Hill's $nub of U.S. companies in purchase of crystal stemware is clear

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/hill_nub_of_ny_firm_is_crystal_clear_FYR65jDt5RHnO4X4CLOaFL ^

[kcvl]

Hillary Rodham Clinton's State Department is spending $5.4 million to buy fine crystal stemware for American embassies -- but it won't give the US economy much of a boost.

The contract was given to a tiny Washington, DC, interior designer, which in turn subcontracted the crystal work to a Swedish firm -- snubbing such US companies as the famous manufacturer in Clinton's own back yard, Steuben Crystal of upstate Corning.

The firm didn't even get a chance to bid on the contract, which will outfit embassies and ambassadors' residences with fancy crystal for ritzy functions.

Ironically, under the no-bid contract, some of the crystal is to be custom-crafted to include the seal of the United States, although Swedes will do all of the manufacturing.

Contracting rules require any American firms that subcontract work to use a domestic firm or get a waiver.

The firm that got the contract, Systems Design Inc., is a small interior-design firm in tony Georgetown. The company, which is eligible for minority small-business contracts, does not appear to have done any similar work.

After getting the contract in September, the firm subcontracted to Swedish glassmaker Orrefors/Kosta Boda USA.

Department spokesman Darby Holladay said Systems Design couldn't find a domestic producer who could meet the 100 percent lead-free requirement, although a Steuben spokesman said it does manufacture lead-free crystal.

[kcvl]

Darlene Mathis-Gardner, who does architectural and interior design for government spaces

http://www.sdiinteriors.com/About.html

[STARWISE]

Spend .. spend .. spend .. into oblivion ..

[onyx]

I despise so many people...lol

[STARWISE]

I know .. the good thing is: we’re not alone,
and the #’s are growing exponentially.

[Moltke]

I’m partial to Riedel myself. And what’s with the idiotic lead-free requirement?

[Nachum]

The list, ping

[Moltke]

LOL. The kitschy lamp in that picture looks like something from one of those Turkish dollar stores in Europe. "No class" must be the Clinton family motto.

[kcvl]

You do remember when Hillary decorated the White House don’t you (and the gardens)?!

[thouworm]

Darlene Mathis Gardner
Systems Design
2141 Wisconsin Ave, NW 20007

Education

Strayer UniversityThompkins School of Design, 2002
Central Senior High School, 1973

Campaign Contributions

Bankrupcy Proceeding? started in 2005; finalized July 2008
(Appears to be the same person; worth a quick read)

On March 29, 2005, the debtor, Darlene Mathis Gardner, filed a voluntary petition under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. The debtor’s chapter 11 case was converted to a case under chapter 7 on December 6, 2005, and a chapter 7 trustee was appointed (“Chapter 7 Trustee”).

Less than five months prior to filing for bankruptcy, the debtor purchased a condominium known as 1300 N Street, N.W., Unit 703 (“N Street Condominium”) by deed dated November 18, 2004, and recorded December 14, 2004. On March 4, 2005--less than 30 days prior to filing her bankruptcy petition--the debtor refinanced the N Street Condominium for $387,000 and netted $43,868.99 in proceeds.

In addition to scheduling her ownership of the N Street Condominium, the debtor listed on Schedule B her 100% member interest in Mathis Gardner LLC, which was a real estate holding company, and her 100% shareholder interest in Collectibles Furnishings & Gift Gallery, Inc., a retail home furnishing company.

Mathis Gardner LLC owned 1420 Ninth Street, N.W. (“Ninth Street”), having purchased the property in 2003 for $610,000. On July 15, 2005, after the debtor commenced this case, Mathis Gardner LLC sold the Ninth Street property for $850,000 netting $177,318.39 in settlement proceeds.

(snip)

On September 11, 2006, the Chapter 7 Trustee filed a Motion for Order to Show Cause claiming that the Debtor had failed to fully comply with the Turnover Order. The debtor had not yet produced all bank statements, related check registers, copies of checks or other financial documents for accounts in her name, in the name of Mathis Gardner LLC, and in the name of Collectibles Furnishings & Gift Gallery which would help the Chapter 7 Trustee trace the proceeds of the N Street Condominium refinance and the Ninth Street sale.

At the December 1, 2006, hearing on the motion, the Court found that the Debtor had not fully complied with the Turnover Order and had not produced documents sufficient to explain fully what happened to those proceeds, and further, that the Debtor failed to explain why she was unable to comply with the Turnover Order. Consequently, the Court entered a written order (the “Contempt Order”) on December 12, 2006, holding the Debtor in civil contempt.

