1.4.2005
Happy New Year, my friends! While it’s a new year, it’s the same game at City Council, with one exception. As I mentioned before, since the City hired its first ever City Manager, Council meetings have been getting shorter and shorter; I don’t know if there’s a cause and effect relationship here, but if there is, kudos to Joyce Wilson for making Tuesdays more efficient. This week, the meeting was over by noon and I was elated. Adding to this week’s fun was the fact that Anthony (My Legs Too Short to Reach the Floor) Cobos was sitting in the big chair for the absent chief crony-meister, Joe Wardy.
The Dream Police
This week’s proclamation was “Crime Stoppers Month.” Boy, was I glad to see those folks! I wanted to pull the group outside to eagerly discuss the merits of pursuing white collar criminals (like, um, you know who), but I didn’t have an opportunity. If the FBI refuses to do anything about these guys, maybe the “Crime Stoppers Month” folks will!
When Anklebiters Attack
Ray Gilbert placed the following highly anticipated item (at least it was highly anticipated by me) on the agenda:
1.
Discuss and take action on the City policy concerning the abatement of property
taxes on private for-profit hospital facilities and equipment and the City
ordinance providing for such abatement. [Ray E. Gilbert, Jr.]
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here when this came up,” said Gilbert,
citing the Times’s (predictably pathetic) editorial saying the abatement was
needed (http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/opinion/ourviews/20050102-7161.shtml).
He pointed out that on the backside of that editorial was an article entitled “90 years of service,” showing who worked on the taxpayer funded county hospital,
R.E. Thomason. “When we did that, it was under Article 9 of the Texas Constitution, Section 7 ‘Countywide Hospital District.’ Part of that says that the hospital district shall assume full responsibility for providing medical and hospital care for the needy inhabitants of the County. And thereafter said Counties and Cities shall not levy any other tax for hospital purposes.” He explained that the abatement the City awarded to Las Palmas violated that section of the Constitution.
“When we go out here and play games with this [tax] money…when I abate taxes on $50 million or $30 million worth of hospital facilities and all the other entities abate it, that’s 3% per year…in this case it’s somewhere around $450,000 a year…to a hospital that is one of the highest income producing in their corporation.”
Gilbert said he’s not opposed to profit-making hospitals (in fact, he said he tried to build one in New Mexico), “But for you to take and be the leaders in this…it’s increasing the taxes for the rest of the people through the backdoor. It’s the same thing as levying a tax because this Constitution came before any abatements were allowed.” He added, “Of course, that money…does not stay in El Paso and you can say everything you want to about the number of jobs and everything else it promotes, but by the same token this would be done anyway anyhow.” Gilbert rhetorically asked if Las Palmas had agreed to do something for the City in exchange, like take care of more indigent patients. Answering his own question, he said they haven’t, and he mocked the assertion that this is a “good business deal.”
Cobos, who was doing his best “Impatient Wardy” impression, just wanted the pain to end. He asked Gilbert if he was ready to conclude and Gilbert said he hadn’t even gotten started yet.
Gilbert said he hadn’t gotten a copy of the abatement policy and described its lack of availability as typical of this administration. He observed that the City’s abatement policy took seven to eight months to craft “when it could have been concluded in a couple of weeks.” He wanted to know who was putting together the new policy (I wanted to whisper to Gilbert, “It’s the Little Prince!”).
Commenting on the guidelines the Little Prince helped put together, Gilbert asked that Council be more specific in their policy guidelines. “This abatement policy that took you seven months to do if it was one of my construction contracts, I’d guarantee you before the contract was over I’d be in a lawsuit with somebody somewhere somehow.” He urged them to make the process public.
When it appeared that Cobos was going to ask Gilbert to wrap it up, Gilbert said he was finished and sarcastically added, “I’m amazed, Mr. Cobos, that you allowed me to have this time.”
Cushing and Cobos, noticing that Gilbert was irritated with them, quickly and emphatically stated that they were willing to give him more time. For some reason, Gilbert is one ankle-biter the Cowardy folks genuinely seem to be afraid of.
Hey, Look…Another UFO!
Cushing, like Cobos, has learned to distract and never confront difficult issues head on. (By “difficult issues,” I mean those that expose Cowardy corruption or that tend to make Cowardy look bad). He never discussed the alleged illegality of the abatement. Cushing instead explained that because Council had already made a commitment to Las Palmas in October 2003, because El Paso has access to healthcare issues, and because the City has an image to keep with “the business community,” he supported the abatement.
