WhistleblowerSupporter

More From Don Siegelman, Targeted Alabama Governor

Freed Alabama Ex-Governor Sees Politics in His Case
    By Adam Nossiter
    The New York Times

    Saturday 29 March 2008

    Montgomery, Alabama - Former Governor Don Siegelman of Alabama, released from prison today on bond in a bribery case, said he was as convinced as ever that politics played a leading role in his prosecution.

    In a telephone interview shortly after he walked out of a federal prison in Oakdale, La., Mr. Siegelman said there had been "abuse of power" in his case, and repeatedly cited the influence of Karl Rove, the former White House political director.

    "His fingerprints are smeared all over the case," Mr. Siegelman said, a day after a federal appeals court ordered him released on bond and said there were legitimate questions about his case.

    Mr. Rove has strenuously denied any involvement in the conviction of the former governor, who was sentenced to serve seven years last June after being convicted in 2006. He could not immediately be reached for comment today.

    Mr. Siegelman served nine months while his lawyers appealed a federal judge's refusal to release him on bond, pending the ex-governor's appeal of his conviction. That refusal was overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Thursday.

    The former governor, a Democrat, said he would "press" to have Mr. Rove answer questions about his possible involvement in the case before Congress, which has already held a hearing on Mr. Siegelman. On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee signaled its intention to have Mr. Siegelman testify about the nature of his prosecution.

    In June of 2006 he was convicted by a federal jury here of taking $500,000 from Richard M. Scrushy, the former chief executive of the HealthSouth corporation, in exchange for an appointment to the state hospital licensing board. The money was to retire a debt from Mr. Siegelman's campaign for a state lottery to pay for schools, and the ex-governor's lawyers have insisted that it was no more than a routine political contribution.

    On the telephone outside the prison today, Mr. Siegelman said he had confidence that the federal appeals court, which will now consider his larger appeal, would agree with his view of the case - that he was convicted for a transaction that regularly takes place in American politics.

    Otherwise, Mr. Siegelman said, "every governor and every president and every contributor might as well turn themselves in, because it's going to be open season on them."

    His case has become a flash point for Democratic contentions that politics influenced decisions by the Justice Department, fueled by testimony from an Alabama campaign operative that suggested Mr. Rove may have had some involvement.

    In Alabama, the Siegelman case has inflamed partisan passions, with Republicans insisting that Mr. Siegelman's term from 1998 to 2002 was deeply corrupted, and Democrats furious over what they depict as a years-long political witch-hunt.

    Before his release earlier in the day, the ex-governor completed his prison chores for the day - mopping a barracks area - and waited for his wife and son to pick him up for the eight-hour drive to his home in Birmingham, Ala.

    "It feels great to be out," Mr. Siegelman said. "I wish I could say it was over. But we're a long way from the end of this."

  -------

Eastman Updated 3-28-08

Business

Friday, March 28, 2008
Last updated 1:18 a.m. PT

Eastman says safety was only motive

Media contacts detailed at trial

By ANDREA JAMES
P-I REPORTER

Boeing inspector Gerald Eastman told police detectives that he didn't want money. And he didn't want power over one of the world's largest corporations.

Acting as a lone employee, Eastman wanted to force The Boeing Co. and the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure that new airplanes are fully inspected before taking flight.

On Thursday, 46-year-old Eastman sat in King County Superior Court, where he is on trial on 16 felony counts of computer trespass.

His new employer, Bothell-based Accra Manufacturing Inc., promptly fired him for a conflict of interest with one of its main customers, he said he was told.

"It's taken a great toll on me and my family," Eastman said after the proceedings. "My marriage is on the rocks. I'll probably have to sell my house now, just to get by."

Eastman says he is a whistle-blower who wanted to expose that Chicago-based Boeing did not do a thorough job of inspecting planes in production.

During his time as a quality assurance inspector in Tukwila, he wrote to Boeing management, the FAA and even Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell about what he viewed as fraud in Boeing's airplane production.

But, according to the prosecutor, he also took thousands of sensitive documents and provided The Seattle Times with information for exclusive articles on Boeing-related topics that had nothing to do with plane safety.

After a 2006 investigation led to his arrest, two Seattle police detectives questioned Eastman about the Boeing files found on his home computer.

The jury listened to a tape of that questioning Thursday, and Eastman tried to tell his story. For much of the recording, Eastman sighed heavily into the microphone and rambled from event to event as he relayed a disjointed tale of what he sees as years of crusading against corruption at Boeing.

The detectives demanded to know if Eastman received money for the documents.

"My intent has never been to make money on this at all," Eastman told them, sounding defeated after nearly an hour of questioning. "I have no desire for power; I have no ego to speak of. Boeing knows exactly why I did what I did."

The detectives pointed out that Boeing and the FAA disagreed with most of Eastman's complaints, and asked him why the supposed airplane defects weren't making headlines and leading to crashes.

"Does a defect necessarily mean that a plane falls out of the sky?" Eastman responded. "Maybe it means it turns over the ocean, or (inaudible) at an airport longer than it should."

Though the detectives asked him numerous times about contact with the media, Eastman would not confirm that he had ever spoken with a reporter.

But Detective David Dunn from the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force, in taped testimony played Thursday, said he'd found e-mails on Eastman's computer that confirm contact with reporters. Dunn found seven pages of e-mails between Eastman and Times reporter Dominic Gates, and four pages of e-mails between Eastman and Seattle P-I reporter James Wallace. The e-mails were submitted as evidence Thursday.

