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Was Sierra Pacific Victim of Government Shakedown?
Townhall.com ^ | January 18, 2015 | Debra J. Saunders

Posted on 01/18/2015 6:44:11 AM PST by Kaslin

After what became known as the Moonlight Fire burned some 65,000 acres in the Sierra Nevada in 2007, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection decided that Sierra Pacific Industries was responsible for the damage. The culprit, regulators charged, was a friction spark from a bulldozer operating on Sierra Pacific land. Cal Fire fined the timber company $8 million to pay for related costs. Because the fire burned more than 40,000 acres of national forest, the federal government also went after Sierra Pacific's deep pockets; in 2012, Sierra Pacific agreed to a settlement that entailed paying the feds $47 million and giving Uncle Sam 22,500 acres of forestland.

That's how the system should work, you probably are thinking, and I would think that, too -- except that Superior Court Judge Leslie C. Nichols tossed the state's case, citing a lack of solid evidence. Last year, he ruled that the government's case was "corrupt and tainted. Cal Fire failed to comply with discovery obligations, and its repeated failure was willful." The judge charged that the state destroyed evidence and "engaged in a systematic campaign of misdirection with the purpose of recovering money from Defendants." Call it robbery by fiat. If the judge is right, government watchdogs didn't care who the guilty party actually was, as long as they could cash in.

Cal Fire is appealing. Communications director Janet Upton told me that Cal Fire disagrees with the judge and that "all those things will be addressed if (Cal Fire has) the opportunity to take the case to trial."

Meanwhile, the judge was so appalled that he ordered Cal Fire to pay Sierra Pacific more than $32 million. That sort of judgment just doesn't happen in the real world. It has emboldened Sierra Pacific to go to federal court and ask Uncle Sam for its money back.

Why did Sierra Pacific settle with Washington? "The federal government was demanding $1 billion from us," Chief Financial Officer Mark Emmerson told me.

Sierra Pacific is a large, family-owned corporation -- the second-largest lumber company in the country and the largest landowner in California. Even for a large corporation, it seems, the might of the federal government is daunting. Given the damage the U.S. attorney's office could do and given the federal government's considerable resources, a settlement for an appreciably lighter penalty made sense -- especially after the timber executives observed a federal judge's pretrial rulings.

Meanwhile, the state court battle opened some doors for the timber lawyers. As The Wall Street Journal reported, when Sierra Pacific's team questioned the bulldozer driver, he denied that he had confirmed the location where the spark started the blaze as state investigators had reported. A former fire litigation attorney for the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of California signed a 15-page declaration in which he charged, under penalty of perjury, that prosecutors and state regulators had withheld information about the fire's origin. E. Robert Wright also suggested criminal charges might be appropriate. A second federal prosecutor quickly bailed from the case.

"We strongly dispute the truth of Sierra Pacific's allegations, which constitute unfair attacks upon the integrity of hardworking and valued public servants. The Government's response is due Feb. 17, 2015. We look forward to our opportunity to present to the Court a more complete and accurate version of what actually occurred in this case," U.S. attorney's office press officer Lauren Horwood told me in a statement.

The judge was especially harsh on the office of state Attorney General Kamala Harris. In his 47 years as an attorney and judge, Nichols wrote, he had never seen an instance "in which the conduct of the Attorney General so thoroughly departed from the high standard it represents, and, in every other instance, has exemplified."

Harris has announced that she plans to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by fellow Democrat Barbara Boxer. A judge has accused her office of falling down on the job and fined Cal Fire more than $32 mil -- and she wants a promotion? I talked to her press office to find out what the attorney general had to say about the case. As of my deadline, no one had anything to say.

Gov. Jerry Brown's office referred me to Cal Fire. If there is a burning concern in Sacramento to find out whether state lawmakers and federal lawmen misbehaved, then state pols are keeping unnaturally quiet about it.

The case next goes before U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb, who will consider Sierra Pacific's request for a federal refund. In a brief filed Thursday, Sierra Pacific lawyers maintain: "The prosecutorial misconduct associated with the Moonlight Fire matter was not comprised of mistakes on the periphery. It was not the consequence of episodic errors of judgment. Instead, it was systematic, pervasive, and purposeful, with each act aimed at affecting the administration of justice through the use of a thoroughly corrupt investigation designed to frame these defendants."

I'll be watching for a simple reason: If Sierra Pacific is right, if state and federal officials engaged in what essentially was a shakedown against a powerful corporate giant, is there anything they wouldn't do to a small business or a humble head of household?


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: forestfires; forestservice; shakedown

1 posted on 01/18/2015 6:44:11 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Whom Isn’t?


2 posted on 01/18/2015 6:46:55 AM PST by skinkinthegrass ("Bathhouse" E'Bola/0'Boehmer/0'McConnell; all STINK and their best friends are flies. d8^)
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To: Kaslin
Harris has announced that she plans to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by fellow Democrat Barbara Boxer. A judge has accused her office of falling down on the job and fined Cal Fire more than $32 mil -- and she wants a promotion?