Yes, my friends, that’s exactly correct. Because Wardy & Co. want nothing more than to please the larger “business community” (this is Wardy code for the members of the Greater Chamber), it’s to hell with fairness (think car wash contract). I was delighted that Cushing admitted this in an open, public meeting. (For more on our “business community”, read or re-read http://www.newspapertree.com/newsletter.ssd?section=feature&c=2c4e5a40c1614700).
Cushing added that he, Lozano, and Cobos had been diligently working on the new tax abatement policy guidelines when they realized that the old policy guidelines had expired. Cushing promised that the new guidelines would be finalized in the next 60 days and invited a now-pacified Ray Gilbert to participate in that process. (If you recall last week’s notes, the policies didn’t expire when Cobos et. al. say they expired.)
Presi Ortega told Gilbert that he appreciated his concerns and that he, too, had had some similar concerns (which he never mentioned last week, when he claimed he’d make a deal like this “every day of the week” http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20041229-5440.shtml). The mendacity and the transparent pandering of these Councilors never cease to amaze me. Presi, as I feared, you’re fitting in beautifully with Joe and the boys.
No other supporters of the abatement on Council addressed Gilbert’s contention that the abatement violated the state Constitution and Gilbert simply walked away. While I don’t agree with Gilbert’s legal argument, I’m glad he’s putting these guys to the test. However, it looks like Cowardy has realized that the best way to handle people who have the gumption to challenge policy—or at least to handle Ray Gilbert, anyway—is just to humor him and hope he goes away.
The No-Bid, No-Tell Hotel?
And speaking of inappropriate taxpayer money giveaways, I wish Ray Gilbert and others would take a close look at the hotel abatement as well. If you read last week’s notes, you’ll know that Russ Vandenberg, a local businessman who is also the developer of the new hospital near UTEP that received a tax abatement last week, admitted during the Council meeting to Alexandro Lozano that the hotel was going to be built anyway. A (reliable and knowledgeable) little birdie told me that UTEP President Diana Natalicio facilitated Russ Vandenberg’s hotel by ensuring that the deal did not go out to bid. Natalicio and Vandenberg are very well acquainted because Vandenberg has been a very generous UTEP donor.
The nice little gift that Wardy & Co. gave Vandenberg and his hotel partners merits investigation. It’s nothing but corporate welfare and the interconnections of the players smell, at least to me. But then I’m told I have a rather sensitive nose.
It seems to this columnist that a penchant for stifling competition, creating back-room deals and rewarding friends and contributors with taxpayer gifts isn’t just a disease afflicting our Mayor and City Council. UTEP seems to be infected as well. Go figure.
Minutes for Your Reading Pleasure
Once the public portion of the agenda was over, it was time to approve the consent agenda, which included the following:
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: [Municipal Clerk,
Richarda Duffy Momsen, (915) 541-4127] Approval of Minutes for the Regular City
Council Meeting of December 28, 2004.
(Attachment)
Minutes for Regular City Council Meeting
of December 28, 2004
Another excused absence?
I’ve lost count of how many Council meetings Wardy has missed. Sheesh! This guy takes more time off than Johnny Carson ever did. And every time he’s gone, Cobos makes some grand, ridiculous gesture to excuse him.
3. REQUEST TO EXCUSE ABSENT CITY COUNCIL
MEMBERS: Mayor Joe Wardy
“The Mayor is taking some personal time off today, some personal time, well-deserved, but he will be back,” announced Anthony (Master of the Obvious) Cobos. Did anyone doubt he’d be back? He has no choice…he’s the mayor! And time off from what? Ribbon cutting? Actually, I asked a doctor friend of mine for an armchair diagnosis and she mentioned “ribbon-cutting wristitis;” apparently, it’s akin to tennis elbow. I think she was joking. But in case she wasn’t, better rest that wrist, Joe!
ASARCO and the City’s Leadership Gap
When I saw the following agenda item, placed by Jimbo/Jabba, I was extremely curious about the discussion that would ensue:
16. CITY ATTORNEY: [City Attorney's Office, James A. Martinez,
(915)
541-4550] Discussion and
action regarding the following
cases and request by Senator Eliot Shapleigh to have the City's attorneys
and/or staff conduct a personal briefing for him regarding the status of the following cases and
the City's plans for same:
Asarco v.