The reporter-source relationship between Gates and Eastman began around September 2003, with an e-mail.

"Would any major outsourcing plans by BCAG (Boeing Commercial Airplanes group) be news to you?" Eastman wrote to the reporter. "If so, please contact me. I, of course, would have to be assured total anonymity."

In his response, Gates wrote, "As for confidentiality, I protect that absolutely. It's part of the ethics of my job here."

In another e-mail, Gates told Eastman, "Let me urge you again to work with me to make this happen. You can do that by feeding me whatever you can to substantiate the information and by keeping it between us."

A couple of months later, P-I reporter Wallace thanked Eastman for help and wrote, "I had to confirm with other sources" information about how Boeing awarded work on 787 Dreamliner wings to Japanese companies. The P-I published a story Nov. 14, 2003, about that award.

Dunn said he did not find attachments with any of the e-mails. The e-mails suggest that Gates and Eastman met at least once in person.

The Times declined to comment Thursday. "We don't discuss confidential sources," said Times Executive Editor David Boardman.

P-I Managing Editor David McCumber said the e-mails speak for themselves.

The trial resumes Monday.

Eastman says safety was only motive
A former Boeing inspector, accused of computer trespass, told police he simply wanted to make sure Boeing airplanes were safe. But newly revealed e-mails show he provided information to media unrelated to safety.

#397960

Posted by IanMost at 3/27/08 10:18 p.m.

Boeing employees know that many things at the company are limited and that even casual discussion is prohibited. This guys sounds like one of many who love to talk to the media about internal issues and don't realize that they are violating company policy. Its not just about whistle blowing.

#398011

Posted by Iblis at 3/27/08 11:41 p.m.

I agree. I was almost with him, until he allegedly started sneaking out articles unrelated to his safety concerns...

#398267

Posted by NAYSAYING TROLL at 3/28/08 8:41 a.m.

Boeing employees know that many things at the company are limited

This fine man has stood up and revealed what he believes to be fraud. This act was against company policy, but was not criminal in nature. He was given authorization to the documents, so how could he be trespassing? Shame on this judge and prosecuter, this case should never have come to trial.

Where is the public outcry for Boeing to reveal their inspection methods? Where is the investigation by the DOT?

I would like to know how many errors their inspection records have. What is the percentage of missing or improperly stamped inspection records??? How many errors are there, just on the paperwork? -not including what has not been documented on the new 787, by suppliers as well as this company? (as was reported in the media)

Who is going to protect the flying public?

#398409

Posted by The Last Inspector at 3/28/08 10:36 a.m.

Thanks, "Naysaying Troll." I knew it was my duty to try and protect the public from the fraud I witnessed in Boeing QA placing so many lives at risk, so I did so to the best of my ability while others that should have also stood up to this fraud turned a blind eye to it, including the FAA, who in fact are enablers of it as opposed to doing their real jobs in an unbiased way of ensuring Boeing actually follows their required quality system and airplanes are indeed properly inspected before delivery to customers in order to protect public safety.

The errors on the paperwork are not the issue. Boeing spends more time ensuring the paper looks like the airplanes were inspected than actually inspecting them, I believe. In fact, they have moved for the most part to electronic "paperwork" that ensures an inspector, under pressure from their QA management to get the product out of the door rather than actually inspecting it and documenting and getting reworked or repaired defects in the airplane components before they are delivered, rollerstamps in all the right locations before the job can be closed out. So the rollerstamping is not as evident as it once was by just looking at the "paperwork."

#398934

Posted by handsome at 3/28/08 5:00 p.m.

To The Last Inspector!!

I feel that your heart is in the right place but I also feel for the pain that a major corporation can inflict on a lone employee.

All you can do is tell the truth, defend yourself to the best of your ability.

Ultimately you have to get up in the morning and look at yourself.

Pulling for you emotionally. It took 10 years for me to get over a major fraud in a company that I worked for. I just burned the notebooks last year - that proved my case - but ultimaltely a company can inflict so much damage!!

Feel the pain brother!! Keep your chin up!!!!

What do you think?

Alabama's Former Gov. Siegelman Free on Appeal; Will Testify to Congress

   Ex-Alabama Governor to Be Freed on Appeal
    The Associated Press

    Friday 28 March 2008

    Montgomery, Ala. - Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman is not just getting to go home after spending nine months in federal prison. He's also getting a chance to testify before Congress about possible political influence over his prosecution.

    A federal appeals court on Thursday ordered Siegelman released pending the appeal of his corruption case, just hours after the House Judiciary Committee announced that it wants to hear his views when it probes claims of selective prosecution by the Justice Department.

    The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in its ruling Thursday, said the former governor had raised "substantial questions of fact and law" in challenging his conviction.

    The once-popular Democrat began serving a sentence of more than seven years last June on his conviction on six bribery-related counts and one obstruction count. Siegelman, 62, has been serving the sentence at a federal prison in Oakdale, La.

    "It's a sweet day. He's an innocent man and he's been in prison for nine months," said Siegelman's attorney, Vince Kilborn.

    Siegelman has maintained that certain Republicans targeted him after he was elected governor in 1998. The House committee has begun reviewing his case as part of a broader investigation into allegations of political meddling in federal prosecutions.

