The May Report: 1/27/2012: I have a ton of stuff to get out, and hope to have another report out by the morning, but this should not wait: I’m no prosecutor, but there may be a 25% chance that Tom Thornton goes to jail, a 60% chance that he gets indicted, and a 40% chance that he pleads guilty to multiple felony counts — now those percentages are just my guess and we’ll have to see what the Johnson County D.A. comes up with; and in light of the just released forensic audit report by BKD professionals who spent 2,800 hours conducting the investigation, which culminated in a 203-page report, with an additional 600 pages of exhibits while costing the taxpayers of Kansas $960K, copies that I have of emails sent by Tom Thornton when he was here having to do with his office “extra-curricular” activities become far more relevant; Mystery question: Who walked in on Tommy T. having s** with his girlfriend and future wife Lindsay Hotwick? It wasn’t Melissa Lynch since TVT was dating Joni Cobb when she was there, but it could have been Cary Nourie who got fired my sources say; What shocks me is that after all the investigating was already very much in the public domain, Tom nonetheless blithely bought a plane ticket to Cleveland for a job interview with KBA money — gee, it makes one wonder if the ITDA paid for his trips to Kansas to get the KBA job, and Bob Cross, Michael T. Flavin, Scott Glickson, Esq., Arthur Holden, Tim Krauskopf, Richard Reck, Thea Robinson, and Harold Sirkin, doesn’t Thornton’s egregious hubris (I stole that particular word from you, Tom Churchwell) remind you of good ole Rod Blagojevich? Are you folks rightly proud of the job you did from an ITDA board governance standpoint? “Rep. Scott Schwab, R-Olathe, raised the possibility that Thornton should be prosecuted for obstruction of justice for erasing files” which appear to have included p***; Happy 256th b-day WAM

Editor and publisher: Ron May, ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com,www.themayreport.com, 773-525-3944.
If you missed an article, go here:
www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter

(ALL REPORTS HAVE NOW BEEN POSTED ON THE TMRONLINE.COM SITE AND THANKS TO PROMINIC FOR FIXING THE PROBLEM)
Otherwise, just go to www.themayreport.com where all the articles are archived and the search function on the new site is now working

Louis Brandeis: “Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.”

frequently attributed to Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” but the quote and its many variations have been the subject of dispute. See en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke for more.

“Larsen E. Whipsnade”: You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man (1939), a comedy film starring and scripted by W. C. Fields

Andre’ Gide (1869 – 1951) in his “Les Nourritures Terrestres. Envoi:”:
“What another would have done as well as you, do not do it. What another would have said as well as you, do not say it; written as well, do not write it. Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself — and thus make yourself indispensable.”
______________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Scoop section:
– Kansas Bioscience Authority auditor grilled in hearing
– Susan Wagle, Kansas state senate commerce committee chair
– Reed Holwegner of the Kansas state senate research operation: Makes an important point about both the audit and the summary
– The link to the full report and the KBA’s summary, and I may have a duplicate here
– Briefly noted, by Ron May
_________________________
The Scoop section:
__________________
Kansas Bioscience Authority auditor grilled in hearing