TCEQ v. City of El Paso, In the
261st District Court, Travis County,
Texas; Cause No. GN401709
ASARCO Incorporated Air Quality Permit
No. 20345; TCEQ, Docket No. 2004-0049-AIR
Before we discuss what happened at Tuesday’s meeting, and for those of you who need to get your arms around the whole ASARCO issue, here is a brief recap.
ASARCO, a smelter that produces lead, copper and other metals (as well as sulfuric acid and other pollutants http://www.asarco.com/elpaso/asarcoinelpaso.htm), has been sitting on 127 acres in West-Central El Paso – a stone’s throw away from downtown El Paso, UTEP, and various neighborhoods in El Paso and Cd. Juárez – for the last 100 years. In 1999 ASARCO suspended operations and laid-off employees because of a dip in copper prices. (As a side note, because ASARCO called its suspended operations “temporary,” 100 of ASARCO’s laid-off hourly employees lost their retirement benefits after years of work http://www.elpasoinc.com/Archive/99_01_24/feature.html. Now how’s that for loyalty, eh, folks?)
In the meantime, in case it ever wanted to reopen, ASARCO has been careful not to allow its air permit to expire (approval for which comes from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, a/k/a the TCEQ).
Most folks don’t want ASARCO to renew its air permit because they (and the Environmental Protection Agency) believe ASARCO operations are the primary source of lead and arsenic contamination in El Paso neighborhoods (http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20040530-124656.shtml). ASARCO has adamantly denied that the toxins it has released into our air are the same toxins in these yards (http://www.borderlandnews.com/contamination2/ElPasoletterJuly29final.html) and has claimed that it will create lots of new high-paying jobs if it reopens.
Well, the day of reckoning has come. ASARCO has applied for its ten-year renewal permit. The TCEQ, at the request of Bob Geyer (a local attorney) and Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, agreed to hold a public hearing on January 27th to allow for community input. As you can imagine, Asarco has been fighting against this public hearing tooth and nail—you see, ASARCO doesn’t believe it needs to have a formal, public hearing to renew the permit. And because they so desperately do not want a public hearing, ASARCO has sued. The Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce (read: “The larger business community”) has of course filed a brief on behalf of ASARCO, supporting their claim that they don’t need a public hearing (and seemingly supporting renewal of the Air Permit). This same Chamber has been fighting the designation of contaminated sites as a “Superfund” site (which means that the government would pay to clean up all properties); the designation has potential drawbacks, to be sure, to both property owners who fear their property values will decrease, and to “the greater business community” that believes it would hurt our economic development efforts—whatever those mysterious efforts might be (http://www.elpasoinc.com/Archive/02_09_01/CoverStory.html). But at least the designation would mean that the government would finish cleaning up the environmentally dangerous mess in that area.
Now, what citizens must realize is that in this fight to hold a public hearing in order to fight the re-permitting, the only voice that the TCEQ will consider as representing the people of El Paso is that of our municipal government—the Mayor and City Council. Clearly, the City’s role is extremely important, and what the City does (or does not do) will have a tremendous impact on the ASARCO debate.
Representative John Cook assured me (in an October email exchange about the issue) that the City is adamantly against ASARCO resuming its operations. His presence at a recent local rally supporting the folks fighting ASARCO is also a good sign. However, he is but one person on a nine-member City Council.
Follow the Resumes
What the City chose to do was to hire some legal consultants during all of these discussions (about permitting, about clean up, about superfund designation). Who are these consultants Mayor Joe Wardy decided to hire (using taxpayer money)? Brian McGee and Erich Birch. And my friends, I’ve been told by a reliable source that they’ve worked for Jobe in the past. Interesting, eh? I wonder who recommended them? Hmm. Once I get a copy of their resumes, I’ll be sure to provide a link for you.
So what are these consultants doing for us?