Before the court entered the Contempt Order, the United States Trustee filed his complaint objecting to the debtor’s discharge pursuant to, inter alia, 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(6)(A) for refusal to obey the court’s Turnover Order on November 30, 2006.

On March 28, 2007, the Chapter 7 Trustee filed a complaint against the debtor for conversion of the property of the estate and for turnover of property of the estate seeking to recover $125,000 which had allegedly been diverted from the estate. The debtor answered the complaint denying the substantive allegations.

On May 2, 2007, the court entered a consent judgment order between the Chapter 7 Trustee and the debtor, pursuant to which the debtor and her related entities agreed to entry of a nondischargeable judgment for $120,000, provided that the judgment would be deemed satisfied and Gardner would be deemed to have purged herself of contempt if Gardner were to pay the Chapter 7 Trustee $70,000 according to a payment schedule. As of November 13, 2007, Gardner paid the final installment to the Chapter 7 Trustee, thereby satisfying the judgment, and being deemed purged of contempt.

~~~~~~~~~~

Gardner apparently started her new company, Systems Design Inc, in summer of 2009.

Bankrupcy, start up a new company, and get a $5.4 mil contract with the State Department within a year of start up.

Nice work if you can get it.

PS: Her mother, Mary E.Dawson Steverson passed away on Saturday, August 8, 2009.
"Loving and devoted mother of Darlene Mathis Gardner,"
"her son-in-law, the Honorable Judge Wendell P. Gardner, Jr"
http://www.tributes.com/show/Mary-Steverson-86533882 I cannot find the relationship between the judge and Darlene, if any.

Still looking for additional connections...

[Moltke]

Heh! Let me amend that to “No taste, no class” as the Clinton family motto. The mind boggles.

[True Republican Patriot]

Something really Stinks here!! Goes Bankrupt! Charged with Contempt of Court! inally settles in 2007! Then starts a New “DESIGN” Company in August 2009 and immediately lands a $5.4 MILLION DOLLAR NO BID Contract to supply all of the new Crystal for State Department and Embassies Worldwide!!
Her degree is from Strayer Unversity, not hardly a School known for great academic achievement as well.....AMERICA must demand that We find out how muchKosta Boda is charging this Ms. Gardner for the Crystal that she is selling to AMERICA for those 5.4 Million Dollars.
Unbelievable!!!

[kcvl]

Thanks!

You have been busy.

[maggief]

(no links)

NEW D.C. JUDGE IS 10TH FROM LAW FIRM
Washington Post - Saturday, September 7, 1991
Author: From news services and staff reports
Wendell P . Gardner Jr . has been sworn in as an associate judge of D.C. Superior Court.

Gardner , 45, is the 10th member of one Washington law firm — formerly Houston, Sullivan & Gardner , now Houston & Gardner — to become a D.C. Superior Court judge. The oath was administered Thursday by his former partner, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who has been nominated to a vacant seat on the D.C. Court of Appeals.

Gardner is a graduate of McKinley High School, Howard University and Catholic University’s Columbus Law School. His swearing-in marked what Chief Judge Fred B. Ugast called a “new cycle of retirements and appointments” at Superior Court, where five vacancies on the bench remain to be filled.

The names of three nominees to fill one of the vacancies, created by the retirement this summer of Judge Sylvia Bacon, have been sent to President Bush. The application deadline for the four other vacancies, created by the recent appointment of Judge Warren R. King to the D.C. Court of Appeals and three retirements, is Sept. 16

//

USING COLORS THAT FIT - CHOOSE THE HUES THAT MAKE YOU LOOK GOOD AND YOU’LL MAKE YOUR HOUSE LOOK LIKE IT WAS BUILT AROUND YOU AND JUST FOR YOU.
Sun-Sentinel - Friday, March 29, 2002
Author: Patricia Dane Rogers The Washington Post
Purple wreaths hang on the double front doors of Darlene Mathis’ house on a quiet street facing Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. Purple chairs flank the fireplace. Purple pillows dot the sofas. Like a note replayed throughout the house: purple candles, purple bath towels, purple file folders and a purple dog bed. Shades of purple wash the walls, from pale mauve in the foyer to deep grape in the master bath. On a coffee table, a crystal bowl holds lavender jelly beans.

(snip)

Her conviction that we should decorate with colors that are becoming to us evolved from the early ‘80s best seller Color Me Beautiful. The author, Carole Jackson, divided people into seasons based on hair color and skin tone: Autumns and Springs have warm skin tones, Winters and Summers are cool. For each season, the book recommends colors for makeup and wardrobes: jewel tones for Winters, golds and russets for Autumns. Women from coast to coast started clutching fabric swatches when they shopped and “having their colors done.”

The trouble, said Mathis, was that the book was written for Caucasians.