www.kansas.com/2012/01/25/2190580/kba-auditor-grilled-in-hearing.html?story_link=email_msg
Kansas Bioscience Authority auditor grilled in hearing
By Dion Lefler
Eagle Topeka bureau
Published Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, at 10:15 p.m.
Updated Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, at 10:23 a.m.
ARTICLE20 COMMENTS EmailPrintOrder Reprint
Photos
«1 of 2»
Dion Lefler/The Wichita Eagle | Buy this photo
Jim Snyder, a BKD executive who oversaw the audit of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, testifies during a hearing Wednesday in Topeka.
Dion Lefler/The Wichita Eagle | Buy this photo
Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, makes a point during testimony on an audit of the Kansas Bioscience Authority on Wednesday in Topeka.
Two days after a $960,000 audit revealed problems in the Kansas Bioscience Authority, the chief auditor faced a grilling Wednesday by lawmakers who questioned whether the investigation had gone far enough and raised the possibility of prosecuting the KBA’s former chief executive.
The audit, by the national firm BKD, confirmed numerous problems with the way that former KBA chief executive Tom Thornton had done his job, including destroying documents and misspending public funds on artwork for his home and plane tickets to an interview for a new job.
But the audit overall found little fault with the structure and operations of the state-funded KBA in its primary duty: attracting of high-tech biological science companies and jobs to Kansas.
In a joint meeting of the House and Senate commerce committees, lawmakers questioned those findings and raised the issue of whether Thornton should be prosecuted for destroying documents after the audit was launched and after KBA records were subpoenaed by the Johnson County district attorney.
The audit found that Thornton had electronically shredded files on his KBA-issue laptop before returning it to the agency after he resigned to take a job in the innovations division of the Cleveland Clinic, a major Ohio health care provider. A secretary at the Cleveland Clinic said Thornton was not available for comment, and he did not return a message left with her.
Auditors also uncovered some evidence that Thornton may have tampered with files in a drive in the KBA’s mainframe computer that held some of the agency’s most guarded records and was only accessible to top-level management. It could not be determined whether Thornton deleted the files because the backup copies of the drive’s contents deleted themselves after 30 days, officials said.
Sen. Ty Masterson, R-Andover, said the erasure of records left a “gaping hole” in the information flow, which he said calls the audit’s conclusions into question.
Rep. Scott Schwab, R-Olathe, raised the possibility that Thornton should be prosecuted for obstruction of justice for erasing files.
“There’s got to be some form of reciprocity there, because to me, that’s very egregious, arrogant and just inappropriate,” Schwab said. “You don’t erase drives unless you’ve got criminal activity … or you’re trying to hide something from your wife maybe.”
Jim Snyder, a BKD executive who oversaw the audit process, said he couldn’t comment on whether Thornton should be prosecuted, but said the audit had been turned over to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office, which has also been investigating the KBA.
“I absolutely agree with much of what you said,” Snyder told Schwab. “There’s no good reason why somebody would do that. I can’t support it, and it was one of the very first things that we were concerned about.”
However, he added that the analysis of the wiped laptop indicated that there was “embarrassing personal information on the hard drive that this particular person wished not to have seen by others. Whether that’s true or not, you and I will never know.”
The audit said some of the file extensions recovered from Thornton’s laptop indicated the files were pornography.
Wagle dissatisfied with audit
Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita and chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Committee, accused auditors of downplaying the inappropriate nature of an office romance between Thornton and the former Lindsay Holwick, whom Thornton hired at the KBA and later married.
Wagle said one employee was fired for walking in on the couple while they were having sex and others were warned not to talk about it or they would be fired, too.
“People who worked in the KBA heard sexual relations in the executives’ offices and then one person walked in accidentally and that person was fired,” Wagle said. “In the report, the words that you use to describe that action is ‘inappropriate intimate behavior in KBA offices.’ ”
Snyder denied soft-pedaling anything.
“When we took on this engagement, I looked the folks in the eye and said, ‘Listen, if you’re not prepared to let the chips fall where they may, don’t hire me because I don’t want the job,’ ” he said. “Our report is not sanitized.”
Wagle also assailed the audit’s claim that she had been interviewed in connection with the investigation. She said she had had only two brief conversations with BKD auditor Shauna Woody-Coussens, after the audit was essentially complete and was in the editing stage.
“There was never a thorough vetting between Shauna and I about what my concerns were,” Wagle said.
Wagle started the investigation last year and said she has boxes of information provided by current and former KBA employees and clients.
Snyder said he had tried to reach Wagle three times without success and that he understood she had declined to release information to protect her sources.
“If there’s other information you have that you would wish for us to take a look at, I will take it back today,” Snyder said.
Where money went
Sen. Chris Steineger, R-Kansas City, said he had yet to get an answer to how the agency has spent the $175 million the state has committed to it so far. He said it looked like much of the money had been spent on executive salaries, travel, lawyers, consultants and overhead.
“The ‘Venture Accelerator’ – nice name for an office building – has only a small amount of lab space and a lot of high-end architecture and quite nice furniture,” he said. “Since I invest money for a living, I would like to know what happened to my money. How much was spent on dining and hotels and nice office buildings and how much was spent on labs … and research?”
Snyder said the answer was contained in the audit.
“It goes into a lot of detail in terms of what expenditures and commitments have been made,” Snyder said. “There are about, I would say, 20 pages that detail the answer to that question.”
He also said he had been to the building Steineger referenced and found a “significant investment in lab space out there.”
Most of the legislators were not fully familiar with the audit’s findings. The report is about 300 pages, backed up by about 600 pages of supporting exhibits. It was released in electronic form late Monday afternoon and printed copies became available to lawmakers Wednesday.
The hearing continues today with an appearance by Secretary of Agriculture Dale Rodman, who monitored the process on behalf of Gov. Sam Brownback. Brownback’s office pressured the KBA to contract for the audit and successfully pushed to broaden its scope during the process.
When the audit report was released Monday, Brownback issued a statement saying he found the findings disturbing. He said the KBA, which is directed by an independent board, should put a moratorium on new investment until the Legislature has time to act.
KBA chairman Dan Watkins said a moratorium could decrease confidence in the agency and that it will continue to execute its current spending and investment plan.
Reach Dion Lefler at 785-296-3006.
Read more here: www.kansas.com/2012/01/25/2190580/kba-auditor-grilled-in-hearing.html?story_link=email_msg#storylink=cpy
_______________________________
Susan Wagle, Kansas state senate commerce committee chair

