Monthly Archives: August 2008

Piltch withdraws from pension case, citing health

Posted on by
Reply

Stuart Piltch, a county witness in the pension lawsuit whose claim to be trained by the CIA was denied by the agency, has withdrawn as a witness in the case, citing health concerns.

“The bad news is that Mr. Piltch’s doctor from the Harvard Medical School faculty has informed Mr. Piltch that his cancer condition is potentially life-threatening, prompting Mr. Piltch to withdraw as an expert in this case,” the county said in document filed Wednesday in federal court. It continued:

Mr. Piltch confidentially told the Plaintiffs he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. Until he withdrew, Mr. Piltch told the Plaintiffs he would stay in the case and testify at trial so long as his health permitted. Unfortunately, Mr. Piltch’s health worsened to the point where he could not proceed. The County and the Pension System regret to report this situation, as Mr. Piltch’s testimony would have aided the jury’s understanding of Mercer’s failings in its communications with Milwaukee County and the Employee Retirement System.

Piltch’s doctor wrote a note saying that Piltch has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but did not identify the variety of the cancer. He also did not say whether Piltch currently was under treatment for the disease. The doctor, Kenneth Falchuk, did say that Piltch is being treated for chronic viral illness and cardiac disease.

The county is suing Mercer Human Resource Consulting Inc., a former pension adviser, for its role in creating hugely generous benefits that led to the pension scandal that ousted County Executive Tom Ament and several supervisors from office.

Mercer portrayed Piltch as a key county witness; the county denied that. Argued the county:

Mr. Piltch’s withdrawal does not diminish Plaintiffs’ ability to successfully try this case. Contrary to Mercer’s assertion that Mr. Piltch was “the key actuarial expert hired by the Plaintiffs”, the Plaintiffs key actuarial experts are now, and have always been, Kim Nicholl and Gene Kalwarski, both of whom submitted reports concerning Mercer’s failure to act as a reasonable actuary, calculated the Plaintiffs’ damages, and will testify at trial to the gross deficiencies in Mercer’s actuarial work and the harm it caused the Plaintiff.

Wars on three fronts?

Posted on by
2

Iraq, Afghanistan and now Georgia.

It would be nice to know a little more about what George Bush plans to do with the troops he’s sending to Georgia. What exeactly is their mission? How long will they stay? If the Russians seal off ports and the country’s airport, will the American troops still be limited to humanitarian efforts?

How long can we keep blustering into new war zones with an exhausted military? How can this country afford to supply another front? Didn’t the Germans lose World War II partly because they spread themselves too thin? What makes the all-volunteer (except that many are now forced to stay in uniform) American forces any different? 

Doesn’t faking up reasons to go to war with Iraq look even more stupid now, if that is possible?

Gary George seeks early out from supervised release

Posted on by
Reply

Gary George, the convicted corrupt politician, wants early release from the supervised release part of his sentence so he can travel to make movies and consult.

“At minimum, I would ask to be released from the travel restrictions,” George wrote in a letter to US District Judge Rudolph T.  Randa. “However, I would ask the Court to recognize no need for further supervision at this juncture. In addition, as I will be authorized to begin practicing law again upon the completion of the reapplication process, which I am now undertaking, my duty to clients, including the duty of confidentiality, may conflict with my responsibilities under extended supervision.”

George was sentenced in August 2004 to four years in prison and three years supervised release for his role in a kickback scheme.

The probation and parole office hasn’t yet weighed in on the request, but the US attorney’s office opposes it.

“Mr George still has in excess of $439,000 in outstanding restitution obligations. the past nine months,” US  Attorney Steven Biskupic wrote. “Mr. George has done nothing to reduce this balance other than bare minimum of $300 a month required by the Amended Judgment.”

Biskupic took note of George’s desire to travel and to begin practicing law again. ”Both of these stated motives give pause. Mr. George’s underlying criminal conduct involved abuses of his law practice and laundering money in the Virgin Islands,” Biskupic said. ”As indicated, the supervised release term provides protection against Mr. George’s return to criminal conduct.”

George’s conduct during and after his trial also argues against early release from supervised release, Biskupic said.

“The record fails to establish that Mr. George fully accepts responsibility for his underlying conduct,” he wrote. “As the Court will recall, despite a plea of guilty, Mr. George persisted in arguing that he was not really guilty of a federal crime. He also contended that he had been unfairly targeted for prosecution. This posture continued on appeal.”