Mr. McGee urged the EPA and the TCEQ to increase its threshold of dangerous lead levels from 500 parts per million (ppm) to 640 ppm. That means that it takes a lot more lead in someone’s yard to qualify as dangerous. This suggestion for a new, higher standard is an outrage, especially when you consider that TCEQ doesn’t want to apply it to the rest of the state. The whole point is that there will be fewer homes to clean up, thereby lowering the amount of money needed for cleanup efforts. (See related articles: EPA wants to increase 500 to 640 ppm http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/include/print.php?single=10260401
USWA announces EPA ignores its own science
http://www.detoxamin.com/index.asp?pgid=931
Texas Observer, Political Intelligence “Pile On”
http://www.mollyivins.com/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1793)
Sen. Eddie Lucio, from Brownsville, recently sent a letter to the Texas Attorney General asking for an opinion on how the TCEQ can change the regulations for just one city (http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/requests_ga/RQ0245GA.pdf), and this week, the Attorney General released an opinion that says TCEQ cannot raise the lead limit for El Paso but not for the rest of state, concluding that the TCEQ’s actions in doing so were “arbitrary and capricious”:
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/op50abbott/ga-0290.htm (Gee, I wonder in whose pockets the TCEQ folks reside?)
And where, you may ask, does the Mayor stand on all of this? Publicly, he’ll say he opposes the reopening of ASARCO. Then he hires lawyers to ask for elevated lead levels to become the new threshold. Not only that, but instead of listening to neighborhoods and concerned citizens, Mayor Wardy announces to “the greater business community” that there will be fewer homes to clean up and then asks them for advice and ideas on how to deal with this whole thing (http://www.newspapertree.com/newsletter.ssd?section=feature&c=5832c32e90404c8f). I guess “the greater business community” is the only one that counts on this issue for Wardy. Don’t forget, this is the guy who said he would be our “neighborhood mayor” in the last mayoral campaign. Voters need to remember this come May.
In the meantime, the only local elected official aggressively pressing this issue on behalf of “the greater public”—i.e., you and me and the majority of affected citizens—is Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, who has repeatedly had to ask the City to get involved and file a brief supporting the public hearing.
After City Council voted not to submit a brief in support of a public hearing (again, the only voice the TCEQ is going to listen to is that of our municipal government), Shapleigh led a march of hundreds of people into Council Chambers and City Council reluctantly relented (http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1766). (But, as many of you know, this public demonstration angered a number of Council members and members of “the greater business community” as well http://www.elpasoinc.com/Archive/04_25_07/Editorial.html.) And remember folks, the City has to file its own legal brief, and as a community, we still have no idea if it has done so or not. If they keep it a secret until it’s too late . . . it’ll be too late. Which, apparently, is the whole point of the “exercise,” to quote the absent guru of pandering himself.
Anyway, end of briefing and back to the meeting.
When Attorneys With Inflated Salaries Fight Back!
After fighting the City of El Paso’s consultant on this whole thing (and probably after being told what a mess the City Attorney’s office is), Sen. Shapleigh recently asked the City Attorney for a meeting to brief him on what they have done and what they intend to do to listen to the citizens at the January 27th briefing. After what the City has done so far, thank goodness he’s investigating. And furthermore, as our state senator and the elected official who has taken the lead on this, I believe he has every right to know what’s going on. After all, he was elected in a county-wide election and has a constituency greater than anyone on Council, including the mayor. He’s also the guy who has been out in front on this issue on our behalf for a long time, even when it was (and still is, at times) unpopular to do so.
Jim Martinez, representing the City Attorney’s office, stood at the podium after the item was read into the record and said that he placed this item on the agenda “out of courtesy.” Acting as if he were on the stage, Martinez then dramatically took a look around and said he expected the Senator to be present at the meeting since it was the Senator who had requested the item. (If this guy could were nominated for the local equivalent of “Best Supporting Actor in a Corruption Melodrama,” believe me, he’d have won!)
Robert Cushing (the same guy who is deeply concerned about keeping “the greater business community” happy) asked Martinez if he considers this “an unusual request on the part of a citizen of El Paso.” Martinez said it was indeed unusual and that, in addition, the Senator had not been clear about the information he wanted to be briefed on. Martinez said that he had forwarded emails between himself and “Eliot” to the Council (he corrected himself and from then on called him “the Senator”). Then he and Cushing together discussed all the reasons why the City should not share any information with the Senator, agreeing that most of it would be considered “privileged” attorney-client communications.
Cushing pointed out that Martinez is taking the lead in the District Court case in Austin (doesn’t that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?) but asked if the City’s current legal consultant, Mr. Erich Birch (who is representing the City in the administrative proceedings concerning Asarco's application to renew its air permit) is more of a defense attorney than a plaintiff’s attorney. Martinez said it was “fair to draw that analogy.”