Subject: Re: Susan, Melissa Lynch sent the article about KBA funds. What did the audit…
Date: 1/25/2012 3:34:27 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: Tswagle@aol.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com
Ron

a copy of the audit is on the website of KBA

It is very lengthy

Susan
_____________________________
Reed Holwegner of the Kansas state senate research operation: Makes an important point about both the audit and the summary

Subject: RE: Reed, what exactly did the forensic audit show? What docs were destroyed, etc.?
Date: 1/25/2012 4:39:54 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: Reed.Holwegner@KLRD.ks.gov
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com
Hello, Ron.
The audit and related materials are available on the Kansas Bioscience Authority’s website. Please note: the summary was generated by the KBA—not the auditing firm BKD.
Don’t know what’s all in the report. I just started reading it.
Reed
From: RONALDMAY@aol.com [mailto:RONALDMAY@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 11:19 AM
To: Reed Holwegner
Cc: ronaldmay@aol.com
Subject: Reed, what exactly did the forensic audit show? What docs were destroyed, etc.?

In a message dated 1/25/2012 11:15:21 A.M. Central Standard Time, RONALDMAY@aol.com writes:
__________________________
The link to the full report and the KBA’s summary, and I may have a duplicate here

www.kansasbioauthority.org/about_the_kba/KBA_AuditResults.aspx
January 23, 2012
Auditors Complete Kansas Bioscience Authority Forensic Audits
January 23, 2012 (OLATHE, Kan.) — The Kansas Bioscience Authority (KBA) today released the just-completed forensic audit of the KBA which was commissioned at the request of Gov. Sam Brownback in April 2011 and conducted by BKD, LLP, and Meara Welch Browne, PC. The full reports are available at www.kansasbioauthority.org.
KBA Board Chairman Dan Watkins said, “Overall the forensic audit affirms that the KBA’s investment process is diligent and it makes no significant findings or exceptions related to KBA expenditures or conflicts of interest.The audit reports should clear the air regarding questions and allegations raised in the past year.”

“With the release of this exhaustive review, Kansans can be confident the Kansas Bioscience Authority is a good steward of state resources,” he added.

Sec. of Agriculture Dale Rodman was appointed by Gov. Brownback to establish the scope of this comprehensive audit and participate in the audit process. Based on this scope, the auditors examined all KBA expenditures and contractual arrangements since its inception in 2004, potential conflicts of interest, specific investments, as well as issues related to former KBA president and CEO Tom Thornton and other matters brought to BKD’s attention.
BKD professionals spent 2,800 hours conducting the investigation, which culminated in a 203-page report, with an additional 600 pages of exhibits. Meara Welch Browne conducted a separate forensic audit of KBA interactions with the Center of Innovation for Biomaterials and Orthopaedic Research (CIBOR) as BKD serves as CIBOR’s financial auditor. The cost of the audit services provided by BKD and Meara Welch Browne is projected to be $960,000 through completion of the engagements.

The BKD report states, “To our knowledge, every person who expressed an interest in providing information regarding the KBA was provided an opportunity to present information.” BKD interviewed 69 individuals during the investigation, including current and former KBA employees and board members, current and former lawmakers with knowledge pertaining to the KBA, and persons and companies doing business with the KBA.-
Watkins continued, “The KBA has made significant investments to establish bioscience as a core industry in the state, including supporting universities and companies that are creating high-paying jobs here. The audit explains how this work has been done—in most cases very well. The board intends to learn from the findings and take the organization to increased levels of performance and accountability.”

