess that's why I'm still unemployed! ;-)
Financial Analysts are not (are not supposed to be):
and, above (IMHO)
Hyredgun in San Jose, California
97 months ago
I had a chance to read all the comments here. I was an FA for a few years in the bay area. I learned a lot, worked with some cool orgs. They weren't perfect, but pretty talented ppl...very competitive. The one thing I took away is that you have to be proactive when there's downtime (or anytime). That's hard to do if know one has taught you. But if you had lots of downtime, I wouldn't be surprised if you got canned within a year (nothing personal).
Do we need FAs (someone asked)...of course. If you had to ask, then you probably never were a real FA, or worked with one...sorry to say. There's tons of compliance that need to be done aside from any accounting or even budgeting: SOX, SOP 97-2, PO approvals, Accruals, I can go on. Nobody on the ground can do those things and stay on budget, make there own reports (accurate ones) and make goal...at least no one wants to.
I do something else now; it was time to move on.
SFA in Denver, Colorado
97 months ago
Good points, Hyredgun. Despite the content of any job description, an FA is the person who does what "...no one wants to."
Never been canned...I quit when I run out of things to do. There's never been a firm that can keep me busy ;-)
cincyFA in Cincinnati, Ohio
96 months ago
~7 years of FA experience - all of my jobs were nothing but boring long days ... sometimes , during a certain period of the month I was kinda busy .. Got laid off on June 1 this year. Had some phone calls and face-to face interviews, nothing so far, rude employers, bad manners etc. It is really hard and draining my selfesteem. but I guess WE ALL SHOULD NOT TAKE IT PERSONALLY. It the economy , NOT US .
SFA in Denver, Colorado
96 months ago
cincyFA - yep, rude employers, bad manners were the norm before things went south. Trying to figure out just what the employer wants is the hardest part, I find.
TashaFA in Chicago, Illinois
95 months ago
Being an FA is eternally boring. I've been doing this on and off since 2001 and I hate the long borning days, but I like the money. I've been unemployed on an off since March 2008 and it hasn't been easy getting back into corporate america.
Mark in Sugar Land, Texas
93 months ago
wow this is strange because every where i read says that the average work week for FA is at least 80hr during the first couple years. I'm in my junior year of college and was playing to major in accounting & pursue a career as FA because of the lucrative salaries but been having second thoughts by the FA's average work week which i read is very different from what you all describe. maybe thats just a big firms on wall-street.
How much were you guys making? Average Bonus?
I'm also worried about landing a FA job because i'm not attending an ivy league school. Thats why i'm majoring in accounting, i figure it will provide me with additional jobs option in case i can't get a FA position.
any thoughts?
Deb in Cudahy, Wisconsin
93 months ago
Gentleman Jack in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania said: Hi. I hope someone can help me out. In short: I was in Accounting about 5 years, then switched to Financial Analysis, hoping it would be a step up from what I was doing. I have to admit that the Acct. career kept me busy on a daily basis (which I love...I'm one of those that needs to keep busy).
Try getting a position in manufacturing - you will have plenty to do!!!
SFA in Denver, Colorado
93 months ago
Hi Deb -
What you describe, unfortunately, very closely mirrors my experience as an FA. I don't reall know why, other than to guess that it's simply the nature of the the job. Managers really can't judge workload needs very well, IMHO, but hey can't give up having a certain number of people reporting to them, either.
Having quite similarly boring jobs in the past and then looked for work, I would suggest that you hang in there until you land your next job.
Good luck
SFA in Denver, Colorado
93 months ago
Sorry, Deb, I meant to reply to Gent. Jack's comment...no coffee yet...
Leah in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
93 months ago
I have an interview for a Sr. Analyst position, but I have only been working as a FA for only a yr now!! They were asking me questions over the phone about modelling, but i dont have much experience with that!! What should I say during my face-to-face interview??
SFA in Denver, Colorado
93 months ago
Find out as much as you can so that you can talk the talk, and ensure them that you are 100% keen and capable of becoming a terrific modeler.
Congrats and good luck!
Leah in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
93 months ago
okay!! we have a modelling module on our accounting system, but we dont really use it!! i was going to say: our Budget Model provides a management tool that enables us to enter known financial info into a simple preprogrammed spreadsheet. Once info is entered into the model, the budget is automatically calculated that can be exported into the accounting software and monthly variance reports can be used to improve financial management of the organization.
Leah in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
93 months ago
I know most companies use Budget Wizards and they are not hard to work with at all, but we use Biznet here, so we dont have to use the Budget Wizard!!
SFA in Denver, Colorado
93 months ago
A little inside info sure would be helpful for you, wouldn't it?
It sounds a little generic to me, as they may be looking for someone to undertand the business from scratch and replicate the main cost and profit drivers in a custom Excel spreadsheet.
I'd suggest working LinkedIn to find a name in a similar (or past) position at the firm who'd be willing to guide you a bit. There's some risk here, especially if others don't know that the firm is hiring...tread carefully.
Leah in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
93 months ago
That's a good idea. I will do that!!
Tatiana in Toronto, Ontario
92 months ago
I worked as a FA in corporation (100 divisions, 10 Business Unit) as part of a Treasure division. It was my first job after graduation. I really love it!!!. I analyzed Statement from all divisions that belong to Tele Business Unit and I also analyzed Total corporate sale and cost analysis comparing with similar previous period. I was very busy. I also look at loan application, evaluated financial leverage, and liquidity, and solvency, variances of sale budget to evaluate if the amount could be approved. Although it was a junior position I really like it. I didn't do any J/E or cheq deposit or accounting task. Now in Canada I was looking for a similar job position for years…more than 4 years but nothing. Last year, I decided to go for my CMA designation to get in the field. I recently got a job as junior FA and what they doing is basic J/E and cheq deposit. I feel totally disappointed. They analyze only expenses but comparing Aug to sept but total amount. Not any analysis Aug 09/08 from previous year Am I totally wrong. I need a certification for doing J/E? I need help….
SFA in Denver, Colorado
92 months ago
Congrats on having a job, but sorry to hear that your FA role excludes any actual (useful/interesting) analysis.
Employers' tendency to equivocate "Financial Analyst" with "do-er of whatever we need done" is one of the big problems for FA's out there. I guess that there is a perceived stigma on "accounting" to the extent that people (wrongfully) think of it as just JE work, so employers try to dress it up by calling the position an Analyst of some type.
Hang in there and catch the next better train out of there.
Sole FA in Quezon City, Philippines
92 months ago
Hi everyone! It's really nice to know that there's a forum for all Financial Analyst all over the world. Well, I've been a FA in our company for less than a year. But, I may say, I have a lot of meaningful experiences so far. As far as I understand our job, FA jobs are defined based on what every company needs to have. Luckily in my case, it's not my job to do J/E or any accounting works. I just used the accounting data and FS for my analysis. Some of my tasks are: to do a 5-year business plan, evaluate/assess the credit worthiness of a prospective customer, do some internal audit or compliance audit and FS Analysis of our competitors. What I like with my job is that during the first half of the month, I'm so busy. While, during the other half of the month, I'm not quite busy but this is the time my boss give me some special tasks to be perform (ad hoc reports). I'm happy with my job right now hehe.
oceanblue in Falls Church, Virginia
91 months ago
Hi, I just graduated with my MBA in finance and I am looking for a FA poition. Could you please someone tell me what kind of questions they are going to ask in interview? I am new to this field and I need some feed back.
Geo in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania
87 months ago
In my opinion, any FA should be fully utilized for a number of projects and roles. In my past FA roles I have been involved in:
A good FA can definitely get highly involved it the business and work along top management. Sure it has its mundane parts such as variance analysis, but whenever you can add value to the organization, or even better, to your professional life, than I think it's well worth the subtle aggravations. Just try to be as assertive as possible in organization so you can get more involved in management or special projects.
kia in Toronto, Ontario
85 months ago
I have taken my MBA and now preparing for CFA level 1 exam. But becasue of my background which is not in finance (it is in healthcare)I have not been to find any job in finance. I can work with excel very well and now learning financial modeling. When I look at job requirements they all ask for SQL and VBA. As financial analysts do you really use SQL and VBA at work and how difficult are they to learn ( I know this is a dumb question). do you have any advice on other skills that I should learn to be able to find a job as a FA?
Thank you for your answers
SFA in Denver, Colorado
85 months ago
I've used SQL heavily, albeit indirectly, through using MS Access in basically all of my jobs in the past 8-9 years. I've used VBA occasionally, mostly to automate execution of processes in Access. FA's are commonly tasked with doing analysis that can not be handled by a firm's existing systems, so it will be to your advantage to be able to get things done without being constrained by those existing systems.
kia in Toronto, Ontario
85 months ago
Thank you so much SFA for your response
George B in Windsor, Connecticut
81 months ago
Hi guys,
I have been working as a FA for 3 years now in CT and I have so much work to do most times, it gets quite stressful. I find a lot of FA in my local area often share the same experiences.
I do mostly budgeting & forecasting, but also spend tons of time explaining money related issues to non-Finance people.
However, I currently hate where I live and want to move out to Chicago, how is the current market out there now? I'm finding it very difficult to get any sort of responses to positions I apply to!