    The committee hopes to hear from Siegelman in May. Committee Chairman John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, believes Siegelman "would have a lot to add to the committee's investigation into selective prosecution," committee spokeswoman Melanie Roussell said.

    Federal prosecutors accused Siegelman of appointing then-HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy to a hospital regulatory board in exchange for Scrushy arranging $500,000 in contributions to Siegelman's campaign for a statewide lottery.

    Scrushy, who was tried along with Siegelman, also was convicted on bribery counts and is serving a sentence of nearly seven years. The 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, has ruled that the multimillionaire Birmingham businessman is a potential flight risk, but that Siegelman is not.

    The court refused Thursday to reconsider an earlier ruling denying Scrushy's request to be released on bond while his conviction is being appealed.

    Scrushy attorney Art Leach said he is disappointed his client will have to remain in prison for at least another six months while the case is appealed.

    "I am extremely disappointed, particularly after they said in the Siegelman case that there are substantial issues on appeal," Leach said.

    Siegelman also was convicted of a separate obstruction of justice charge concerning $9,200 he received from a lobbyist to help with the purchase of a motorcycle. His attorneys have said it was a legitimate transaction.

    Kilborn said that he and other attorneys were working to have Siegelman released from the Louisiana prison as soon as they can deliver a certified copy of the court's order to prison officials. It was not immediately clear when that would occur.

    U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller had refused to allow Siegelman to remain free on appeal while challenging his conviction. But the 11th Circuit said Thursday he met the legal standard to be freed in the "complex and protracted" case.

    Chief prosecutor Louis Franklin said he was "very disappointed" by the ruling, but still expects the appellate court will rule against Siegelman's appeal.

    "I don't view this as a setback. The order is very short and concise and only deals with whether he is entitled to bond pending appeal," Franklin said.

    The appeals process had been delayed for months after the court reporter during the trial died and the transcript was not completed as it normally would have.

  -------

Supreme Court Rules Against GW Bush

Go to Original

    Supreme Court Rules Bush Exceeded His Powers
    By David G. Savage
    The Los Angeles Times

    Wednesday 26 March 2008

Saying he does not have "unilateral authority" to force states to comply with an international treaty, justices vote 6-3 to reject presidential order to reopen cases of foreign nationals.

    Washington - The Supreme Court rebuffed President Bush on Tuesday for exceeding his powers under the law, ruling he does not have the "unilateral authority" to force state officials to comply with an international treaty.

    The Constitution gives the president the power "to execute the laws, not make them," said Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Unless Congress passes a law to enforce a treaty, the president usually cannot do it on his own, he said.

    The 6-3 decision was a rare defeat for Bush in the courts, and it came in an unusual case that combined international law, foreign treaties and the fate of foreign nationals condemned to die in Texas, California and several other states.

    In a surprise move three years ago, Bush intervened on the side of the Mexican government and said Texas prosecutors should reopen the cases of Jose Medellin, a Houston murderer, and several others serving death sentences. Bush cited the Vienna Convention, which obliges signing countries to notify each other when one of their citizens is arrested and charged with a serious crime. Mexico said American prosecutors failed repeatedly to give notice when Mexican natives were charged with capital crimes.

    In rejecting Bush's order Tuesday, the high court, led by its conservatives, took the opportunity to make a strong statement on the limits of presidential power.

    Roberts cited the "first principles" of America's Constitution. "The president's authority to act, as with the exercise of any governmental power, must stem either from an act of Congress or from the Constitution itself," Roberts said. "[G]iven the absence of congressional legislation . . . the non-self- executing treaties at issue here did not expressly or impliedly vest the president with the unilateral authority to make them self-executing.

    "It should not be surprising," Roberts added, "that our Constitution does not contemplate vesting such power in the Executive alone."

    The decision upholds Texas prosecutors and judges who refused to reopen the cases of the Mexican nationals on death row there. By implication, it also blocks a challenge on behalf of several dozen Mexican natives who are serving death sentences in California.

    The three dissenters, led by Justice Stephen G. Breyer, took the view that treaties are part of American law once they are ratified by the Senate.

    At the White House, Press Secretary Dana Perino said the decision was a defeat, but on a narrow issue. "We're disappointed with the decision, but we're going to accept it, and we're going to be reviewing it in regards to the impacts that it may have," she said.

    Since 2001, Bush has claimed the power to run the war on terrorism without interference from Congress or the courts. He and his White House lawyers have said his powers as commander in chief of the armed forces allow him to act unilaterally to protect the nation's security.

    Citing this authority, he ordered the military to imprison "enemy combatants" without charges or hearings, and he told the National Security Agency to intercept international phone calls from suspected terrorists without seeking judicial warrants. He also has claimed the power to order harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists without oversight from Congress or the courts.

    Civil libertarians have gone to court repeatedly to challenge Bush's actions, but they have won few clear victories.

    Four years ago, the high court said war did not give the president a "blank check," but the justices stopped well short of forcing major changes at the military's prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Another challenge to that prison is pending before the court.

    Pepperdine law professor Douglas W. Kmiec said Tuesday's opinion in Medellin vs. Texas may be "an epitaph for an administration that has sought to deploy all sorts of means of embellishing presidential authority." Bush's order was "clearly an executive overreach," said Kmiec, a former Reagan administration lawyer, and he called Roberts' opinion "a strong reaffirmation of the role of Congress in treaty making."