Watkins noted that the BKD report found that KBA operations are sound:
•The investment process and Investment Committee are thorough in their review of grants and investments (page 66);
•The KBA investment process is sufficiently diligent to prevent the improper approval of a grant or investment (page 66-67);
•No grants or investments to client companies were deemed inappropriate or in violation of KBA’s Conflict of Interest policy or the Kansas Economic Growth Act of 2004 (KEGA) which defines the parameters of the KBA (page 67);
•A thorough process was followed in establishing the Bioscience Growth Fund in seeking to provide Kansas bioscience companies access to venture capital (page 91);
•The level of documentation, organization and completeness of KBA files related to contracting with third parties improved over the years and most exceptions occurred in the early years of the KBA (page 132);
•There were no material adverse findings related to the numerous additional allegations made directly to BKD.

BKD identified several issues related to the leadership and activities of former KBA president and CEO Tom Thornton, who left the Authority in April 2011, including:
•Failure to communicate information to the board of directors regarding his personal relationship with KBA staff member Lindsay Holwick, whom he married in January 2011 (page 82);
•Removal of content from his KBA laptop computer after his resignation (page 100);
•Travel to interview for his current position in Cleveland, Ohio, on a plane ticket purchased by KBA (page 112);
•Personal use and gifting of a KBA-owned painting (page 110);
•Receipt of an inadvertent duplicate expense reimbursement (page 118) and an overpayment on car allowance (page 107).

The KBA demanded and Thornton has provided reimbursement to the Authority for the overpaid car allowance, duplicative expense reimbursement, cost of the plane ticket to Cleveland and cost of the KBA-owned painting, for a total of $4,679.88.
The Meara Welch Browne report focused on KBA financial commitments to CIBOR and its fulfillment of those commitments. The report states, “…our forensic procedures did not identify any documents, records or correspondence where the KBA made or appeared to make a firm economic commitment of a $20 million award to CIBOR. Additionally, no one we spoke with from CIBOR and its affiliates indicated that oral representations of a firm commitment of $20 million were made directly to them.”

In addition, the report states:
•Former CIBOR CEO John Moore understood the amount committed to CIBOR was $4 million and not $20 million (page 14);
•KBA Centers of Innovation were treated in an equitable fashion (page 21).

Watkins noted a strong foundation has been laid for the future of bioscience in Kansas.“The work of the Kansas legislative leaders who conceived of the Kansas Bioscience Authority in 2004 is now being emulated in states across the nation—including Missouri, New York, Wisconsin and Colorado—that are working to pass legislation similar to the Kansas Economic Growth Act of 2004 (KEGA).Kansas has a seven-year head start, and we need to maintain that advantage.

“The KBA looks forward to working collaboratively with our stakeholders throughout the state to continue to grow this promising sector of the economy,” Watkins said.

About the KBA

The Kansas Bioscience Authority was created by the innovative Kansas Economic Growth Act of 2004 to accelerate growth in the promising bioscience sector. Funded by Kansas income taxes generated by bioscience jobs, Kansas Bioscience Authority investments help create high-paying jobs, fuel capital expenditures, spur outside grants, and encourage private capital investments in Kansas bioscience companies. The result of Kansas Bioscience Authority investments is high quality jobs today and for the next generation of Kansans, and bioscience discoveries and lifesaving cures that will improve lives around the world.
###