Thanks guys!
Buck Teeth in Arlington Heights, Illinois
80 months ago
Chicago isn't so great anymore. There have been many banks that have closed down and lots of FA's are in the area looking for work.
george in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania
80 months ago
I'd have to say I completely disagree with you. A good FA, accountant, or controller certainly sits in a air-conditioned office or cubicle for most of their day, but many venture out to have discussions with lead operations personnel. FA's and related do plenty to ensure that "resources" or real money and commodities are being used properly and within corporate financial policies and within the GAAP framework. Of note, this includes: providing corporate valuations for M&A's, SEC & Corporate commentary that is reported out to the public shareholders and executive management, ensuring that "internal controls" and standard operating procedures are followed, assisting top-level management with project "go" or "no-go" decisions. Also, a good FA can take data from various corporate systems and turn it in to beneficial information for senior management decision-making.
Last time I checked teachers work 10 months in an air-conditioned facility while getting "good" salaries and excellent benefits and pension. Construction workers often misuse "resources" to get a job that does not make economic sense to perform. And don't even get me started on other union, trades-men that work for 1x to 3x pay rates to perform their jobs at substandard quality levels.
By the way, an average FA makes a pretty low wage in comparison to most other occupations. Add in a daily average work week of 10 to 14 hour days with little downtime and the wage is further diluted. Also, most FA's possess graduate degrees, strong work ethic, and perform their jobs because they enjoy the "challenge" and not the wage or work hours.
Please understand a profession, before you knock it down....
Bobby in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
80 months ago
I am currently a college student majoring in both Mathematics and Economics. I'm considering just Majoring in Economics and having a minor in Mathematics. How much will this affect my chances of finding a Financial Analyst position? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
SFA in Denver, Colorado
80 months ago
Bobby -
Tina in Toronto in Ajax, Ontario
78 months ago
SFA, maybe u cant land a job because of your "I dont want to do this, it's beneath me,..." attitude. I'm a senior FA but i do whatever my director ask me to and i do it with a smile. Be it some accounting,, help with cash application, credit analysis, A/R, hiring, training new people, outsourcing, cover for her when she's not in, travel for her when she cant because of her baby,... I'm her right hand woman and my job is to make her look good and that's why I'm getting paid big money and big bonuses :-))
SFA in Denver, Colorado
78 months ago
Hi Tina - Sounds like you've found a great gig that suits your skills and interests. Nicely done - hang onto it with both hands!
Questcraft24 in Manila, Philippines
78 months ago
Wow, that's nice Tina! I can relate at times, especially the "do whatever your boss ask you to do" and of course, big bonus. Haha. I enjoyed being a FA but I'm thinking to go back in internal auditing. I miss the audit actions haha.
Brian in Las Vegas, Nevada
78 months ago
hi questcraft24,
Also to everyone on this forum,
This is a very informative resource for me, thank you.
Questcraft24 in Manila, Philippines
78 months ago
Brian in Las Vegas, Nevada said: hi questcraft24,
Oh, hi there Brian! Yes there are FA jobs here in Philippines, but not so many. I think the ratio of FA employee to the number of employees in a company is 1:300 (at least in my case). Also, usually only those multinational companies have this kind of job. About the salary, I think it depends on the company your working with. At least I could say - " just fair enough".
Questcraft24 in Manila, Philippines
78 months ago
Oh, hi there Brian! Yes there are FA jobs here in Philippines, but not so many. I think the ratio of FA employee to the number of employees in a company is 1:300 (at least in my case). Also, usually only those multinational companies have this kind of job. About the salary, I think it depends on the company your working with. At least I could say - " just fair enough".
Brian in Las Vegas, Nevada
78 months ago
Thank You Questcraft24! I guess pay should be fair enough because the living expenses over there is so inexpensive compared to the U.S. given that if FA wage in PI is the same avg. as in the U.S., savings could go up to as much as 70% of salary.
erinhartmann in Wake Forest, North Carolina
78 months ago
Philip Anderson in Englewood, Colorado said: So from what it looks like, my hopes of taking on a exciting job as a financial analyst is slowing dwindling. My job hunt has slowed down, because I'm not sure what type of finance based positions are out there. Any advice on what job titles to look out for?
Philip -
Good luck!
Bobby in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
77 months ago
What are the main differences between an Financial Analyst, Budget Analyst and a Risk Analyst? I feel that most businesses are looking for finance/accounting majors for any of these careers. Will Math/Economics work? Are there big salary differences between these occupations and are there certain types of companies to look for when it comes to internships that look good on a resume?
SFA in Denver, Colorado
77 months ago
Part of your challenge is the fact that employers massively abuse these terms, especially "financial analyst." An FA may work strictly with budget vs. variance analysis (and is therefore really a budget analyst), may be a mis-named accountant (if required to make journal entries or to reconcile/correct others' je's), and may get involved with analyzing aspects of risk. A risk analyst may work with commodities or other trades, helping to asses the financial risks of various forms of investment or position taking, or may entail figuring out what amount of insurance is required for different parts of the company. Budget analyst jobs I've seen listed tend to be in government firms, an area outside of my experience.
I'd guess that a math/econ grad would be bored as a budget analyst, but would be a good fit for a risk analyst in the trading room of an oil company or trading firm. Certain fa jobs might be great fun for you, others would be a total drag. Do your best to extract a solid and complete job description and ask lots of questions about the daily work and how your set of math/econ skills will be of value in the job.
Good luck!
Bobby in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
77 months ago
SFA in Denver, Colorado said: Part of your challenge is the fact that employers massively abuse these terms, especially "financial analyst." An FA may work strictly with budget vs. variance analysis (and is therefore really a budget analyst), may be a mis-named accountant (if required to make journal entries or to reconcile/correct others' je's), and may get involved with analyzing aspects of risk. A risk analyst may work with commodities or other trades, helping to asses the financial risks of various forms of investment or position taking, or may entail figuring out what amount of insurance is required for different parts of the company. Budget analyst jobs I've seen listed tend to be in government firms, an area outside of my experience.
Thank you very much for the response!
vaibhavi in Enfield, Connecticut
76 months ago
Hello everyone. its great to know people still like FA jobs. I have recently applied for Jr. Financial Analyst position at Robert Half International. I have interview this friday. And not sure what Qs to prepare for. They said I will have to take assessments before heading to interview. Only if the test results comes good than I can go for the interview. weired. Anyways I'm a recent college grad B.S. in finance. and this is my 1st time applying for FA position. I don't know much about FA position or anything in detail. If possible can someone explain it to me.
Thank you in advance.
SFA in Denver, Colorado
76 months ago
Congrats on getting asked in for an interview! It's very difficult to say what you should prep to be assessed for, as "FA" can mean such a wide range of things (accounting w/no actual analysis, budge-variance analysis, M&A and capital modeling, even "stuff" that has little to do with accounting or finance).
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
A large and enthusiastic group of booksellers and authors were among those who enjoyed beautiful weather in the Bay Area at the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association's annual trade show October 3–4, held for the second year in a row at the South San Francisco Conference Center.
The panel discussion "Is There a Monster Behind That Bookshelf? How to Navigate the Kids Section When You Think You Know Nothing About Kids Books" kicked off the children's events. Moderated by Antonia Squire of The Reading Bug in San Carlos, the discussion between two Bay Area booksellers – panelists Maggie Tokuda-Hall of Books Inc. and Mrs. Dalloway's Susan Peyrat – addressed ways general bookstores can make the most of their children's sections. "All new staff should be trained in children's books, not just the kids' specialists," Tokuda-Hall said. "Suggest that they think about the books they loved when they were children, and why. Also, have your staff read the new picture books as they come in through receiving. It's easy to do, and only takes a few minutes to get familiar with them."
"Shelftalkers are key if a clerk doesn't know a certain book," Squire added, "so have as many as possible in the kids' section. It's also important to invest in at least one children's journal. The starred reviews are a great tool to learn the books, and the kids' bestseller list in the New York Times is also very important." Peyrat has new staff members spend a day watching the children's specialist sell books. "And have them shelve books in the kids' section, too," Peyrat said, "It's a great way to familiarize them with the books."
Mary Ann Hill of Hicklebee's in San Jose asked the panelists, "What's the best way to transition kids from picture books to early readers?" Suggestions offered ranged from the general – books that kids can grow into help fill this gap – to the more specific. Squire recommended The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery by Graeme Base; The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne, illustrated by Sal Murdocca; and the Dragon Slayers' Academy series by Kate McMullan, illustrated by Bill Basso and Stephen Gilpin. "These are all good transitional titles," said Squire. "Have your staff learn the early reader section in the store. It's essential." As the session concluded, the panelists seemed in agreement on one key principle: being a bookseller in the children's section is the same as being a bookseller anywhere else in the store. "Nine times out of 10, your customers want your help," Squire said. "And nine times out of 10, you know more than your customers."