    But liberal advocates faulted the court for undercutting an international treaty.

    "The most disturbing aspect of this case is that Chief Justice Roberts is signaling that the United States can simply ignore its obligations under international treaties," said Kathryn Kolbert, president of People for the American Way. "It's a ruling that will further erode our standing in the world."

    Donald Donovan, a New York lawyer who represented Medellin, said the court should have stood behind Bush's effort to enforce U.S. legal commitments. "Having given its word, the United States should have kept its word," he said.

    Mexico does not have the death penalty, and its officials said they could supply lawyers for those who were charged with capital crimes in the United States. When Mexico sued over the issue, the International Court of Justice in the Hague ruled in 2004 that the United States had violated the Vienna Convention. Its ruling named 51 Mexican nationals.

    It was unclear how that ruling could be enforced. Bush, a former Texas governor, told Texas officials that they had to abide by the ruling of the International Court. He said he did so "pursuant to the authority vested in me as president by the Constitution and laws of the United States."

    Texas prosecutors balked and decided to fight Bush in court. In Tuesday's opinion, Roberts concluded first that the Vienna Convention is not "binding federal law," since Congress had not passed a law to enforce it. And in such cases, the president had no authority to force state or local officials to comply with the treaty or the ruling of the International Court.

    Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. joined Roberts' opinion. And Justice John Paul Stevens concurred in the result, saying the treaty at issue did not have the force of law in this country.

Gerald Eastman's Undeserved Railroad Ride 2

Boeing Whistleblower, Gerald Eastman, went to court this week to fight for his freedom. It appears the Boeing Company is highly concerned about having this case be legitimately treated like the whistleblower case that it is. Whistleblowers have some rights; whistleblowers have laws and protections and are not to be subjected to retaliation and acts of retribution, which Mr. Eastman most clearly has had to endure. The Boeing Company is trying to define Mr. Eastman as a common criminal rather than the whistleblower with laws and protections behind him that he has a right to expect will be respected. And Boeing has the influence to take the ridiculous and improbable and make it happen. A very cozy relationship between Boeing and the King County Prosecutor's Office appears to be making this case quite odiferous. So far the quickly appointed judge has disallowed all of the evidence and circumstances portraying the bigger picture and true motivation behind Mr. Eastman’s case, helping Boeing to trivialize and minimize it's importance for the good of the whole, and try to bury it (and Mr. Eastman) under a cloud of smog.

It appears the lead prosecutor may owe Boeing a great deal due to donations made to his election campaign funds. If true, this should be investigated as a BIG conflict of interest. Quid Pro Quo arrangements are not on the list of approved relationships between industry and government, particularly oversight and law enforcement.

The judge also ruled not to allow Sarbanes-Oxley protections as well, violating Mr. Eastman's rights, as a whistleblower. Boeing has listed tens of charges, hoping to make some stick. Insiders say that the company is using him as their BIG example to further terrify their own employees and dissuade them from talking to anyone, even government investigators who are trying to investigate various charges of wrong doing in any of the many open investigations being conducted by a number of three and four letter acronym agencies at this time.

There are reasons why a whistleblower might end up on Boeing's hit list. What if as a loyal employee you realize some things are going very wrong, so wrong in fact that the public's safety is at risk. What if you go up every level in your own corporate command chain trying to get the company to fix the problems and clean up their act but are met with disdain, hostility, and are ignored at best, and attacked and set up to be destroyed at worst. What if seeing there is no hope even at the highest levels in your company for justice and responsible action? Then you go to the government oversight agencies, like Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). What if they also turn a deaf ear and are so caught up in a corrupt and cozy relationship with your employer that there is no hope for justice and a resolution there either? Then you go to the FAA's oversight agency/watchdog, Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General. And if you also encounter cover-ups and refusal to take serious matters seriously due to political contamination of the oversight process? (Recall the whole Attorney General mess recently and perpetually in the news?) Then you may resort in desperation to going to the media. Someone who works for a different defense contractor once told me that the only way to get them (the company) to take any kind of positive action to clean up corruption in their own nest was to embarrass the heck out of them.

It seems Boeing has a lot of influence, too much influence. Some quality investigation is warranted. And this railroad ride, the retaliation against Boeing Whistleblower, Gerald Eastman, must be stopped. If there is anyone still clean and with enough integrity left, they should be thoroughly investigating this, looking deeper into the business practices of The Boeing Company, and its relationships with government oversight agencies and it’s revolving door participants. And that is scrutiny The Boeing Company most certainly does not want.

Find out what is really going on by visiting Mr. Eastman's site: www.thelastinspector.com
And whistleblower support sites such as: http://whistleblowersupporter.typepad.com

Shirley Pigott, MD: More on Texas Medical Board Watch Issues

I sent each of the following Representatives at the Texas House of Representatives these suggestions after calling them and informing them the hearings were being held next Wednesday:  Chairman SC on Regulatory Agencies (of Appropriations) Fred Brown, Vice Chair Jose Menendez, Committee Member Representatives Drew Darby, Eddie Lucio, Larry Taylor; visitors Representatives Debbie Riddle and Carl Isett.  I was unable to contact Representative Van Arsdale's office so I will postpone sending him a copy.  I sent copies to my own Representative Geanie Morrison and my own Senator Glenn Hegar.