Related PDF

“The KBA is helping local entrepreneurs avoid the biotech valley of death.”
- Debra Ellies, PhD, CEO and President, OsteoGeneX
______________________________
May here. The following document looks to me like the document just above.
Auditors Complete Kansas Bioscience Authority Forensic Audits
January 23, 2012 (OLATHE, Kan.) — The Kansas Bioscience Authority (KBA) today released the just-completed forensic audit of the KBA which was commissioned at the request of Gov. Sam Brownback in April 2011 and conducted by BKD, LLP, and Meara Welch Browne, PC. The full reports are available at www.kansasbioauthority.org.
KBA Board Chairman Dan Watkins said, “Overall the forensic audit affirms that the KBA’s investment process is diligent and it makes no significant findings or exceptions related to KBA expenditures or conflicts of interest. The audit reports should clear the air regarding questions and allegations raised in the past year.”
“With the release of this exhaustive review, Kansans can be confident the Kansas Bioscience Authority is a good steward of state resources,” he added.
Sec. of Agriculture Dale Rodman was appointed by Gov. Brownback to establish the scope of this comprehensive audit and participate in the audit process. Based on this scope, the auditors examined all KBA expenditures and contractual arrangements since its inception in 2004, potential conflicts of interest, specific investments, as well as issues related to former KBA president and CEO Tom Thornton and other matters brought to BKD’s attention.
BKD professionals spent 2,800 hours conducting the investigation, which culminated in a 203-page report, with an additional 600 pages of exhibits. Meara Welch Browne conducted a separate forensic audit of KBA interactions with the Center of Innovation for Biomaterials and Orthopaedic Research (CIBOR) as BKD serves as CIBOR’s financial auditor. The cost of the audit services provided by BKD and Meara Welch Browne is projected to be $960,000 through completion of the engagements.
The BKD report states, “To our knowledge, every person who expressed an interest in providing information regarding the KBA was provided an opportunity to present information.” BKD interviewed 69 individuals during the investigation, including current and former KBA employees and board members, current and former lawmakers with knowledge pertaining to the KBA, and persons and companies doing business with the KBA.
–more–
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Sherlyn Manson
Office: (913) 944-4855
Mobile: (913) 624-4673
manson@kansasbioauthority.org
(page 2)
Watkins continued, “The KBA has made significant investments to establish bioscience as a core
industry in the state, including supporting universities and companies that are creating highpaying
jobs here. The audit explains how this work has been done—in most cases very well. The
board intends to learn from the findings and take the organization to increased levels of
performance and accountability.”
Watkins noted that the BKD report found that KBA operations are sound:
• The investment process and Investment Committee are thorough in their review of
grants and investments (page 66);
• The KBA investment process is sufficiently diligent to prevent the improper approval of a
grant or investment (page 66-67);
• No grants or investments to client companies were deemed inappropriate or in violation
of KBA’s Conflict of Interest policy or the Kansas Economic Growth Act of 2004 (KEGA)
which defines the parameters of the KBA (page 67);
• A thorough process was followed in establishing the Bioscience Growth Fund in seeking
to provide Kansas bioscience companies access to venture capital (page 91);
• The level of documentation, organization and completeness of KBA files related to
contracting with third parties improved over the years and most exceptions occurred in
the early years of the KBA (page 132);
• There were no material adverse findings related to the numerous additional allegations
made directly to BKD.
BKD identified several issues related to the leadership and activities of former KBA president
and CEO Tom Thornton, who left the Authority in April 2011, including:
• Failure to communicate information to the board of directors regarding his personal
relationship with KBA staff member Lindsay Holwick, whom he married in January 2011
(page 82);
• Removal of content from his KBA laptop computer after his resignation (page 100);
• Travel to interview for his current position in Cleveland, Ohio, on a plane ticket
purchased by KBA (page 112);
• Personal use and gifting of a KBA-owned painting (page 110);
• Receipt of an inadvertent duplicate expense reimbursement (page 118) and an
overpayment on car allowance (page 107).
The KBA demanded and Thornton has provided reimbursement to the Authority for the
overpaid car allowance, duplicative expense reimbursement, cost of the plane ticket to
Cleveland and cost of the KBA-owned painting, for a total of $4,679.88.
–more–
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Sherlyn Manson
Office: (913) 944-4855
Mobile: (913) 624-4673
manson@kansasbioauthority.org
(Page 3)
The Meara Welch Browne report focused on KBA financial commitments to CIBOR and its fulfillment of those commitments. The report states, “…our forensic procedures did not identify any documents, records or correspondence where the KBA made or appeared to make a firm economic commitment of a $20 million award to CIBOR. Additionally, no one we spoke with from CIBOR and its affiliates indicated that oral representations of a firm commitment of $20 million were made directly to them.”
In addition, the report states:
• Former CIBOR CEO John Moore understood the amount committed to CIBOR was $4 million and not $20 million (page 14);
• KBA Centers of Innovation were treated in an equitable fashion (page 21).
Watkins noted a strong foundation has been laid for the future of bioscience in Kansas. “The work of the Kansas legislative leaders who conceived of the Kansas Bioscience Authority in 2004 is now being emulated in states across the nation—including Missouri, New York, Wisconsin and Colorado—that are working to pass legislation similar to the Kansas Economic Growth Act of 2004 (KEGA). Kansas has a seven-year head start, and we need to maintain that advantage.
“The KBA looks forward to working collaboratively with our stakeholders throughout the state to continue to grow this promising sector of the economy,” Watkins said.
About the KBA
The Kansas Bioscience Authority was created by the innovative Kansas Economic Growth Act of 2004 to accelerate growth in the promising bioscience sector. Funded by Kansas income taxes generated by bioscience jobs, Kansas Bioscience Authority investments help create high-paying jobs, fuel capital expenditures, spur outside grants, and encourage private capital investments in Kansas bioscience companies. The result of Kansas Bioscience Authority investments is high quality jobs today and for the next generation of Kansans, and bioscience discoveries and lifesaving cures that will improve lives around the world. To learn more, visit www.kansasbioauthority.org .
____________________________