The audience was spilling out the door of the room where the popular children's rep picks session took place. Of the four categories this year, the reps chose to start with Drawing Sales (books with great illustrations); these titles included Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown (Little, Brown) and Dream Animals: A Bedtime Journey by Emily Winfield Martin (Random House). When it was HarperCollins rep Jim Hankey's turn in the Favorite Sleeper category, he pitched Anne Ursu's The Real Boy. "It's a wonderful middle-grade fantasy novel, and an Indie Next pick," he said. Chronicle Books rep Anna-Lisa Sandstrum chose The Good Ship Crocodile by J. Patrick Lewis and Monique Felix, a picture book about friendship. "No one dies in this book," Sandstrum said, "and no one ends up in a concentration camp." Sandstrum spoke about Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe by Tim Leong in the YA Winner category. "It's for anyone from 12 to 92," she said. "I don't like comic books except for this one, because it explained comic books to me. The infographics are great. One is a Venn diagram that details the characteristics of all the Superhero characters." In the category One Book I Want Everyone to Read, Kelly Stidham of Simon & Schuster made a heartfelt pitch for God Got a Dog by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Marla Frazee.
Hicklebee's owner Valerie Lewis moderated the Children's Author Tea with gusto. First to the podium was David Shannon, who gave a humorous talk about his new picture book Bugs in My Hair! (Scholastic/Blue Sky). Neal Shusterman discussed the third book in his Unwind Dystology, Unsouled (Simon & Schuster). "The idea for the book came to me after I read about the first face transplant," said Shusterman. "I started thinking about medical ethics, and how the gray areas keep getting bigger." Unsouled delves into the possibility of 100% human transplants, where "you're kept alive and every part of you is given to hundreds of people, and you're only worth the sum of your parts."
Graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang talked about his latest from First Second, Boxers and Saints, a two-volume set depicting the Boxer Rebellion in China. "Young men were angry about foreign incursion at that time, the end of the 19th century," Yang said. "For them, opera was their version of comic books. There were mystical rituals in Chinese opera, and these young men believed the gods depicted in the opera world would rescue them from persecution." The last speaker, Newbery Medalist Cynthia Voigt, discussed Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things (Knopf), the first in a mystery trilogy. "I have no idea what my writing process is," said Voigt with a laugh. "I come up with a general outline. Then I imagine as hard as I can. And then I write word one." When she began her new book, Voigt only knew that the character would be named after her first grandson, Max. "But I couldn't think of a plot." A fan of Alexander McCall Smith, Voigt said she studies his story construction for help getting started with a new novel: "I'm definitely one of those plot-impaired writers."
According to Hut Landon, executive director of NCIBA, the association has five designated children's bookstore members. "But more and more we're seeing expanded kids' sections in general bookstores. The children's specialists who work in them do an incredible job." On the show floor, the children's exhibitor booths were buzzing. Anne Seaton of Hicklebee's is excited about the upcoming holiday sales season. "Last year was killer for us, and we're keeping up with similar numbers this year," she said. "More teachers and librarians are shopping with us now, too." Cinda Meister and Brad Jones of BookSmart in Morgan Hill mentioned Jim Carrey's How Roland Rolls; Star Wars: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown; and The Dream Thieves, second in Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Boys series, as a few of the books they expect to be store bestsellers this year. "Our customers have already started shopping for Christmas," said Meister. "I'm sure we'll be up from last year."


text:
DELTONA, Fla. - The attorney for George Zimmerman will be representing the Deltona firefighter accused of raping several women.
The law firm for attorney Mark O'Mara, who represented Zimmerman in his second-degree murder trial for the death of Trayvon Martin, confirmed on Wednesday O'Mara will represent Terry Freeman.
Freeman, 32, of Deltona, was arrested Dec. 31 after a woman claimed she was raped by him after they met at a Sanford furniture store, sparking a string of victims alleging Freeman attacked them as well to come forward.
The latest charge marked the sixth case Freeman was charged in out of a total of 12 victims, with an additional victim reported, according to Volusia County Sheriff's Office. The Orange City Police Department has also filed a seventh case with the State Attorney's Office.
Freeman has been charged with one count of sexual battery with a deadly weapon/force, three counts of sexual battery using force, one count of sexual battery with no physical force, one count of attempted sexual battery and one count of false imprisonment.
Zimmerman was acquitted in July 2013.
Copyright 2014 by ClickOrlando.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
Missed the first part. When I turned it on he was talking about how great Chris Thomas has played.
It has some good stuff....
For audio of the remainder of the interview, click http://www.pacersdigest.com/forums/s...227#post219227
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Missed the first part. When I turned it on he was talking about how great Chris Thomas has played.
It has some good stuff....
For audio of the remainder of the interview, click http://www.pacersdigest.com/forums/s...227#post219227
Thanks for feeding a junkie. Elaborated on a lot of stuff thats been on Pacers.com, but still very enjoyable.
Not a problem.Originally Posted by McClintic Sphere
I'm glad that someone appreciates the fact that I risked life and limb beginning that recording while I was driving to the local Wal*Mart.........
Also, very good to hear Bruno is going to be giving as much info as possible on the Minny summer league games, box scores, interviews with Dan Burke etc. He sounded very dismayed that NBA tv had snubbed that league as well ,but was determined to make up the diff. with mucho reporting. Hopefully, we'll get some good Chuck Person quotes.
I actually recorded it with my .mp3 player, did a little editing, then converted to .wma. I can't remember the last time I used a tape to record anything....Originally Posted by McClintic Sphere
The noise at the end is me getting my stuff, getting out of the car and shutting the door......(after sitting in the parking lot for 6-7 minutes).......
BTW, is that Jack Kerouac in your avatar?
My .mp3 player does have a microphone. I have the iRiver iHP-120, which they probably don't make anymore. It's a fine piece of equipment.Originally Posted by McClintic Sphere
The audio improved when I parked. The internal microphone apparently doesn't handle road noise well.
My avatar is currently Fast Eddie Felson........
Secretly record the forum party? That would be a lowdown, dirty thing to do. I'm offended that you would even suggest it......Originally Posted by McClintic Sphere
(plus nobody drinks at that thing, so there isn't any drunken revelry. It's way too serious for that)


text: C-stores launch Amazon Locker program in their stores to give consumers a more secure delivery program. Convenience stores are adding Amazon.com web lockers in the San Francisco area. Amazon.com has been expanding its Locker system after testing services in c-stores in the Seattle, NYC, London and the Virginia-area. The addition of the Northern California locker


text:
MECHELEN, BELGIUM--(Marketwire - November 08, 2012) -
· In a 4-week multicenter trial GLPG0634 repeats its
excellent safety
profile: it shows no serious adverse events and an absence of anemia and
to LDL and liver enzymes, which are typical side-effects reported for
other JAK
· Clinical improvements seen in RA patients with once-daily
dosages of
75-300mg, significant over placebo and the lower 30 mg dose
· Statistically significant improvements in ACR, HAQ-
DI, CRP, and
Mechelen, Belgium; 8 November 2012 - Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG)
today that a second Phase 2A clinical trial with GLPG0634 repeated the
safety of the drug, as well as the clinical benefit to RA patients
within 4
weeks. Clinical improvements were seen in RA patients with once-daily
of 75-300mg. GLPG0634 is the first selective JAK1 inhibitor in
development for
RA. In February 2012, Galapagos and Abbott announced a global
collaboration for
GLPG0634 to treat autoimmune diseases.
In this four week, multi-center, Phase 2A trial in 91 RA patients,
GLPG0634 was
administered in five study arms at a wide range of once-daily
dosages of
placebo, 30, 75, 150 or 300 mg. Despite the fact that the study was not
for statistical significance, GLPG0634 did achieve statistically
improvement in CRP (C-reactive protein), DAS28, HAQ-DI and ACR response
rates at
the 300mg dose. Efficacy endpoints showed a rapid onset and sustained
until the end of the study. GLPG0634 was well-tolerated, with none
of the
patients discontinuing the trial for safety reasons. No serious adverse
were reported. The safety profile of GLPG0634 was confirmed: an absence
of the
typical findings reported with other JAK inhibitors such as anemia,
increases in
blood lipids (LDL) and effects on liver enzymes (ALT/AST). An
rather than a decrease in hemoglobin was observed in patients
"This larger, multi-center Phase 2A trial further supports the
positioning of GLPG0634: clinical efficacy combined with a differentiated
profile. This distinguishes GLPG0634 from other JAK inhibitors in
in RA. Dosing between 75 and 300 mg once daily demonstrated activity
several clinical parameters," said Dr Piet Wigerinck, Chief Scientific
of Galapagos. "These results enable us to move rapidly forward into
Phase 2B trials early next year."
Details of the Phase 2A clinical trial design
The Phase 2A trial for GLPG0634 enrolled 91 patients with active RA
arthritis), showing an insufficient response to the standard-of-care
methotrexate (MTX). The aim was to evaluate the efficacy, safety,
and pharmacokinetics of once-daily dosing of 30 to 300mg of GLPG0634 in
rheumatoid arthritis. Five groups of patients with active disease
took the
once-daily regimen of GLPG0634 or placebo for a period of four weeks,
while all
continued to take their stable background therapy of MTX. Efficacy
included the ACR20 and ACR50 response rates, the disease activity score
and the reduction in C-reactive protein (CRP), the primary blood
marker of
inflammation. Galapagos conducted the study in 19 test centers in
Hungary (4
sites), Moldova (1), Russia (5), and Ukraine (9).