Please contact your Texas representative and Texas senator.  Encourage them to send a staff person to the hearings or to attend themselves.  To find out who your representative is google [texas house of representatives] and go to the House website.

Dear Representative Brown. 

I have recommendations for process changes that will improve effectiveness of this medical board while enabling it to better fulfill its mission of protecting the health of Texans.


1.  Give every doctor licensed in Texas, formerly licensed in Texas, or waiting for a Texas license an email address of this format:  firstname.lastname. degree.DOB@ tmb.state. tx.us

For me this would be shirley.pigott. md.1948@tmb. state.tx. us

Begin offering doctors the option of using this email address to communicate with the board.  Let doctors claim up to 5 hours of CME (Continuing Medical Education) of the 50 required per year to help other doctors learn how to do this when needed. Because it would cause a problem if doctors had to remember to check this email address, one of the things we would need to learn how to do would be to forward email from this address to a preferred email account.

Publicize the availability of this option through the TMB newsletter.   Ask the medical professional organizations to assist in the publicity. 

Give doctors annual CME credit, say 5 hours a year, for setting up this account as an incentive.  I believe this would help doctors who don't know how to use the Internet get comfortable with it. 

Let doctors report CME through the Internet using this email address.  That would make documentation easier for the doctor and the TMB. It would also encourage the use of the Internet for CME which opens the door for fantastic CME at low or no cost.  Medical professional organizations are likely to oppose this because they make a lot of money by offering CME.  In my opinion, the CME offered by these organizations is vastly inferior to CME available on the Internet.

Begin sending TMB newsletters by email when possible, especially to physicians. Decrease the size of the newsletter.  It is mostly worthless anyway, in my opinion.

The TMB is likely to oppose this because increased use of the Internet will lead to changes that will make them more accountable.  Because they like to abuse their power, I predict they will oppose such changes. I have suggested some of these changes to TMB members.  They have ignored me, or complimented me on my ideas, but not implemented any of them.

2.  Record all phone calls to the TMB "for quality control and training".  This will eliminate many abuses.  It will also reveal that the TMB is usually unavailable for communication with the public.  The TMB is likely to oppose this for these reasons.

3.  Ensure that all informal settlement conferences are open for attendance by anyone of the physician's choice.  Require all informal settlement conferences to be recorded on video.  Many abuses will be eliminated if this is done.

4.  Have Homeland Security review and clear all applicants for licensing and document country of origin and whatever else is relevant to insure security.

5.  Each Texas representative should have access to one hour of online training as to how the Texas Medical Board is supposed to work.  All doctors should be able to access the same training and have the option to use it for one hour of CME.

6.  I became interested in the Texas Medical Board and its abuses because of my own experience with sham peer review.  All TMB members and Texas representatives should have access to one hour of training in sham peer review.  Doctors should have access to the same training and should have the option to claim one hour of CME.

7.  Texas Medical Board Watch is developing an example protocol which we want to make available to physicians who face issues with the TMB.  I am testing some of the first steps now.  Each doctor should be made aware that the Texas House of Representatives is interested in having a medical board which fulfills its mission, follows due process, and does not abuse its power.

The first step of our protocol will be to educate doctors on Items #1 - #6.  Next we encourage doctors to write an affidavit regarding their issues.  We encourage them to contact their Texas representatives and provide them with the affidavit.

I recommend that the House Committee on Public Health be invited to these hearings. 

I would be happy to assist in developing the educational materials I recommend in #5 and #6.  Whoever develops it, I would suggest that it be reviewed by Texas Medical Board Watch prior to implementation.

Please note that I have recommended changes in processes that will make the TMB more effective.  These process changes should, I expect, improve the function of the Texas Medical Board even if the same arrogant TMB members remain in power.

There is good evidence that process changes are more effective than punitive changes for the purpose of improving productivity and decreasing wastes.  There is also good evidence that improved transparency in government and listening to whistleblowers are both useful measures in decreasing fraud in government.  I doubt there is any evidence that this current Texas Medical Board protects the health of Texans.  Because it is retaliatory, harsh, unreasonable, capricious, and inconsistent, in my opinion, this TMB deprives Texans of good medical care, increases healthcare costs, and runs good doctors out of medical practice and out of Texas. 

During the past two years the retaliation against me I have endured by this medical board has almost destroyed my medical practice.  It has caused considerable hardship on me, my family, and my patients.

Please review my public disciplinary order in a recent TMB newsletter.  You can find it by googling [tmb.state pigott].  I have one more frivolous complaint currently under investigation by this board and am experiencing, I believe, retaliation through the Texas Department of Public Safety because of my efforts in exposing abuse by the TMB.

Sincerely,

Shirley Pigott MD 

Friends of Texas Medical Board Watch,

If you do not wish to receive email from TMBW, please respond with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

Below is an email from a Texas physician who emailed me asking for advice.  Next is my response.

If government worked like it is supposed to work, MD below would not need a lawyer.  I personally did not hire a lawyer until after my informal settlement conference because I knew any lawyer would tell me to be quiet and "let me do my job".  If you tell the whole world what they are doing, they will quit doing it. 

I think the Texas Medical Board has laid back on its attacks on me. 