Briefly noted, by Ron May

* Man is there a lot to cover.

First, I’m now hearing that David Gulley was canned at UIC, after 25+
years, and his terminated contract is supposedly mentioned in the board meeting
notes for U. of I., but I have sent an email to David and have not heard back
and I’ve also heard that he said in March 2011 that he wanted to retire to get
more pension money, just as Brenda Russell did. Well, well, well, a response
from David Gulley takes just a few hours, unlike Kapil Chaudhary’s response time
of more than 30 days.

This just in.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Subject: Re: David, was your contract terminated? Were you canned? Quit to
get pension $?
Date: 1/27/2012 6:32:26 P.M. Central Standard Time
From:
dgulley@uic.edu
To: dgulley@uic.edu

CC: RONALDMAY@aol.com

Ron,

I would need to work another 3+ years at the University to get to my
current pension level. It drops significantly in July due to recalculated “money
purchase formulae”. And when pension reform comes, no doubt the benefits will be
decreased for current employees. I don’t want to be one.

I’m happy with 27 years, full health care, no state taxes, and a 3%
annual increase. Some of that may change, but it is what it is. I can buy 2 more
years, which I might or roll funds into a Roth. My CPA will advise.

And, I’ll be 60 next year. I’m healthy, I love to travel, and I have a
wonderful global network of professionals in my field. I’m taking full
advantage.

I lived and worked in Caracas, Venezuela in the 1970′s-1980′s. I came
back to the US to study and pursue university tech transfer which took off in
the 1980s. So I’ve studied (PhD) and worked for 27 years in the field.

Full circle, it is now emerging in Latin America. What a wonderful
opportunity I have to lend my skills and knowledge.

David L. Gulley, PhD, CLP
Mobile 312-848-1250
Sent by
iPhone.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Second, my current info. is that Gulley really does not like Nancy
Sullivan, although he has NEVER said or even implied that to me. I’ve heard that
he wanted Nancy’s job and that he thought she had a lightweight resume, plus
remember that he was the interim director of the OTM between Mary Dicig and
Nancy.

Third, some juicy gossip on Nancy. 1. She suffers from the gluten allergy
and I’m told that she refuses to put her food in the community fridge, and the
common belief amongst the plebes in the office is that it’s because she fears
sabotage from her staff. 2. She seems to do a lot of “girl talk” and trash
talking with her girlfriends, including with a major source of hers, Heidi
Rockwood, who provides and has provided lots of intelligence on her former boss
Avijit Ghosh and Nancy’s counterpart in Urbana Leslie Millar. She uses Heidi to
spy for her and it could explain why her superiors may not know about HR
complaints against Nancy. Lots of high fives amongst the ladies, I hear. 3.
Matthew Raymond did not return at least five calls I made to him, but now I hear
that Matt Raymond who is at Rush Pres. St. Lukes told Dr. Jay Vijayan that Nancy
is a lightweight. Nancy pushed Jay out (and he landed at Rutger’s in New Jersey
but his wife and daughter who goes to the U. of C. Lab School have had to stay
here and Jay had good relationships with the professors but he and Nancy may
have locked horns on issues involving patents and disclosures). We do know with
some degree of certainty that when Connie Cleary broke down and cried after
Nancy publicly attacked her, David Gulley did call his buddy Matt Raymond and
engineered Connie’s being hired at Rush. Connie has since left Rush and is now
at Argonne and she also runs the local chapter of the LES.

