U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke
Posted on 03/22/2005 8:39:33 AM PST by Born Conservative
No longer bankrolled by government contracts secured by U.S. Rep. Kanjorski, the company run by his nephews has all but disappeared.
WILKES-BARRE – Number one on the to-do-list of Cornerstone Technologies LLC was to commercialize the “breakthrough” technology it was refining with the help of more than $9 million in federal funds.
Three years later, the water-jet technology capable of pulverizing materials and minerals into microscopic pieces that could be used in high technology applications has hardly produced a trickle of the promised jobs and has not transformed the region into a high-tech hotbed.
Cornerstone was founded in 1998 and at one time had a work force of 20 full-time and two part-time employees, according to a Jan. 31, 2002 corporate overview statement.
No longer bankrolled by government contracts secured by U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, the company run by his nephews has all but disappeared. That has made it hard for creditors to collect from Cornerstone.
GMN USA LLC of Farmington, Conn. said Cornerstone owes $39,177 it bought from the machine tool spindle manufacturer in 2003. The manufacturer filed a complaint in Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas on Aug. 6 seeking payment.
A month later, the state Department of Labor and Industry filed a lien against Cornerstone for $1,328 owed in unemployment compensation contributions from the first quarter of 2004.
A call to Peter Kanjorski, who is head of Cornerstone and also named as a company partner on the lien, was not immediately returned Friday.
The complaint by GMN USA LLC and the Department of L&I’s lien list Cornerstone’s address as 126 S. Franklin St., a stately building with tall columns co-owned by Rep. Kanjorski.
The attorney for GMN USA LLC has been trying to serve Cornerstone with the suit but has been unable to do so at the South Franklin Street address. Without proper service the suit will get dismissed, precisely what the attorney for Cornerstone succeeded in doing in January. But last month, a county judge granted GMN USA LLC additional time to serve Cornerstone.
Though not listed as Cornerstone debts, related companies have outstanding tax bills in Delaware.
Cornerstone, which mothballed its equipment in 2003 in the underground parking garage of a Nanticoke bowling alley, shares its phone number and apparently its technology with DCD Technologies Inc.
DCD Technologies Inc. owes $127,027 in taxes, interest and penalties, according to the Division of Corporations in Delaware. DCD missed the March 1 payment deadline. In past years it was also late with its payments, $167 in 2003 and $101 in 2002.
The 2004 balance dwarfed previous years’ debts because last year DCD was authorized to issue 20 million shares of common stock.
The likelihood of DCD Technologies springing up to compete against Cornerstone seems remote given the similarities of their business – densification, communition, and dispersion technologies to manufacture ultra fine powders for high tech applications. Liquid jets are the common technological link between Cornerstone and DCD. In descriptions of their technologies, Cornerstone uses the phrases of “lower contamination” and “unique particle morphology.” DCD uses “high purity/low contamination,” and “unique morphologies.”
Cornerstone too is on record with the state’s Division of Corporations, but is current with its payments.
However, KOR Holdings LLC, which according to the Division of Corporations, lists an address of 126 S. Franklin St. owes taxes, penalties and interest totaling $345 for 2003 and has lost its “good standing” status with the division as of June 1, 2004.
KOR Holding’s relation to Cornerstone can be traced through documents filed with the Delaware Division of Corporations.
KOR, formed on Oct. 16, 1998, is listed as a member, along with Peter Kanjorski and former Cornerstone officer Bruce Conrad, of Arastra LLC.
Arastra listed its address as 126 S. Franklin St. according to its certificate of formation filed in Delaware on Sept. 21, 1999. Arastra is a member of Pennsylvania Micronics LLC, which has been described as the commercial arm of Cornerstone by Peter Kanjorski.
Pennsylvania Micronics was formed on Sept. 21, 1999, according to Delaware records.
Cornerstone was formed on Oct. 28, 1998, according to Delaware records. Its certificate of formation does not list officers and only says that “the company will be managed by managers.” But Pennsylvania Department of State records lists Conrad and Kanjorski as corporate officers.
Arastra and Pennsylvania Micronics are current with their tax payments in Delaware, according to state records.
And how much of that money found its way back into the pocket of the congress critter?? Plenty.
Anybody ever wonder how Bob Dole became a multi millionaire??? It was not because he came from money. It was not because he was a brilliant investor.
The vast majority of all congress people are on the take in some way, be it personally or for their families.
Thats why all of that freshman vigor quickly turns into the mission "to keep this job". Its all about the money.
U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke
What lousy reporting. The central question is never answered:
Why did U.S. Rep. Kanjorski stop securing government contracts for his nephew's company?
Yes, that is a good question.
Maybe the company stopped getting the contracts for a different reason. My understanding (though I can't cite chapter and verse) is that a business is subject to (FedGov) audit once it has been a FedGov contractor for a certain period of time. Maybe the company avoided audit as long as it could and then finally couldn't get any more contracts.
Just a guess.
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