Their modus operandi now is to have Texas Department of Public Safety and other law enforcement officers wait for me! This morning coming to work I failed to notice I had entered a school zone (speed limit 25 mph) and was going 43 mph.  Immediately before the school zone the speed limit was 40 mph. Sure enough a cop was on me.  Pulled me over and gave me a ticket.  Since this was in daylight and there were plenty of people around, I just smiled and signed the citation.  That's a ticket I deserved and will gladly pay, but I wonder why all the other drivers who were going 40 mph were not stopped. 

They don't understand that more harassment just provides more evidence.

Shirley Pigott MD

*****

Dear MD,

I would ask your representative to send a staff member to accompany you to your settlement conference. Your representative himself should contact the Texas Medical Board to let them know in advance that someone from his office will be attending.  Inform them that you will be taping the conference as well.  Don't take "no" for an answer.  You have this right!

Who is Andy xxxxx? 

Call me tonight, please, at home at 361-573-0054.

Call me any time.

Shirley Pigott MD

On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 11:24 AM, MD xxxxx wrote:

I had a great meeting with State Rep Jim Pitts of Waxahachie. He was very interested and was partially aware.  He will be looking into it further and getting back to me.  Senator Chris Harris hung up on the wrong person, my friend Andy xxxx  is very politicly active and is on a mission now.  I hope to meet with Andy's state Rep next week or so.  I am spreading the word as fast as possible.  I have to go to Austin soon to court to defend my self. I can't afford an attorney.... Any suggestions. .....we still need to talk. xxxxxx is my cell.  What else can I be doing? I have friends and family calling all over the state to their senators and reps to ask for an investigation.



> *Re:  Second Hearing on abuses of the Texas Medical Board (TMB)

> Wednesday, April 2, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. in Austin.
>
> Friends,
>
> Thanks to Steve Hotze MD for his very effective work in bringing the
> abuses of the Texas Medical Board to the open and in making the
> arrangements for these hearings by the Texas House Appropriations
> Committee, S/C on Regulatory Agencies.  The last hearings on October 23,
> 2007 took eleven hours; they are available for viewing on the House
> archives at:
>
> * www.house.state. tx.us/fx/ av/committee80/ 71023a02r. ram
>
> Please write a two page statement which you will have notarized after
> you sign this attestation:  I swear or affirm that this statement is
> true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
>
> When you submit this statement to me, I will forward it to the correct
> person and ask to have you scheduled to testify under oath at the
> hearings. The statement should summarize the points you wish to make.
> Please be as specific as possible so that action can be taken.  Include
> your telephone numbers.  You may testify again even though you have
> previously testified. The content should be different. Your testimony
> can include your progress if you are still dealing with the same issue.
>
> We have new evidence to support false anonymous complaints by Roberta
> Kalafut DO, Board President, and her husband, Ed Brandecker MD.  There
> is growing evidence that one or the other of them has turned in
> complaints about any competing doctors. Texas Medical Board Watch is
> beginning to make this evidence available to various Texas
> Representatives as we call for reform.  You can help us a great deal if
> you contact your own Texas Representative and Texas Senator with your
> concerns about anonymous complaints from these two physicians and the
> abuse of power it reflects.
>
> Whether or not you have any problem with the board yourself, please
> contact your own elected officials.  In fact, if you are reluctant to
> discuss your personal problems because of your legitimate fear of
> retaliation, it is especially important that you contact your own
> elected officials and ask them to educate themselves about the abuses
> that continue.  Please ask them to send a staff person to attend the
> hearings.  They can be part of the hearing panel by contacting
> Representative Fred Brown or the House Clerk of the S/C on Regulatory
> Agencies.
>
> If you are unable to attend yourself, perhaps you can persuade a
> colleague. If you are licensed in Texas, formerly licensed in Texas, or
> waiting for your Texas license, please consider making an attestation of
> your support for a strong, but fair, Texas Medical Board.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Shirley Pigott MD

__._,_.___

Was Inspector Source of Leak at Boeing

Was inspector source of leak at Boeing?

Full story:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/boeingaerospace/2004306499_leaktrial26m.html

By Natalie Singer

Seattle Times staff reporter

It has the elements of a best-selling suspense novel: hidden computer devices, anonymous tipoffs, conspiracy theories and accusations of critical safety lapses at a major corporation.

But in the end, what King County jurors will have to decide in a criminal trial that began Tuesday is simple: Did a former Boeing assembly inspector access thousands of company files, download them without authorization and funnel the proprietary information to the media?

Or did Gerald Eastman -- a dedicated but disgruntled longtime employee who had taken his concerns about Boeing's assembly-line inspection procedures to the Federal Aviation Administration -- have permission to view those files?

If convicted of 16 counts of first-degree computer trespass, Eastman, 46, faces 3-½ to 4-¾ years in prison. The trial is expected to last about two weeks.

Eastman, who inspected engine mounts and tail pipes on Boeing's assembly line in Tukwila, was investigated after an anonymous tipster alleged to Boeing in April 2006 that Eastman had leaked information about aircraft designs, financial projections and production problems to news media, including The Seattle Times.

At the metal desk where Eastman sat just feet from the production floor, Boeing investigators discovered a purple cord protruding out of his company hard drive and going into a hole in the back of a locked drawer. There they found a "thumb drive" -- a separate memory device -- connected to the company computer, according to charging papers.