At the time, Mathis was owner of Monday Mornings, a beauty salon in Washington that catered to black professionals. She says Color Me Beautiful was all the buzz, but her clients were asking, “Does this apply to us?” She took a training seminar and met the author to find out more.

What she found was that the Color Me Beautiful concept grouped blacks, Hispanics and Asians into one season — winter — and limited them to the winter palette of black, white and mostly primary colors. The more she learned, the more she became convinced that Jackson’s approach should be expanded to take into account the diversity of skin tones.

“When I went back to my salon, I discovered a world of bright-hued women who were Springs, Autumns and Summers as well as Winters. I could see that we came in many shades,” Mathis said.

Jackson recruited her as a Color Me Beautiful consultant. With the author’s blessing, Mathis added deeper and more intense colors to the seasonal palettes and wrote Women of Color: The Multicultural Guide to Fashion and Beauty. Published by Random House in 1993, it had a laudatory introduction by Jackson.

The book went through three hardback editions before Mathis published a soft-cover version in 1999, which is available through amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com and bookstores.

Recently, she translated her belief in the power of color to interior decorating. She began with her own house, then apprenticed herself to a Silver Spring, Md., designer and began decorating for some of her salon clients, choosing colors based on their seasons. A decorating book is in the works.

Her own palette is winter, she says, but, as she discovered early on, the vivid shades of that season are not becoming to all women of color. “Some black women look best in summer pastels or the colors of autumn, like russets and browns,” she said. “When I put winter colors like yellow or purple next to their faces, they looked horrible.”

If everyone tells you how great you look in purple, Mathis says, it makes sense to use as much of that color as possible around you — on walls and pillows as well as jackets, scarves and eye shadow.

Her first real chance to experiment with her approach to decorating came four years ago when she married Wendell Gardner Jr ., now a Superior Court judge in Washington.

“He bought a new house for us and gave me a decorating budget,” she said. Luckily, they’re both Winters, so they like the same colors.

Now, their living room is a mauve cocoon from walls to ceiling, punctuated with stronger jolts of purple and plum. The living room is as formal and stately as an embassy drawing room, with its tufted and tapestry-patterned sofa, silk window treatment and Tabriz rug.

In the foyer, linoleum flooring has been replaced by marble.

Elsewhere, wall-to-wall carpet is out, Persian rugs are in; concrete floors on the lower level now gleam with hardwood. Crown molding was added and French doors replaced sliding glass.

With the exception of two home offices painted yellow and the raspberry bedroom of daughter Halston, 17, the rest of the house is a study in purple.

“My room has pink undertones because I’m a Summer,” said Halston, a junior at Georgetown Day School.

“If I were a Winter, it would have been more of a true red,” she said.

Her older sister, Tameka, a graduate of the Parsons School of Design, lives in New York, but she, too, has become a seasonal color convert.

[Ramius]

And what’s with the idiotic lead-free requirement?

I noticed that too. If it's not leaded, is it crystal? I don't know much about this, but I thought it took lead to make it crystal or else it is merely glass.

[bert]

It must have 24% lead to be crystal

[Ramius]

So... so-called “lead-free” crystal is... what? Glass?

[thouworm]

Her first real chance to experiment with her approach to decorating came four years ago when she married Wendell Gardner Jr ., now a Superior Court judge in Washington.

BINGO! Thanks! good find; thought that would be the case, but couldn't confirm

So she married approximately 1998 and did not appear to be married in 2005 (in the bankrupcy filing), but mother's obit lists Judge Gardner as a son-in-law.

Also, noticed some connections here but did not follow.

[bert]

yes.

The term has been redefined in a typically progressive manner

[thouworm]

Possibly this connection?

After retiring from the U.S. Air Force, Charles Baker founded MCB Lighting & Electrical, Inc. and Government Logistics Solutions

Source

Gardner's Connections

[Moltke]

Well, to be fair, see the “Lead Glass” article on Wikipedia. Prolonged storage of some liquids in such glass seems to lead to leaching of lead into the liquids, but this should not be an issue in short term use.

Of course, “crystal” is a bit of a misnomer when applied to any glass - which is amorphous, i.e. not of a crystal structure. It’s more of a historical term. Lead glass has a higher refractive index, which makes it “sparkle” more than regular glass, hence more appealing.