Come on. It isn't what do in office that qualifies you for a higher one, it's how you look and sound on TV. :)

3 posted on 01/18/2015 6:48:41 AM PST by Mr. Jeeves (Heteropatriarchal Capitalist)
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To: Kaslin

The government shake down worked so well on the banks, on BP after the oil spill, so why should this corrupt punishing of the timber company surprise anyone? That is why polls show that the people think the biggest threat to our country is its government. That’s what always happens when government becomes too big and too powerful. History proves it.


4 posted on 01/18/2015 6:50:27 AM PST by txrefugee
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To: Kaslin

The Obama regime (and Holder’s DOJ allied in the effort) has gone on a shakedown jihad against their political enemies and vulnerable corporations. This has varied from Republican General Motors dealers, to guitar manufacturers & BP (which was fined/assessed “costs” vastly more than any actual damages or costs).

It’s all part of the Obama regime’s anti-American, anti-capitalist and pro-Muslim activities and designs.


5 posted on 01/18/2015 6:50:44 AM PST by House Atreides
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To: Kaslin

Simple case of show me the person and I will show you the crime.


6 posted on 01/18/2015 6:50:45 AM PST by Mouton (The insurrection laws perpetuate what we have for a government now.)
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To: txrefugee
“.......why should this corrupt punishing of the timber company surprise anyone?”..........

No surprise there, first it was the spotted owl and now another bogus attack on the timber industry.The liberals and tree huggers are chomping at the bit to kill forestry in this country. How many mills have closed and moved to Russia, never to return? Yep, no surprise here.

7 posted on 01/18/2015 7:02:25 AM PST by DaveA37
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To: DaveA37

They want vast swaths of uninhabited wooded areas that will not have any signs of humanity so that the woodland creatures, especially the furry ones, can romp freely.

Yes, these areas will be burned to a fine ash every few years (as well as the little furry creatures) but you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, can you?


8 posted on 01/18/2015 7:18:48 AM PST by 17th Miss Regt
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To: House Atreides

Another is operation “Choke Point.” the justice dept is calling banks and squeezing them with threats to stop all banking activities with certain industries Obama and Holder don’t like. Gun shops, quick cash stores, escort services, retail pot stores, etc.


9 posted on 01/18/2015 7:31:23 AM PST by thirst4truth (Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point.)
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To: Kaslin

If not Debra J Saunders then who else would author such an
article? Certainly no other NorCal columnist that I know
about. Hats off to the SF Chronicle’s token libertaricon.
Unfortunately, not even Saunders will be able to slow the
Kamala Harris train.


10 posted on 01/18/2015 7:56:35 AM PST by Sivad (NorCal red turf ;-))
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To: Kaslin
The culprit, regulators charged, was a friction spark from a bulldozer operating on Sierra Pacific land. Cal Fire fined the timber company $8 million to pay for related costs. Because the fire burned more than 40,000 acres of national forest, the federal government also went after Sierra Pacific's deep pockets; in 2012, Sierra Pacific agreed to a settlement that entailed paying the feds $47 million and giving Uncle Sam 22,500 acres of forestland. That's how the system should work, you probably are thinking, and I would think that, too --

Well Ms. Saunders, in a landscape managed by fire for 10,000 years that was converted to a policy of fire suppression by the State and Federal government into a forest that absolutely could not survive a fire from ANY source of ignition (including lightening strikes), why blame the source of ignition? The real cause of the loss was negligent forest management by State and Federal agencies.

11 posted on 01/18/2015 8:44:33 AM PST by Carry_Okie (Those who profess noblesse oblige regress to droit du seigneur.)
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To: Kaslin
The judge was especially harsh on the office of state Attorney General Kamala Harris. In his 47 years as an attorney and judge, Nichols wrote, he had never seen an instance "in which the conduct of the Attorney General so thoroughly departed from the high standard it represents, and, in every other instance, has exemplified."

That's who she is. A thug hugging gang banger girl, running shakedown operations against Whitey and his Evil Corporations.

12 posted on 01/18/2015 9:46:53 AM PST by Regulator
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To: txrefugee

I understand that after S&P downgraded some US securities, they were hit by a big fine for some dereliction.

Sounds like Chicago politics again.


13 posted on 01/18/2015 10:00:17 AM PST by Oatka (This is America. Assimilate or evaporate.)
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To: Kaslin

bfl


14 posted on 01/18/2015 10:04:31 AM PST by gibsosa
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To: Carry_Okie
Well Ms. Saunders, in a landscape managed by fire for 10,000 years that was converted to a policy of fire suppression by the State and Federal government into a forest that absolutely could not survive a fire from ANY source of ignition (including lightening strikes), why blame the source of ignition? The real cause of the loss was negligent forest management by State and Federal agencies.

Preach it!
15 posted on 01/18/2015 11:34:25 AM PST by Tailback
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