Eastman spent hours every day surfing internal company Web sites and downloading more than 8,000 files police later found saved on Eastman's home computer, according to charging documents.

Eastman, who worked for Boeing for 18 years, was arrested at his desk in May 2006.

During opening statements Tuesday, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Scott Peterson told the jury that Eastman had created elaborate, color-coded Excel spreadsheets in which he "mapped all the Boeing fileshares and whether he could get access to them or not."

Despite Eastman's belief that ethical missteps and safety flaws plagued the assembly process and other aspects of the company's operations, the 16 Seattle Times stories that Boeing claimed included information from the downloaded documents had nothing to do with that, Peterson argued. Instead, the documents had to do with Boeing's plan for "green" planes, sales projections, new business lines and problems with 777 production -- "things Airbus would like to know," Peterson said.

He also said Eastman exchanged e-mail correspondence with and suggested news stories to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter.

Defense attorney Ramona Brandes said in a court affidavit that Eastman admits to being the source of at least one Times article on Boeing.

Suki Dardarian, a Times managing editor, said Tuesday that The Times does not comment on who may or may not be a confidential source.

When Boeing began to investigate Eastman, company higher-ups already knew about his concerns. Eastman believed Boeing was encouraging and requiring inspectors to sign off on reports that inspections had been completed when they had not, a practice known as "roller-stamping," and he had reported those concerns to the FAA and Boeing.

The federal agency and the company conducted audits, but Eastman was still not satisfied, according to Peterson and defense attorney Brandes.

"He starts to look for evidence ... because everyone else is turning a blind eye," Brandes said. But Eastman did not collect any data from unauthorized areas or "hack" into restricted files, she said.

Boeing was upset with Eastman because "he didn't sing the company song," Brandes said. It's true, she told the jury, that Eastman was moved to a different project because he worked more slowly than other inspectors, often stopping to pore over product specs while others operated from memory. He didn't care as much about schedules.

But Eastman did not trespass, she argued. "Gerald Eastman is an authorized user of the Boeing network ... ," she said. "He had consent."

Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com

Boeing Data Theft Trial Begins

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/356365_eastman26.html

Boeing data theft trial begins 

Ex-worker accused of leaking to media

Last updated March 25, 2008 9:06 p.m. PT

By ANDREA JAMES
P-I REPORTER

A key question arose in opening statements Tuesday in the trial of Gerald Eastman, a former Boeing Co. employee who faces 16 felony counts of computer trespass:

Did Eastman have authorization to access the files that he is accused of downloading and then providing to The Seattle Times?

Eastman worked for Boeing for 18 years. He was arrested at his desk in May 2006 after, investigators say, they found that he had been combing Boeing's computer network for sensitive information. He had been working as a quality assurance inspector in the propulsion division.

But his public defender, Ramona Brandes, told a King County Superior Court jury of 14 that Eastman had ethical concerns about Boeing and began to look for evidence to support those concerns.

"He looked everywhere that he could, everywhere that the computer allowed him to have access to," Brandes said.

"In layman terms, Gerald Eastman stands accused of hacking," she said.

She defined hacking as cracking passwords, impersonating a valid user, tampering with programs, unleashing worms and viruses, jamming computer networks and manipulating data.

"Gerald Eastman did not do any of those things," she said. "What he did is, he signed on with his own login, with his own password, and he searched the Boeing network of which he was an authorized user."

"Don't get me wrong, he's no white knight. He's got some flaws. He did some things that his employer did not want him to do," she said. Among those were taking data offsite, and revealing to reporters 0.02 percent of the Boeing data that he downloaded.

Boeing had discipline options and could have charged Eastman with breaching his contract, Brandes said.

But senior deputy prosecutor Scott Peterson told the jury that Eastman is not a true whistle-blower, as he has claimed to be. Eastman exploited Boeing's computer system to take documents that he was not permitted to access, Peterson said.

And he asked Boeing management for money in exchange for not going public with his concerns.

"Eastman mentioned an out-of-court settlement with Boeing," Peterson said. "He wanted that money to keep quiet."

In 2002, Eastman filed a 400-page complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration alleging quality assurance problems, according to testimony.

Marie Farrelly, a Boeing lawyer in Renton, oversaw the investigation related to Eastman's allegations about airplane safety. She put together a team of auditors and experts to check out his complaint.

In a separate letter, Farrelly said, Eastman "asked for an investigation and some sort of settlement from the company where we would pay him damages to resolve the issue."

Over the next two years, Boeing and FAA audits confirmed several issues raised by Eastman, and in 10 cases, Boeing took corrective action, Farrelly testified.

None of the issues involved "safety of flight," she said. Farrelly said that she believed that the results of the audits were not relayed back to Eastman.

But information Eastman leaked to the media "was all stuff that Boeing wanted to keep close to the vest and stuff that Boeing's competitors would love to have," Peterson said.

The information had little to do with safety concerns or ethics, he said. Rather, articles that appeared in The Seattle Times mentioned plans for future planes, new business lines, sales projections and "stuff that Airbus would like to know."

'A bit of a loner'

John Carpenter, a 28-year Boeing employee and Eastman's former supervisor, testified that Eastman performed quality assurance inspections more slowly and methodically than other employees.

Carpenter moved Eastman from inspections on the 737 line to the 747 line, because the latter plane has a slower engine flow, and thus would give Eastman more time to perform his duties, Carpenter said.