About candidate drug GLPG0634
GLPG0634 is an orally-available, novel Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor
selectivity for JAK1 developed by Galapagos. JAKs are critical
components of
signaling mechanisms utilized by a number of cytokines and growth
including those that are elevated in rheumatoid arthritis patients.
inhibitors have shown long-term efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis studies
with an
early onset of action. GLPG0634 differentiates from other JAK
inhibitors in
development by specifically targeting JAK1, a strategy which could result
in a
better efficacy and safety profile. GLPG0634 showed excellent clinical
and safety in Phase 2A studies in RA patients. GLPG0634 is a fully
program to Galapagos. Upon successful completion of the RA Phase 2B
Abbott will license the program and will assume sole responsibility for
Phase 3
clinical development, global manufacturing and registration.
About Galapagos
Galapagos (Euronext: GLPG; OTC: GLPYY) is a mid-size biotechnology
specialized in the discovery and development of small molecule and
therapies with novel modes-of-action. The Company is progressing
GLPG0634, as
well as one of the largest pipelines in biotech, with four
programs in
development and over 30 discovery programs. The Galapagos Group has about
employees and operates facilities in six countries, with global
headquarters in
Mechelen, Belgium. More info at: www.glpg.com
This release may contain forward-looking statements, including,
limitation, statements containing the words "believes,"
"expects," "intends," "plans," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will,"
"stands to," and "continues," as well as similar expressions. Such
looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
factors which might cause the actual results, financial condition,
or achievements of Galapagos, or industry results, to be materially
from any historic or future results, financial conditions,
performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
these uncertainties, the reader is advised not to place any undue
reliance on
such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak
only as
of the date of publication of this document. Galapagos expressly
disclaims any
obligation to update any such forward-looking statements in this
document to
reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any
change in
events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based,
required by law or regulation.
Definitions of clinical parameters
ACR = American College of Rheumatology scores. These response rates
signify a
20%, 50% or 70% or greater improvement in the number of swollen and
joints as well as a similar percentage improvement in three out of five
disease-activity measures.
DAS28 = Disease activity score based on measurement of 28 pre-defined
HAQ-DI = Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index, which
patient health based on a questionnaire completed by the patient.
CRP = C-reactive protein, a blood biomarker for inflammation.
This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of
Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Galapagos NV via Thomson Reuters ONE


text:
My collection is mostly DVD, though I plan on buying Blue-ray at some point and only collect those due to the sub titles being in them.
I like some of the English dub but have become a fan of some of the Japanese Voice actors.
I have a collection of 85 box sets so far and about four shelf's of manga.
Still waiting for a reply from help area! And waiting and waiting...
My modest collection. Season 1 of Full Metal Panic is at my friend's house.
Yes but now I go for DVD/BD combo more
Cruising on my nimbus cloud
Someone complained early in this thread about my lack of bluray...
Now that I have a couple of anime blurays, I'm left with the conundrum of "Do I store them with all my bluray discs or do I store them with all my anime?" as they are not together. It's absolutely murdering my OCD. I hope you're satisfied.
pic related, it hurts me as bad as this does
Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide
Edit : Y'all have some really impressive collections, I love seeing what other people like!
[No information available]
Yeah, I still collect anime .__.
I own almost the entire Studio Ghibli collection!
Heey Crunchyroll x3 should i upload some of my own manga?♥
If i like it enough to own a copy yes. Plus i almost prefer to have Dvds of stuff.
my ex-wife got almost all of VHS collection. Back when you were paying through the nose for anime.
the bitch got my copies of:
Star Blazers Quest for iscandar (complete). i paid almost 200.00 including shipping and handling.
Mermaid Saga (complete) i think that one was 150.00
Project a-ko (one tape 60.00)
i got to keep my copies of Akira (90.00)
Warriors of the Wind (US edit of Nausicaa. it was a gift).
now that i have a region free player i have to upgrade to blu-ray. thing is my VHS collection is gone forever because a lot of that never made it to dvd...
You got a bad attitude Pops. Lighten up before your arteries harden!
If you are in north america then there is no need for a region free BD player as Japan and NA are both in region 1.
Oh and Little Busters BD 1 arrived so I can finally watch episodes 1-3! Kokoro Connect Kizu Random 2, Sukitte 2, Tonari 3, BTOOOM 3 all BD are on the way, should be here this week, soon if all goes well.
I do still buy DVD/blu-ray but only formy top anime the i lover.
Haters make me famous
Given that I have a projector TV, I still buy DVDs, but only the ones I see as favorites, so my anime collection is not very large.
I have more than i used to recently i got Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko and i pre-ordered The pet girl of Sakurasou 1
Senjougahara fascination!!!
I've recently started my collection, i have Akira, Baccano!, and soon i will have Soul Eater and Beck after they're delivered. But i was wondering, does anyone know where to find cheap and legitimate copies of Eureka 7, i don't want bootlegs and the ones on Amazon are fucking expensive.
i actually just started buying anime
Welcome to the nhk
Angel Beats
The world god only knows
I belive that buying anime is good because the advantages of no buffering, wait times or internet needed make it worth while
Sometimes I buy anime if it's a series I really like and the price is good. I think right now on DVD all I've got is Evangelion, Gurren Lagann, FLCL, the first season of Code Geass, the first season of Naruto Shippuden, and some random Pokemon movies. I usually wait to have a coupon or find something used.


text:
LOWER LAKE -- Authorities released the name of the Lower Lake bicyclist killed on foggy Highway 29 Tuesday morning.
Lloyd Lee Knight, 59, died after being struck by two vehicles around 7:45 a.m. just south of downtown Lower Lake, California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer Kory Reynolds said Wednesday.
The CHP alleges that the first driver to hit Knight as he rode northbound on the highway fled the scene in her Chevrolet Suburban but went to the Clearlake Police Department about 90 minutes later to inform officials she was involved in a fatal crash.
Aimee Christine Hubbard, 25, of Clearlake was arrested on a felony charge of hit-and-run causing injury.
As Knight lay on the roadway Tuesday morning, two approaching drivers pulled over and went back toward him to render aid, the CHP stated. They reportedly saw Knight trying to get up.
Meanwhile, John Weeks was driving a Toyota Prius northbound on the highway toward the scene, according to the CHP. Weeks, 62, of Hidden Valley Lake allegedly struck Knight and the bicycle.
Knight was the first person killed in a Lake County crash this year.
The CHP reported that visibility was reduced on the stretch of highway because of fog.


text:
The Exterminator
For a congressman who wants to get an idea across, there are few pulpits more bully than that of a House committee hearing. Tom DeLay, the six-term U.S. representative from Sugar Land, is fully aware of that, and so on the morning of September 20, he sat before a microphone in a hearing room in the Rayburn House Office Building ready to present his objections to an international ban on CFCs, or chlorofluorocarbons.
DeLay has sponsored eight different bills to amend the 1990 Clean Air Act, and one of his targets has been the Act's proposed ban on Freon and other CFCs, which scientists around the globe have long claimed are partly responsible for a growing hole in the ozone layer. Now, facing the dais on which sat his colleagues from the House Science subcommittee, DeLay read from a statement saying that the talk of ozone depletion is nothing more than a "media scare" and that "it is clear that man-made CFCs do not have as much of an effect on the atmosphere as normal climatic fluctuations." He lamented the cost of the chemical that will replace CFCs in air conditioning and refrigeration units. He told the committee that "there is another school of thought that is not tied to Chicken Little approaches to the environment."
DeLay was sailing along, suggesting reading material on environmental terrorism and proclaiming his background as a scientist, when he said something that seemed to indicate that he hadn't read what many consider to be the basic study on ozone depletion. Suddenly, Congresswoman Lynn Rivers, a first-term Democrat from Michigan, posed a question. She held up a glossy copy of a report titled Scientific Assessment on Ozone Depletion. The report featured a satellite photograph of the ozone hole over Antarctica and the seals of NASA, which is headquartered in DeLay's own district, the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization. The study represented the consensus of 200 scientists from around the world, and had been reviewed by another 200 scientists. Seven months earlier, when it had been published, the Environmental Protection Agency had sent out thousands of free copies of it through an ozone information hot line.
Tom DeLay
What Representative Rivers wanted to know was, if DeLay was so interested in the ozone issue, and if he was upset that scientists didn't listen to both sides of a question, why hadn't he read "the most important study on this issue, the ... broadest, the one that has worldwide input?"
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DeLay, as it happens, didn't have much of an answer. Still, being caught in an act of outrageous rhetoric has never done much to slow DeLay down. (And his comeuppance from Rivers received little attention outside the hearing room.) If there is one thing Tom DeLay truly loves besides playing golf, it is attacking the conclusions of environmental scientists. And because the former exterminator from Sugar Land is the majority whip of the U.S. House of Representatives -- and therefore one of the most powerful politicians in Congress -- his attacks have clout.
Rachel Carson's conclusion in Silent Spring that DDT was destroying such birds as the bald eagle and the brown pelican by thinning their eggshells? Wrong, insists DeLay, who claims that two million people a year die of malaria because DDT has been banned globally. (And never mind that a team of international scientists has attributed the rising toll of malaria to the destruction of tropical rain forests, which produces new breeding grounds for mosquitoes.)