Fourth, is Rahm turning into Richard J. Daley when it comes to the G-8? A
press conference was held for which only select reporters were invited and they
had to RSVP. Rahm’s style with the press is not winning friends. BTW, when I
spent the day at misdemeanor court to watch the trial of Craig Nelson of 111 E.
Chestnut over at Belmont and Western on November 21, 2011, at least ten
defendants came before the judge who were up on charges related to the Occupy
Chicago movement and they were all given ten hours of community service with the
proviso that once they did the service and it was properly documented, the
charges would be dropped. They were all kids, mostly college students but one
guy, a Ph.D. student in philosophy, (I think) at the University of Chicago, has
decided to challenge the validity of the arrest itself by asking for a trial –
or maybe it was some other kind of challenge.

Fifth, my latest info. which I am checking into, is that there may an
Efoora style problem in the making with Len Bland and Ray Markman. My info. so
far is that Ray is doing wealth management and along with selling clients on
traditional publicly traded investments, he is also pushing the Midwest
Renaissance Fund, and these people may not be qualified investors. Ray, watch
out! Danger goes there and I don’t want to be visiting you in jail. Ray, if Len
is enticing you to go down that road, throw him under the bus. It is illegal.

Sixth, QuesTek does $3MM to $5MM a year in SBIR contracts, many of them
with the DoD. About 20% of the revenue for QuesTek is corporate contracts and of
the 80% that comes from government sources, 90% is SBIR money. Not counting the
$5MM in venture money, isn’t that pattern pretty similar to Advanced Diamond
Technology? These numbers come from the founder of QuesTek, Northwestern
professor Greg Olson and I will be talking to him more next week. I met him at
the Jan. 17th MIT-EF meeting.

Seventh, I have to say that Karen Huber of Cat (huber_karen-J@cat.com) admitted in
answering a question from Tim Curley who zeroed in on a key issue that
Caterpillar does in fact make equipment for China (and presumably India and
other developing countries) that is inferior to what they make here for use in
the United States in terms of fuel emission standards. The Chinese have lower
standards and she admits that Cat takes advantage of that. Hey, where’s Al gore
on this?

Eighth, I have a paper bag from Treasure Island in my bedroom and it tore
open at the bottom and four business cards fell out. I looked at them and one
card is from Tom Gorman. I said to myself, “Where the heck has Gorman been?” So
I called him. It was clear from the start of the conversation that something was
wrong. My first thought was that Tom’s speech was slow and kind of slurred and I
figured he might have had a stroke so I ended up speaking to his wife
Dani.

Tom had a brain tumor the size of a grapefruit last February (on the right
side) which was operated on and he seemed to be doing better. Dani said he
attended an event last fall, I think in October.

But then a few months ago, another smaller tumor on the left side of his
brain appeared but that tumor is inoperable. He is getting chemotherapy at the
Evanston North Shore Kellogg Center at Northwestern www.northshore.org/locations/evanston-hospital/

and he and Dani are moving to Colorado where they’ll live in Greeley since
they’re from there, and Tom will be treated at the Anschutz Cancer Treatment
Center,

www.ucdenver.edu/about/denver/Pages/AnschutzMedicalCampus.aspx

Tom may not make it and it was hard for me to know what to say to his wife
on the phone since saying that I hope gets better soon rings hollow. I do hope
he gets better, but brain tumors are hard to beat, and I hope he is not in
pain.

As it is now, his 21 year old son has to carry him up the flight of stairs
to their apartment.

Tom went to DePauw University in Indiana, as did Churchwell, Reck, Shagley,
Borsellinio and he was contemporaneous with Lew.

Tom’s firm is called Entrepreneurial Design, Inc., www.entrepreneurialdesign.com

Here’s what his site says about him:

++++++++++++++++++++++

www.entrepreneurialdesign.com/about.html

Tom Gorman, founder and President of
Entrepreneurial Design, Inc.

He is a life-long entrepreneur, and the
company’s products are his brain-child. They are 30-years in the making. The
impetus to commercialize them resulted from being a first-time independent
consultant after leaving his last entrepreneurial project.

Prior to consulting, he was VP of Operations
& IT of Leverage Point Media (LPM), a subsidiary of Menasha, which launched
Labeldollars, an in-store coupon program distributed through deli weigh-scales,
chain-wide across the entire 1,600 store Safeway supermarket chain in a 6-week
rollout. It has been resold and is now part of the RedPlum coupon program at
Valassis. Before LPM he was co-founder of Labeldollars, which successfully
launched with a 10-store pilot in Portland Oregon and was sold to
LPM.