Carpenter described Eastman as "a bit of a loner."

In Eastman's downtime, he was assigned to look for redundant inspection processes, and point them out -- to hasten the process. Eastman worked on this task at his desk, in the middle of a work area near the production line.

To do his job, Carpenter testified, Eastman did not need to see legal documents, finance documents or anything related to the 787 Dreamliner, future aircraft designs or experimental planes.

Boeing investigated leaks

Anthony Maus, senior manager for Boeing's investigations division, also testified Tuesday. In 2003, Maus' manager told him to investigate company leaks to Seattle newspapers. Seattle Times aerospace reporter Dominic Gates had written several stories based on internal Boeing documents.

Maus also investigated stories containing confidential information published in the Seattle P-I, written by aerospace reporter James Wallace.

Maus' team set out to find the source of the leaks, but his inquiry came up empty for three years. Then, in April 2006, a senior manager received an anonymous tip that pinpointed Eastman.

Boeing tracked Eastman's computer activities, and soon, the Seattle Police Department obtained a warrant to arrest Eastman and search his home. Seattle police found thousands of documents on Eastman's home computer.

Maus used a computer forensics tool to scan those documents to see if they corresponded with articles in The Times and the P-I.

Maus said he found 16 documents that informed the Times articles, and about 10 more documents that were likely to be source material, but the forensics tool wasn't certain. Among the leaked data were production rate numbers and information on where Boeing would build its 787, about how much labor was required to build the 787, and about assembly times and sales figures.

Jury selected

Opening statements began after several delays last week in jury selection. The jury is made up of nine women and five men, two of them alternates. One works for Microsoft writing network software. Two people who had been Boeing employees were eliminated from the jury pool.

Eastman, who showed up about 20 minutes late Tuesday morning, was admonished by Judge Monica Benton.

"You're either on time, or you're in jail," she said.

A Boeing lawyer has been working with the prosecutor and attending the trial. A Boeing spokesman was also present Tuesday.

Benton told the jury to avoid media and Internet coverage of the trial. Eastman is keeping an online journal about his trial experiences.

---

P-I reporter Andrea James can be reached at 206-448-8124 or andreajames@seattlepi.com.

James Wallace on Gerry Eastman's Trial and Reader's Blog Comments

The Seattle Post Intelligencer

3-25-08

Blogs

James Wallace on Aerospace

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Trial begins for ex-Boeing worker

P-I reporter Andrea James has coverage today of opening statements in the trial of Gerald Eastman, a former Boeing employee accused of computer trespassing.

A key question today was whether Eastman had authorization to access the files that he's accused of downloading and then providing to the media.

Posted by P-I Business Editor Margaret Santjer

Posted by msantjer at March 25, 2008 2:45 p.m.

Comments

#111614

Posted by unregistered user at 3/26/08 11:07 a.m.

It is ridiculous for the judge to disallow all of the evidence and circumstances in this trial, and refuse to allow the Sarbannes Oxley which is warranted to apply. Mr Eastman is a Whistleblower. There are reasons for what he may have done. When you see things that are illegal, unethical, and possibly could endanger the public, and when you have gone to every level of your command chain in your company with no success in getting the problems addressed and responsibly fixed, then you have to go above them. That means the FAA, which we all know from the many news reports, is corrupted, and then to the DOT OIG, which also has been fraught with corruption and other problems, right on up to the Attorney General's Office, and we all know what happened to the Fed Attorney's who tried to do the right thing and prosecute corruption there.

After being stopped from obtaining help and justice at all those levels, it seems to me the only road left is to work with the press. Someone who works for a different Defense Contractor once told me that the only way to get them to take any kind of positive action is to embarrass the heck out of them.

It seems Boeing has a lot of influence, too much influence. I really wonder if the judge also is associated with the Boeing company as well as the King County Prosecutor's office, as in campaign contributions, other business relations, family members? Someone should investigate this.

Disgusted in Seattle

#111734

Posted by unregistered user at 3/26/08 2:04 p.m.

Boeing has too much influence, if they don't get there way they go moaning to Washington DC just like they have with the Tanker.

#111812

Posted by unregistered user at 3/26/08 4:12 p.m.

The real story in this case is the corruption in the Boeing inspection department. It's one of the main area's they feel they can run under the radar screen and not get caught cutting corners to make an extra buck. Boeing is doing all they can to cover it up. If you don't go along with Boeing's "cost savings plan" you will pay with your job. Either they will lay you off or fire you. I know from first hand experience that this is the case. Boeing Ethics department is a complete joke. They hide behind Boeing's lawyers. Ask anyone in the company that has had the misfortune of having to deal with them. Going to those above you is a recipe for losing your job. You are then pinpointed as one who is "dangerous" and done away with. The one's that should be making sure Boeing is operating properly such as the FAA and Inspector General's Office are very friendly with Boeing and do nothing. Look at Southwest Airlines and the so called oversight of the FAA. Those at the FAA that didn't do their job were not fired or jailed but moved to another position at the FAA. By the way, that's exactly what Boeing does with their managers that go along with their corruption. Reward them. Wouldn't you say something is wrong with this picture? Don't be fooled by this case. Gerald Eastman is being made the poster child by Boeing of what they have planned for any future whistleblower. Safety of the flying public is just going to get worse. If you think it's safe to fly I suggest that you have a false sense of security.