Concerned over acid rain killing trees and lakes in the Northeast? It's a simple issue, says DeLay, and one Washington only made worse by ignoring the conclusions of its own scientists. There was no need to spend tens of millions of dollars on cleaning up smokestacks in the Midwest, DeLay insists. The whole problem could have been solved by pouring half a million dollars' worth of lime in the northeastern lakes.
DeLay does not flinch in his denunciations. The committee who awarded the Nobel Prize to the two scientists who discovered the ozone problem are a bunch of Swedish environmental extremists, he says, and as for the EPA, that's nothing more than a "Gestapo organization."
Invoking two pet phrases, "common sense and sound science," Delay insists that he's not a "crazy bug killer from Houston," but that he simply wants to rein in environmental overregulation. He points to his degree in biology from the University of Houston, and his business experience as a professional exterminator, as proof that he has both the scientific and business expertise to know what he's talking about. Indeed, as DeLay has often said, it was frustration with the EPA's regulation of his exterminating business that originally drove him into politics. When he gets going, the congressman can offer horror story after horror story of regulatory excess -- many of them, as it happens, provided by researchers from the Heritage Society, a conservative Washington think tank.
And DeLay's rationale for his attack on environmental laws sounds selfless: government regulation raises the cost of everything consumers buy, and if you decrease environmental regulation, you put money in the pockets of average people. In the current anti-government climate, that's a message many people are interested in hearing.
But the message has another element: decreased environmental regulation puts money in DeLay's campaign coffers as well. His anti-EPA stance has secured DeLay a warm spot in the hearts of polluting industries and business groups, who have been generous about underwriting him.
That the Republican Contract with America had no environmental platform, and that the idea of reversing environmental laws doesn't fare well in most polls, doesn't seem to faze DeLay. Greg Wetstone, legislative director of Washington's Natural Resources Defense Council, considers DeLay to be "about as extreme as I have ever seen. We have never seen a Congress like this or a congressman like DeLay." But that may not matter. DeLay has found his environmental niche, not only in the staunchly Republican 22nd District, but in Washington's corridors of power. And it's going to take something a hell of a lot stronger than DDT to knock him out of it.
Golf, not politics, was on the minds of many of DeLay's constituents at a late October town meeting in Lake Jackson. But what Tom DeLay wanted to talk about was the Republican revolution. After taking off his suit jacket and handing it to one of his several political aides, DeLay launched into a description of the exhilarating time he has had in Washington as the first Republican majority whip in more than 40 years. The Republicans are fundamentally changing government, DeLay declared, and he was almost lightheaded about it. They've been hauling the liberal pigs from the trough, and the squealing can be heard for miles.
With his helmet of dark brown hair parted as with a knife and a slight paunch hanging over his belt, DeLay is not a particularly charismatic orator. But he was at ease before the crowd. The media, DeLay explained, have distorted the Republicans' environmental program, which is bent on stopping federal bureaucrats from issuing new regulations that go beyond the intent of law. DeLay said he simply wants federal agencies to send new regulations back to Congress for review, but until he gets that requirement passed into law, he's doing a little micromanaging through the budget process.
"I put a piece in the [budget] bill -- rather unusual," DeLay said, "that said the [U.S.] Fish and Wildlife Service could not use any funds to interfere with the permitting process for the Lake Jackson golf course."
It was a good example of how DeLay builds support -- using a local concern to make a national point. DeLay's addendum to the budget bill may well be the savior of a proposed municipal golf course in Lake Jackson. Situated on the Brazos River only a few miles from the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Jackson and Brazoria County abound with densely thicketed forests of hardwood trees. A spreading live oak adorns the town's seal, and it is among just such live oaks that Lake Jackson's citizens want to build a municipal golf course.
Five years ago, the city bought a 400-acre tract of undeveloped woods on the flood plain of the Brazos. But there was a hitch: the golf course site contains wetlands, one of the most hotly debated terms in the EPA's rule book, and one with major implications for developers. The EPA and the Fish and Wildlife Service have also designated the golf course site as Columbia Bottomlands -- prime habitat and a resting place for tens of thousands of neotropical birds that migrate from Central and South America across the Gulf of Mexico every spring. To professional wildlife managers, the hardwood forests of Brazoria County are a resource of international importance. But to DeLay, the golf course has been a perfect venue for him to display his new power as majority whip.
Since U.S. Fish and Wildlife had been so intransigent about the course, DeLay added language to the budget bill that would prevent the service from developing a wildlife refuge in Brazoria County, one that had been in the planning stages for years. To environmentalists, the action was simply an act of retaliation against -- or blackmail of -- Fish and Wildlife. The political tit for tat appears clear: give DeLay the golf course, and he'll allow the wildlife refuge.
DeLay has rallied the leaders of Lake Jackson and Brazoria County to his position, claiming fear of a federal land grab that could stifle development and take property from the county tax roll. Supporters of the wildlife refuge have pointed out that it would be created with land from owners who want to sell their property, and that this is private land that the government would then open to the public. They also point out that federal funds from Duck Stamps would flow into the county to make up for the loss of local property tax revenues.
But to the leaders of Lake Jackson, there's something emotionally satisfying in running the federal government out of local affairs, even if it looks like cutting off your nose to spite your face. What sounds good to Tom DeLay sounds good to the burghers of Lake Jackson: local control of local resources. But the question is, if they get control, how wisely will they use it? If DeLay has his way, we may be headed toward finding out.
Thomas Dale DeLay was born in 1947 in Laredo, but spent his early childhood in Venezuela, where his father, a wildcatter, had moved the family of five. They later relocated to the rapidly growing suburban town of Sugar Land, southwest of Houston. DeLay reacted to his domineering father, who pressured him to attend medical school, by developing a rebellious streak. After attending Baylor University, DeLay completed a B.S. in biology at the University of Houston. When he couldn't get accepted to medical school, he took a job behind the counter at Redwood Chemical, a firm that sold chemicals to the pest control industry.
In 1974, DeLay struck out on his own with a small pest control company that he later merged with a company called Albo. For DeLay, business was a struggle: During the next dozen years he sought to expand Albo by acquiring two more companies. In both instances, his deals produced lawsuits. In one suit, DeLay was forced to pay a judgment of $30,000. The second was settled last year, with both parties agreeing to keep the terms confidential. [See "Buggy Business," page 6.]
In recent years, DeLay has often told reporters that it was his frustration with government regulation of his pest control business that led to his entering politics. He didn't see, for example, why the state licensed exterminators when a city license should be sufficient. He also objected to the EPA's banning of Mirex, a chemical he used to fight fire ants, and which he believed was perfectly safe.
In 1978, DeLay was elected to the Texas House, becoming the first Republican state legislator his district had sent to Austin since the Civil War. DeLay was more or less drafted by the newly organized Republicans to run, and he swept into office on the coattails of Republican governor Bill Clements. But drafted or not, Betty Cox, DeLay's first campaign manager, remembers her old boss' taking to politics immediately.
"He wasn't a very effective speaker at the beginning," Cox says, "but he had a good way of saying he was a businessman, not a lawyer, and he called for less regulation."
In DeLay's largely white, suburban district, the message worked well. In Austin, recalls Houston state Representative Debra Danburg, he was sometimes teased on the floor with shouts of "De-Lay, De-Lay," because he would take a lot of time at the microphone. But it wasn't long before DeLay had learned to work the system. He had a feeling for negotiating compromise, Cox says. Even Billy Clayton, then Democratic speaker of the Texas House, was extremely fond of him, she adds.
Democrat Craig Washington, a politician distinctly on the other side of the ideological fence from DeLay, says he respected DeLay as a man who kept his word. "DeLay blossomed, I think," says Washington, who served with DeLay both in the Legislature and in Congress, "because he's smart and he's good at consensus-building. We would meet in the back and talk through issues sometimes, and he would come to me on a sticking point between Democrats and Republicans, and if he thought I could help, he would ask me to intercede. He's a good guy as far as I know."
After six years in state government, DeLay moved up to Congress, succeeding libertarian Republican Ron Paul in the 22nd district. The 22nd was a perfect district for DeLay, drawing on largely white suburban and rural areas in Harris, Fort Bend and Brazoria counties. After taking the Republican primary, DeLay trounced his Democratic opponent, whom he outspent $527,000 to $82,000, with 65 percent of the vote. He hasn't faced major opposition since.
From the beginning of his time in Congress, DeLay was a hard-core free-market conservative with a dislike for government regulation. Though he's taken money from the tobacco industry, he's voted for the repeal of tobacco crop subsidies. He's also voted against rice subsidies that benefit farmers in his own district. No isolationist, he's been a fervent supporter of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
This ideological purity may have helped him during his first term in Washington, when he became the only freshman on the GOP's Committee on Committees, giving him clout on committee assignments. He maneuvered well with not only the Republican leadership, but also the majority Democrats, winning assignments to House committees on transportation and space. NASA and Clear Lake are part of DeLay's district, and he vigorously defended NASA's multibillion-dollar space station from attempts to kill it. From his post on the transportation committee, he also helped Mayor Bob Lanier kill federal funding for Metro's expensive monorail proposal, and then restored federal money to Metro that might have gone to other cities.
