[IMC-Boston-Editorial] Column on war profiteer ¹ s $10 million party

[Betsy Leondar-Wright]

Hello,

Would you be interested in running this column by Sarah Anderson about the
war profiteer featured in our ³Executive Excess 2005² report and the $10
million party he threw last week?

It ran on Common Dreams on Thursday:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1201-30.htm

Cheers,
Betsy Leondar-Wright


WAR PROFITEER KNOWS HOW TO PARTY
by Sarah Anderson

Over the past few months, I¹ve gotten all kinds of flak from CEOs who were
the subject of a report I co-authored about executive pay among defense
contractors. Jack London of CACI International, whose employees interrogated
prisoners at Abu Ghraib, denounced what I wrote as ³shameful² and
³ignorant.² A United Technologies official accused me (falsely) of slander.

But the man who got the worst skewering was silent. David H. Brooks, CEO of
bulletproof vest maker DHB Industries, earned $70 million in 2004, 13,349
percent more than his pre-9/11 compensation, according to ³Executive
Excess,² co-published by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a
Fair Economy. Brooks sold company stock worth about $186 million last year,
spooking investors who drove DHB¹s share price from more than $22 to as low
as $6.50. 

Shareholders were mighty ticked, but what makes Brooks¹ war windfalls
particularly obscene is that the equipment which boosted his fortunes
appears not to work very well. In May 2005, the US Marines recalled more
than 5,000 DHB armored vests after questions were raised about their
effectiveness in stopping 9 mm bullets. In November, the Marines and Army
announced a recall of an additional 18,000 DHB vests.

Hearing nothing from DHB¹s PR team in response to media coverage of the
report, I thought Mr. Brooks might be cowering in shame. Instead, I now find
out that he was busy planning a party. And not just any party.

The New York Daily News estimates that the bat mitzvah Brooks threw for his
daughter over the weekend cost an estimated $10 million. Virtually every
musician that you might guess would appeal to a 50-something Long Island CEO
was flown in by private jet: Aerosmith, Tom Petty, the Eagles' Don Henley
and Joe Walsh, who performed with Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, Kenny G. As
a likely concession to his daughter's tastes, Brooks also booked 50 Cent, DJ
AM (Nicole Richie's fiancée) and rap diva Ciara.

According to Daily News gossip columnist Lloyd Grove, Brooks was so pumped
for Aerosmith that he changed his wardrobe for their performance from a
³black-leather, metal-studded suit -- accessorized with biker-chic necklace
chains and diamonds from Chrome Hearts jewelers -- into a hot-pink suede
version of the same lovely outfit.² The CEO then reportedly mounted the
stage, clowned with Steven Tyler and insisted that his teenage nephew be
permitted to sit in on drums.

Gallivanting with celebrities no doubt does wonders to relieve the mind of
unpleasant matters. And Brooks has plenty to ponder. Under investigation by
the Securities and Exchange Commission for financial wrongdoing, he also
faces a number of investor class action lawsuits for fraud and insider
trading. On top of the Marine recall, DHB had to settle a lawsuit in April
with the New York Police Department and the Southern States Police
Benevolent Association by replacing an estimated 2,609 potentially defective
pieces of body armor. DHB stock, already in the tank, has slumped even
further, to about $4.

Grotesque as it may be, Brooks' blowout is merely one of the more visible
symbols of rampant war profiteering in the post-9/11 era. Our study showed
that defense contractor CEOs received raises on average of 200 percent
between 2001 and 2004, compared to only 7 percent for average large company
CEOS. 

Compared to the pay of those on the front lines of the war, the gap has
grown even faster. The ratio between defense CEO pay and that of a military
general has doubled during this period, from 12-to-1 to 23-to-1. The defense
CEOs make 160 times the pay of an army private in combat.

Americans haven¹t always been so blasé about war profiteering. President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said: "I don't want to see a single war
millionaire created in the United States as a result of this world
disaster.² 

FDR¹s strong feelings about war profiteering were shared by his successor,
Harry Truman. As a Senator, Truman had traveled around the country going
from one defense industry factory to another to investigate charges that
executives were reaping unfair rewards. He later formed an investigative
committee that saved billions in military costs. Imagine if Truman and FDR
were alive today what they might have to say about Brooks¹ extravaganza.

Two and a half years into this war, the costs are painfully clear. The U.S.
death toll alone is more than 2,000 and rising fast. The bill for taxpayers
is more than $200 billion and growing. The damage to Americans¹ image in the
world is immeasurable. But one man has had a helluva party.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah Anderson is a Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies and the
co-author of Field Guide to the Global Economy (New Press, 2005) and
Executive Excess. 

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761 words

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Sarah Anderson
Director, Global Economy Program
Institute for Policy Studies
733 15th St. NW, #1020
Washington, DC 20005
Tel:  202 234-9382x227
Email:  saraha at igc.org
Web:  www.ips-dc.org



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Betsy Leondar-Wright
Communications Director, United for a Fair Economy
(617) 423-2148 x113
29 Winter Street
Boston, MA 02108
http://www.FairEconomy.Org


United for a Fair Economy is an independent national organization
that raises awareness of the damaging consequences of concentrated
wealth and power.

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