His first entrepreneurial effort was in
college when he co-founded First Collegiate National Bank with his father and
other businessmen. It was sold as an idea. After college, he rode his bicycle
around the US and moved to Colorado, where he was an early employee of a reverse
vending recycling equipment company, Canpactor. It was sold to investors. He
then was co-founder and VP of Marketing of Roman Labs, a medical equipment
company. It produced portable oxygen concentrators and nebulizers, which under
his leadership rolled out to a national network of home care dealers and
exported to a half-dozen foreign countries. It was sold to Lifecare.

After that, he co-founded and was President
of a television production company, Your First Choice, that produced a
self-syndicated TV shows about Medicare patient choice that was aired in 32
markets in the South and Southwest, and was sold to his co-founders; during this
time he entered the University of Colorado’s Executive MBA program.

While in the XMBA program, he was hired as
Director of Business Development for PAC Enterprises, an international turn-key
aluminum can manufacturing plant engineering firm. While not a principal of the
company, the challenges of international deal-making and project-based financing
made the job very entrepreneurial. During his tenure at PAC, the company built
plants in China, Brazil, Russia, South Korea, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, and it
was Colorado Exporter of the year in 1996. And after that, he was CFO of In
Store Media, which was a public company developing in-lane coupon clearing for
supermarkets, and then was CFO of a publicly-traded incubator, Arete Industries,
where he managed the commercial development of software for developmentally
disabled learning and robotic projects. After that, he was a co-founder of
LableDollars.

He recently spent six years (’03-’09) on the
board of directors of Cathedral Shelter of Chicago, one of the oldest homeless
shelters in America. He holds a BA degree in Economics from DePauw University
and an XMBA from the University of Colorado.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ninth, we’ll have much more from and on Phil Tadros
and his many ventures, but he did make a good point
when we spoke the other
day, actually Wednesday about 4pm. I told Phil that he has good people, and I’ve been to his Doejo
offices many times now when Phil was not there, and the staff was very focused and hard at work. It
is not a “when the cat’s away, the mice will play” environment. Phil says that
he stresses individual responsibility and I see
maturity in the staff, even Katie.

Phil’s question to me was: “Why don’t you write that
positive point, when you’ll say it to my face or on the phone, but you don’t
write it in the report?”

Valid point, and now I have written it.

I’ll cover the Ripoff Report and the roasting works
next time. Heck, the roasting works won’t take long.

Phil says he wanted to get out of the coffee shop biz,
but the roasting works in the old Doejo offices will be a production shop.
That’s exactly what Intelligentsia did under Doug Zell. They started with
retail, but then quickly migrated to a roasting works. At some level, Phil and his partner Seth Kravitz will be up
against Intelligentsia. Phil noted that the space allows for a number of niches.

Tenth, the law of unintended consequences. a rare event. The elevator in my
building went out and it calls for a major (and expensive) repair involving
valves. That means I have had to walk the stairs both down and up.

So far, I did it twice and the first time, I was quite exhausted and wiped
out. At each landing, I sat on my dinette chair which used to be at Gyros on the
Spit. There are 14 steps per floor with a total of 42 steps.

I had help from Mike Zadro from the Croatian building engineering family
(who carried my chair and my bags) and the first night from Alex Naim Ghantous
(the name is Lebanese) who is a Dean’s List student at John Marshall Law School
who wants to move to Southern California where he says he can get a job in law
from his cousin. Alex held my arm to steady me. Climbing those stairs was like
running the marathon for me — I really start feeling it at step #11 on each
floor.

Thank you, guys!

The law of unintended consequences is that I slept like a baby and felt
invigorated. Why? Because EXERCISE is good for you — and for me. Aurelia McCoy,
the dietician at my clinic who has just returned after a leave for knee surgery,
suggested that I continue doing the stairs when the elevator is working! My
first reaction was “Perish the thought” and then I realized that I’m so
de-conditioned (stamina, breathing, leg muscles) that it would be the perfect
thing to do.

So, the elevator breaking down and requiring major repairs turns out to be
a huge blessing in disguise.

Next up: Jeff Willinger, the CFA/SMCC meeting on social media and
compliance in the financial industry, Frankie Gruber, more Tadros, Tommy Bennett
and www.nuclearchicago.com
(he’s been writing a lot lately); the MITEF manufacturing meeting and more on
the holiday party, the CEC event in December, the energy meeting and I sure hope
Darrin Stern has the video up. BTW, why is Melanie pitching bands.com, www.bands.com/splash_eight?

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