Not all these positions necessarily jibed with DeLay's stated philosophies, but then, he's no ideologue when it comes to the political benefits of delivering federal dollars back to his district. On environmental issues, though, DeLay's voting record has been consistent. In 1987, DeLay was the only member of the Texas delegation to vote against a measure that forbade U.S. vessels from dumping plastic trash at sea and foreign vessels from similar dumping on the Great Lakes and within 200 miles of the U.S. coast. That same year, when 401 members of the House voted to override Ronald Reagan's veto of the Clean Water Act Amendments, DeLay was one of 26 members to side with the veto. DeLay has voted against a federal coastal management plan, which passed 391-32; against the Clean Air Act of 1990, which passed 401-25; and in 1987, he was one of 16 House members to vote against the reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act. In 1992, the League of Conservation Voters, which ranks legislative voting records, gave him a rating of zero on conservation issues.
But it's one thing to oppose legislation, and another to initiate it. When the Republicans swept into power in the House last year, DeLay was poised to take on the environmental regulators in a new way. He introduced a series of 17 "riders" to the appropriations bills that fund the EPA. Besides slashing the agency's budget by 32 percent, the riders would restrict the EPA's ability to enforce regulations and to create new ones. Some of the riders would restrict the EPA from enforcing the widely disliked vehicle emissions control program. Other provisions would suspend enforcement of water quality standards for the Great Lakes and prevent the enforcement of new standards on toxic air pollutants emitted by oil refineries. Domestic oil and gas industries would not be required to develop accident prevention programs, as required by the Clean Air Act.
Betsy Loyless, the political director of the League of Conservation Voters in Washington, describes DeLay's use of the EPA riders as a "savvy backdoor special-interest tactic."
"It's one thing to hide special interests in the Contract with America," she says, "but it's another thing to debate rolling back the standards for arsenic and radon in people's drinking water. It's a lot easier to roll these actions into these EPA riders, where they're not debated in public. They know that the more public the debate, the more public their ideas of protecting special interests and the less public support they're going to gather."
That's not how DeLay would put it, of course. Writing in an August 15 opinion piece in the Houston Chronicle, the congressman defended the riders by claiming that while they "restrict the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to penalize, they in no way authorize activities that are illegal under current law."
Skeptics may well point out that people and corporations tend not to obey laws that aren't enforced, and the EPA has protested that the riders tell the agency to quit doing its job. Environmentalists have characterized the riders as a "stealth attack."
DeLay has complained that the news media has constantly mischaracterized the riders. But if he's had a hard time persuading the media that his restrictions are harmless, he's had an even harder time persuading some of his fellow Republicans.
Other than the president, DeLay's principal roadblock in his move to cut back the power of the EPA has been a group of 30 to 40 of what DeLay calls Republican "greenies," politicians who are squeamish about throwing out the environmental regulations. That's not necessarily surprising: the people who developed the environmental regulations that DeLay attacks weren't all Democrats. It was Richard Nixon who helped create the EPA, and it was Ronald Reagan who signed the "community right to know" act, which requires large polluters to measure and register their discharges with the government, where anyone can get access to the data.
One of the leaders of the "greenies" is Representative Sherwood Boehlert of New York, and when the EPA riders came before the House in September, Boehlert proposed an amendment to abolish them. He won with a 212-206 vote. Then industry lobbyists went to work, and when DeLay brought the issue back to the floor a few days later, Boehlert's amendment was defeated.
Still, realizing that he hadn't completely won his party's heart on the issue, DeLay sent a ten-page letter to House Republicans on September 29 that justified the measures, and insisted that his measures will improve, not roll back, environmental programs. After all, DeLay reminded his colleagues, "our families drink the same water and breathe the same air as the families of Democrats."
But if DeLay's reasoning doesn't always sway his colleagues, he's found another way to build support: raise money. Once it became clear last year that the Republicans had a chance of winning a majority in the House, DeLay set up a "leadership" PAC for Republican challengers called Americans for a Republican Majority. Such PACs allow individuals to donate $5,000, or five times as much as they can give to an individual campaign. When 73 Republican freshmen were swept into House in the 1994 elections, DeLay had sewn up most of their votes for the office of majority whip. In addition to traveling and speaking on their behalf, DeLay, by his own account, had distributed more than $2 million in funds to their campaigns. And nothing solidifies a political debt better.
In the process of fundraising, DeLay has become a coordinator of lobbyists. His most important production so far has been "Project Relief," a business lobbying effort with a PR budget of $500,000. Project Relief included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the oil and chemical industries, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Christian Coalition. The purpose of Project Relief was to pass a 100-day moratorium on all federal rule-making. DeLay worked closely with Project Relief's lobbyist, Bruce Gates, to build Democratic support for the moratorium. Gates matched lobbyists with district-sensitive interests to wavering members. Lobbyists were also installed in a room near the House floor to help members answer the opposition. When the bill passed this February, it was just 14 votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed to override a presidential veto.
Though it's not a big environmental issue, one of DeLay's more interesting displays of advocacy came this summer, when he circulated a letter to House members urging support to reduce tariffs on the Mexican cement monopoly, Cemex. DeLay also wrote an unsolicited opinion piece for the Chronicle that called for relaxing the tariff. What the congressman neglected to mention in the piece is that his brother, Randy DeLay, is a registered foreign agent for Cemex in a joint venture with the Washington office of Fulbright and Jaworski.
DeLay has denied that his brother influenced him on the issue. Nothing surprising there; nobody should ever expect DeLay to back down from a fight. He seems to thrive on confrontation.
In his town meeting in Lake Jackson, he told the crowd that "the issue is not clean air or clean water. The problem with environmental extremists is that they want zero risk. They want water coming out of Dow Chemical that is cleaner than the water that they drew to use. It's true. Go down to the bayous down here. They have run people off from their drainage ditches, because the government won't let them fish in water that is cleaner and has more fish than the bay out there."
It is tempting to think about the implications of what DeLay is saying here. Does he mean that Dow should be allowed to discharge dirtier water? Or that fishing should be banned in Galveston Bay, which receives Dow's pristine water? Or merely that Dow ought to allow people to fish in its drainage ditches?
Still, if DeLay's only excesses were rhetorical, he might easily be dismissed as an ideologue. But he's far more powerful than his rhetoric. Fueled by money from big business and industry, he exploits a populist distrust of the federal agencies to push his agenda. DeLay has mastered the tools of power, and he makes no apologies for using the techniques of lobbying, fundraising and junket-hopping to forge a coalition to support his agenda.
Unlike his fervent freshman Republicans, DeLay has been reluctant to call a halt to gifts from lobbyists. When Newt Gingrich proposed a set of tough limits that prohibit members from taking free travel and meals to charity golf tournaments and other sports events, the House passed the restrictions by a vote of 422 to six. DeLay, who wasn't one of the six, was nonetheless quoted in the New York Times as saying during the debate, "We are beating ourselves on the head to prove that we are pure enough to deserve the public trust."
What DeLay doesn't seem to realize is that in building a political campaign on distrust of government, he must apply the same standards to his own behavior that he applies to that of others. If he attacks the science of his opponents, he can expect his science to come under scrutiny. If he accuses bureaucrats of pursuing special interests, his own special interests will be examined. If the media is said to exaggerate environmental problems, creating "eco-terrorism," what do we make of DeLay's own rhetoric, such as that used in Lake Jackson? "We can work together and have clean air and clear water," DeLay said at his town meeting, "... and I still think the EPA is a Gestapo organization."
Unquestionably, there's much that could be done to improve environmental regulations. But polls clearly show that the public is reluctant to jeopardize environmental protection. The nation has already experienced a period when environmental protection was left to the common sense and goodwill of industry, and it got toxic waste dumps and the loss of half of the country's wetlands as a result.
Tom DeLay may have never met a regulation he liked, as he once admitted to the Wall Street Journal, but he's living in an increasingly complex world that often requires rules. And as the majority whip, he has a tremendous ability to change those rules. Comfortably ensconced in a spacious office near the floor of the House, and well financed by big business, DeLay may not have to worry too much any more about what he says. Though he's now stymied by the presidential veto and a few "greenie" Republicans who make overriding the veto difficult, if a Republican is elected president, DeLay may not have to worry about a presidential roadblock. He'll have more than just the bully pulpit then. He'll have what he's been working for over the last 16 years: the votes.
Last November, just a few days after he had won election to a sixth term as congressman for the 22nd District, Tom DeLay called a meeting of the Fort Bend County Republican leadership.
"When I asked what it was all about," recalled one person who attended, "I was told that I would see when I got there. That made it mysterious, which made you want to go all the more."
About 25 to 30 people showed up at DeLay's district headquarters in Stafford, expecting either an election celebration or a discussion of political strategy. What they got was something far different.
With the help of an aide running a VCR, DeLay spent almost three-quarters of an hour taking his fellow Republicans through the videotaped deposition of Robert Blankenship, a man who had once owned a third of Delay's exterminating business, Albo Pest Control Inc. In January of last year, Blankenship had sued DeLay and another business associate, Darrell Hutto, over the proposed sale of Albo. Blankenship's claims included, among other things, the charge that DeLay had taken $150,000 in loans from Albo without paying them back. DeLay countersued, alleging that Blankenship had used company equipment and chemicals for his personal benefit and had diverted money from customers.
On November 10, 1994, DeLay and Blankenship settled for an undisclosed sum, with each side promising not to discuss the terms of the settlement. That agreement, though, didn't stop DeLay from putting Blankenship's taped deposition on display the very next day.
"He [DeLay] must have watched that deposition a hundred times," says a Republican volunteer who asked not to be named, "because he could quote things in it verbatim."
Eric Thode, chairman of the Republican Party of Fort Bend County, was also present at the congressman's show, and says he thinks that DeLay was dispassionate in his approach to the video.
"It was not going to impact the way they viewed either party," Thode says. "That was my take."
But many of those present were clearly uncomfortable, say two other audience members who asked that their names be withheld. Some were particularly bothered because Blankenship's wife, Jacqueline, had long been one of Fort Bend County's most stalwart Republican campaign leaders.
According to one witness, DeLay offered a running commentary on the video that blasted Blankenship. "I think he enjoyed himself," the witness says. "He was like a kid, laughing, saying, 'Now listen to this, now listen to this.' It was a nauseating performance."
"I do think Tom was trying to show his side," says another witness, "but as soon as it started, I didn't want to be there. I was trying to think of an excuse to get out, but Mona [Stevens, DeLay's local staff director at the time] stood at the door the whole time. It was the kind of thing I didn't want to be in the middle of. My first thought was, where are these other people and do we get to hear their side?"
After DeLay was finished running through Blankenship's deposition, most of the crowd left quickly and without comment, the witness says.
The witness also recalls that DeLay said he was showing the tape because he anticipated that news stories would grow out of the lawsuit. If that was his true motive, he needn't have bothered; the media never looked closely at Blankenship's lawsuit. Though Tom DeLay has often complained that excessive government regulation by the EPA and OSHA is what made it difficult for him to earn a living as an exterminator -- and drove him into politics to do something about it -- Blankenship's lawsuit, as well as another lawsuit DeLay settled with a business associate, suggests a different reason for DeLay's business problems. It's a reason that has nothing to do with DeLay's favorite enemies, government bureaucrats, and everything to do with what was at best sloppy business practices.
Tom DeLay got his start in Houston business during the boom years, when new companies were prospering overnight. After graduating from the University of Houston with a degree in biology in 1970, DeLay worked behind the counter at Redwood Chemical, a company that sold pesticides to exterminating companies. Then around 1973, he started a pest control company called Environmental Services. A few years later, DeLay merged Environmental Services with the larger and better-known Albo Pest Control.
In 1975, seeking to expand his business further, DeLay made a deal with Bob Bartnett, who had become head of the Harris County Mosquito Control District. According to documents in a lawsuit he filed later, DeLay agreed to pay Bartnett $32,000 for three used trucks, spraying equipment and the customer list of Bartnett's company, Entomological Services. DeLay made payments on his note until September 1977, at which time the balance was $24,000. Bartnett says he pressured DeLay to bring the note up to date, but got nowhere. Finally, in 1980 DeLay sued Bartnett for fraud, saying Bartnett had misrepresented the value of Entomological Services and the willingness of its customers to pay higher prices. The suit dragged on until November 1984, when it was ruled that DeLay hadn't succeeded in proving fraud; Bartnett won a final judgment against DeLay for $30,000 and interest.
That judgment was still being carried on Albo's books in April 1986, when Robert Blankenship made a deal to sell his pest control business, A-Abco, to DeLay. In his lawsuit, Blankenship would later claim that he had a profitable business, but, as the result of a divorce, needed cash to settle with his ex-wife for her share. According to documents filed in Blankenship's suit, DeLay and his business partner Darrell Hutto, president of Albo, paid Blankenship $37,000 for the assets he brought to the company, which included a truck, spraying equipment and a list of customers. In addition to cash for the assets of his old company, Blankenship was awarded one-third of the stock in the new Albo corporation, of which DeLay would be chairman, Hutto would be president and Blankenship would be vice president.
Despite his title, Blankenship appears to have taken little interest in Albo's books or corporate affairs until 1993, when he heard that Hutto and DeLay were looking for buyers for the company. He approached Hutto and asked that he be allowed to find a buyer, someone who would let him remain with the company as a partner. According to Blankenship's suit, he found an interested buyer in a pest control operator named Ami Borovick.
By December 1993, Blankenship and Borovick believed that they were close to a deal. Borovick had examined Albo's books and insisted on a clause in the sales contract stating that Albo had not made any "illegal political contributions with corporate funds." But Randy DeLay, Tom DeLay's lawyer and brother, notified Borovick that Albo would accept only a cash deal for the company, which effectively killed the negotiations.
On December 14, 1993, when Blankenship showed up for work, he found that the locks had been changed and that a letter firing him, a notice signed by Hutto, had been taped to the door. DeLay and Hutto justified the firing by saying Blankenship had taken a list of Albo's customers home with him, and they feared he would share it with Borovick. But Blankenship, who now feared the company would be sold out from under him, claimed he took the list home at the invitation of Hutto, who had suggested Blankenship sort out the original customers he had brought to the company and go his own way. Not surprisingly, this dispute soon moved to a courtroom.
In January 1994, Blankenship sued his partners. His lawyer, Gerald DeNisco, took an aggressive approach to the litigation, getting a temporary injunction to stop DeLay and Hutto from selling Albo. He also alleged that DeLay and Hutto had wasted the corporation's resources by paying DeLay's personal debts. DeNisco obtained copies of Albo's company records, which DeLay, in a deposition, admitted weren't in very good order.
"In gathering records for the negotiations of selling Albo, it was pointed out to me by my lawyer that our records were not kept up to date and we needed to get them up to date," DeLay said in his deposition. "That's the extent -- I assume they were brought up to date because Darrell [Hutto] was told."
When DeNisco asked DeLay if he personally knew whether the records had been brought up to date, DeLay said, "I was told that they were. I don't know if they were or not. I haven't seen them."
DeLay was deposed by DeNisco on February 5, 1994, as a preliminary to a possible jury trial. DeLay said that since being elected to Congress, he'd had little to do with Albo, and that his longtime associate Hutto handled all the details. He said that "two or three years" before the deposition, he had orally resigned as chairman of Albo in conversation with Hutto. DeLay said the resignation had never been made in writing.
Nevertheless, DeLay certainly gave the appearance of still being in charge of Albo. In his 1991, 1992 and 1993 income filings with the House of Representatives, DeLay stated that he was chairman of Albo's board. And on February 3, 1993, DeLay and Hutto signed a guaranty with Southern National Bank for a loan to consolidate Albo's debts. In his deposition, DeLay also said he read a monthly report on the company's books, occasionally consulted with Hutto on business matters, had discussed with him the sale of Albo and had approved the firing of Blankenship.
At the center of DeNisco's case lay what might be called the balance sheet argument, a disagreement between Hutto and Albo's bookkeeper, Lynn Colby, on how to carry the company's debt on its books and corporate tax returns. In May 1994, when Colby was deposed, he said that it had been his understanding that an item carried on Albo's 1990, 1991 and 1992 corporate tax returns as "loans to stockholders" was the personal debt of Tom DeLay. Copies of the tax returns indicated that in 1990 loans to stockholders were reduced by $3,542; in 1991, they were reduced by $6,990; and in 1992 they were reduced by $9,119.
Colby said when he took over the books in 1986, he found some bank loans on them. Though he wasn't exactly sure what the loans were for, he was under the impression that the corporation was paying DeLay's personal debt, so he carried the item as stockholder loans: that is, they were carried as loans from the corporation that DeLay would be expected to pay back.
When DeNisco asked DeLay about stockholder loans from the corporation, DeLay denied that there were any loans to the stockholders, even though copies of Albo's monthly balance sheets and its corporate tax returns carried such a category. DeLay said he had never seen the corporate tax returns. According to DeLay's deposition, the following exchange between DeNisco and DeLay took place:
"DeNisco: Have you ever personally taken a loan from the company?
"DeLay: No.
"DeNisco: Have you ever personally taken a loan and had the company pay for it?
"DeLay: Well, if you mean the loan that is now with Southern National Bank that was -- that was Albo's before we incorporated and the loan to Bob Barnett [sic], yes. Those -- the company has been paying for those loans."
In his deposition of February 8, 1994, Hutto said that the tax entries for stockholder loans were the result of "an ongoing difference of opinion as to an item on the ... balance sheet between Mr. Colby and Albo." When DeNisco pressed him about why the difference was unresolved on the company's tax returns, Hutto said, "This is what the CPA has put down there, and I just stopped arguing about it."
Hutto insisted that Colby had misconstrued the nature of the debt: "Because whenever Tom incorporated he had some debt in Albo, which was a sole proprietorship at that time. Whenever he incorporated [April 1986], that corporation took over all assets and liabilities of Tom DeLay, the sole proprietor." When DeNisco asked if that didn't mean the debts were DeLay's personal debts, Hutto said "They were Albo debts of Mr. DeLay."
Believing that Albo was paying off DeLay's personal, rather than company, debts, Colby declared the loan payments as assets, something DeLay would eventually reimburse the corporation for. If DeLay's personal debts were indeed being paid, the congressman was required to report those payments as income, and to sign a note with Albo. In his petition, DeNisco charged that Albo was making regular payments on $150,000 of such debt, and that DeLay had never reimbursed Albo for that.
DeNisco pressed Judge Tony Lindsay to order DeLay to turn over his IRS returns to clarify the matter. According to court records, the following exchange took place:
"Lindsay: Are you telling me that you think that money was loaned in the name of the corporation at some point in time, but which actually went not to the corporation?
"DeNisco: That's one of my thoughts, your honor, or that the money was loaned to Mr. DeLay personally for his campaign debt and he's been having the corporation retire his personal debt.
"Lindsay: Well, now, on that particular allegation, I can't imagine why you can't figure that out from the corporation's records about whether they're paying this debt or not.
"DeNisco: Judge, because they don't have complete records. This corporation has never maintained records. Counsel [Randy DeLay] will be the first to admit that they have -- when I first got this case, one of the first things he said to me, was, 'We have never maintained our books and records. We've got to go back and do our minutes. We've got to do our record keeping.' "
DeNisco further argued that since the court had required Blankenship to deliver his tax returns to answer DeLay and Hutto's accusation that Blankenship had defrauded Albo by using company trucks and equipment for personal customers, DeNisco should be able to get the same information from DeLay. But he didn't get very far with Lindsay, a prominent Republican, wife of former county judge Jon Lindsay and, DeNisco charged, a friend of DeLay's. DeNisco tried unsuccessfully to get Lindsay to recuse herself. The lawyer then got a hearing with a visiting judge, who saw no need for Lindsay to step aside.
If Blankenship's case had gone to trial, the accusation that DeLay had used Albo to pay off his campaign debts could have had potentially hazardous implications, given that such actions are a violation of federal law. In their depositions, both DeLay and Hutto denied that Albo had ever paid either DeLay's personal or campaign debts.
In his deposition of May 19, 1994, Albo's accountant, Lynn Colby, said at first that he didn't recall whether Albo was paying DeLay's campaign debts. He said he did recall discussing certain bank loans with Hutto, and asked Hutto, but not DeLay, what the debts consisted of:
"Colby: [Hutto] told me that -- that he had recently incorporated and that there were some personal debts that the corporation was assuming that were set up on the books of the corporation.
"DeNisco: And they were personal debts of Mr. Tom DeLay, weren't they?
"Colby: I believe they were.
"DeNisco: And isn't it true that some of those personal debts concerned campaign debts that he had run up when he was running for Congress?
"Colby: I don't recall exactly what those debts were for."
Under persistent questioning, Colby said Hutto "could have told me that it had something to do with the campaign .... I can't recall exactly." Finally, DeNisco summarized Colby's response this way: "But you have some vague recollection about campaign or campaign debts being discussed [with Hutto], you're just not really clear at this point in time as to what specifically was said? Is that a fair statement?" To which Colby replied, "That's fair."
DeLay's campaign did have debts after his first election to Congress in 1984. In his filings with the Federal Election Commission for that year, DeLay carried forward a loan of $40,000 from MBank. DeNisco seemed intent on linking that campaign debt to loans being paid by Albo, which, in 1986, also listed having a loan from MBank. By the time of Blankenship's suit, MBank had gone out of business, and DeNisco was unable to obtain any paperwork on that Albo loan or several other loans that, in 1993, DeLay and Hutto consolidated into a loan with Southern National Bank.
DeNisco had another major area of questioning concerning money DeLay had received directly from Albo. According to copies of canceled checks attached as exhibits in DeLay's and Colby's depositions, in 1986 DeLay earned $3,000 in consulting fees from Albo. In his deposition, DeLay said that from time to time he made telephone sales for Albo.
"I don't even know if this is before the merger or after the merger," DeLay said, "but when times got hard, we would take a list of potential targets for sales and I would go over the list, and if I knew anybody connected in any way with those people, I'd make a call." DeLay said he made the calls both from Washington and Houston. "To finish the question," DeLay said, "very few calls ... over the whole period of time I've been in Congress, I've probably made no more than 50 calls in nine years."
DeNisco also questioned DeLay about payments made to him by Hutto for Hutto's share of the company stock. Hutto had been working as Albo's manager for about a year when Blankenship was brought into the company. In the new corporation that was formed, DeLay owned two-thirds of the stock and Blankenship owned one third. The three men signed an agreement that Hutto could buy a third of the stock from DeLay for $50,000. The agreement further stated that Hutto's debt would be reduced by $5,000 a year, regardless of whether the corporation made money.
According to copies of Albo's canceled checks, in 1992 DeLay received $4,000 from Hutto for stock. Copies of the checks to DeLay were signed by Hutto and carried a memorandum that they were "deferred salary for D.L. Hutto for stock purchase." DeLay said he didn't remember whether the checks he received from Hutto were personal or corporate.
When deposing DeLay, DeNisco questioned the congressman about the propriety of those checks. "Do you think it would be appropriate for the corporation to be paying you the personal debt or obligation of the president of the corporation without the knowledge of the other officers?" he asked. To which DeLay responded, "Yes. Darrell Hutto from the very beginning that he brought [sic] to Albo was to run the company, manage the company, manage the assets and liabilities of the company, make all decisions with consultation and he was to make all those decisions."
DeNisco also raised questions about the stock payments when deposing accountant Colby, who said the checks had been improperly entered in the books as a company expense and should have been carried as a loan to be paid back by Hutto.
In November of last year, DeNisco and Blankenship heard that DeLay and Hutto were on the verge of selling Albo. So DeNisco sought a fresh injunction to stop the sale. This time he had a hearing with a Democratic judge, Shearn Smith. On November 10, 1994, after listening to a summary of the case, Smith strongly urged DeLay's and Hutto's lawyers to settle with Blankenship before selling the company. The lawyers agreed. Albo's customer list and other assets were eventually sold to Rodger's Pest Control in Stafford.
The balance-sheet argument was never fully explored, and the loan papers and tax returns that might have definitively answered the question of whether Albo had paid DeLay's campaign debts were never made public. Neither Hutto, Colby or Lindsay returned calls from the Press for this story.
A Washington spokesman for Tom DeLay declined to respond to a list of detailed questions from the Press about the lawsuit, except to say that the congressman would make no comment, and that the issues are a matter of public record.
That second point isn't entirely accurate. While the legal petitions and motions can be seen by anybody at the Harris County Courthouse, the depositions and records cited in this story were obtained by the Press from Robert Blankenship's lawyer. Because Blankenship's suit was never heard by a jury, the depositions and exhibits of the case are not part of the public record. Neither was the videotaped deposition of Robert Blankenship that DeLay used to try to embarrass his former stockholder.
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Here is a video of me doing some field work. I am throwing from a parking lot to a soccer field about 10-15' below me. There was also a slight right to left tail wind at about 5mph or so.
These felt like some decent throws except some of them were a little off line. I feel like I throw a little nose up and with a bit of OAT. This makes it tough for me trying to throw in a headwind.
I normally throw my rocs a little shy of 350', rhynos about 300', and PDs coming close to 400' with all these being on pretty straight lines. The distances on the video are very rough estimates. The far goal is about 450' according to google earth. The slow motion parts are at 1/4 speed in the vid as well.
Any comments on anything that could improve distance, accuracy, or any general comments are welcome.


text:
Bread Machine Whole Wheat Bread with Bulgur Wheat, Oats, Bran, and Flax Seed Meal
(Makes one loaf of bread, about 1 1/2 lbs, recipe created by Kalyn.)
Ingredients for Bulgur; Combine and soak 1 hour:
2/3 cup boiling water
1/2 cup bulgur wheat
Mix dry ingredients:
2 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup ground oatmeal (grind oatmeal in food processor, then measure)
2 T wheat bran
2 T flaxseed meal
2 T vital wheat gluten
1 T dough enhancer
1 tsp. salt
Combine wet ingredients and sweeteners:
2 T olive oil
1 T agave nectar
1 T brown sugar
1 cup warm water (slightly warmer than room temperature)
2 2/3 tsp. yeast
South Beach Suggestions:
More 100% Whole Wheat Bread to Try:
(Recipes from other blogs may not always be South Beach Diet friendly; check ingredients.)
White Whole Wheat and Oatmeal Irish Soda Bread from Kalyn's Kitchen
Agave-Sweetened 100% Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread from Kalyn's Kitchen
100% Whole Wheat and Bran Bread from Kalyn's Kitchen (without bread machine)
Bread Machine Recipe for 100% Whole Wheat Bread with Oats, Bran, and Flax Seed from Kalyn's Kitchen
Whole Wheat Bread from Pete Bakes!
Quick and Easy Whole Wheat Bread from Zesty Cook
Homemade Wheat Bread from Tammy's Recipes
(Want even more whole wheat bread recipes? I find these recipes from other blogs using Food Blog Search.)