Cushing, who fancies himself quite the legal expert, further asked, “Would we be better served going forward in the contested case hearing if we brought in a plaintiff firm of the likes of the Umphrey Provost firm out of Beaumont [http://www.provostumphrey.com/ContactUs.asp] who I know has a lot of expertise…so that there would not be a perception that we’re not doing everything we can in that area?” Before Martinez could answer that question, Susan Austin asked Martinez not to address it in open session.
I wanted to rush the podium and say, “HELLO-O??? Bob Cushing, is anyone home? The hearing is in two weeks! Why start pretending like you care about citizen’s concerns now?” But of course, I didn’t.
Martinez continued and said that he had concerns about the “risks” of sharing information with our senator and wanted to give Council more advice in executive session.
Representative John Cook told Martinez that Senator Shapleigh and the City have the same position, which is that they oppose the re-opening of ASARCO. Cook further observed that Shapleigh’s an attorney, and opined that if the City contracted with Shapleigh on a pro-bono basis, his involvement as an attorney would make him privy to any attorney-client communications. “He’s researched this issue for years, and it would be of benefit to have him on the team with us,” said Cook.
Martinez, whose facial expression and body language clearly indicated he was not pleased by that suggestion, disingenuously said that would be fine with him but added that he’s asked the Senator to share this research with him, and the Senator has yet to do that. Gee, why do you think that is, Jimbo?
Austin suggested a “joint defense” meeting between the City and the Senator and Martinez said he had concerns about that as well, which would also need to be discussed in executive session.
Cushing tried to give his own legal opinion (which I won’t go into in these notes…you and I, dear reader, would probably have to go into our own executive session for me to be able to discuss it with you).
Lozano agreed with Cook and said, “Let’s fight together…ASARCO is a big issue…and Shapleigh should join us.” Um, Mr. Lozano, it would be the City that’s finally joining Shapleigh.
Jim Martinez said, “I have tried to invite the Senator to do exactly that.” Right, Jabba, whatever you say. Paul Escobar asked Martinez if the Senator had been made aware of the agenda item and the necessity of his presence at a Council meeting, and Martinez said that he had informed the Senator and his staff about it several times and that he placed the item on the agenda at Shapleigh’s request. Gee, folks, for some strange reason, Jimbo/Jabba Martinez has absolutely no credibility with me.
In Cobos We Trust?
Anthony Cobos, who happens to represent the antithesis of ethical, progressive leadership, pulled his best Billy Joel impersonation and complained, “It’s a matter of trust,” adding, “and trust is earned, it’s not assumed.” And my friends, that’s exactly the point. If the City has hired people who are actively working against helping all citizens of this community – especially those whose yards are contaminated with lead at a level between 500-639 ppm and who would be ignored when it came to cleanup time – it is indeed a matter of trust. We can’t trust Wardy or Cobos or Cushing!
Cobos added, “For us to open up the legal department just to get stabbed in the back I’m not willing to do at this point in time. I would like to sit down with the Senator, look him in the eye and ask him what his true intentions are. We don’t want ASARCO to reopen…but when a senator doesn’t call the City representatives and leads a march down here protesting us, I don’t think that’s the right way to do it, and I’m very reluctant to open up our legal department carte blanche to Senator Shapleigh’s office.”
Oh, but it’s okay to “open up our legal department carte blanche” to Luther Jones whom Wardy allowed deep inside the City Attorney’s office? Got it, Tony. Then again, maybe I can see Cobos’s point. I mean, after all, if the City’s corrupted, leaderless, partisan legal department is placed under public scrutiny, there’s no telling what an intrepid state senator might find out! Better to keep us in the dark, eh, Tony? And what would’ve happened if those folks hadn’t marched on City Hall, eh, Mr. Cobos? It would have meant the Wardy/Jobe consulting team would have continued down the same higher pollutant threshold path, undeterred.
”Let’s wait ‘till the good senator comes down,” Cobos said and then he suggested deleting the item.
Martinez asked Council to allow him to discuss this item further in executive session. Susan Austin wanted to set up a meeting – not to brief the Senator on the matter – but to discuss the procedural matter of the Senator becoming a party to the lawsuit so that he could access privileged information. She asked Martinez if his primary problem with the meeting would be waiving attorney-client privilege; Martinez agreed, and Austin said that a meeting should be held to discuss anything but the merits of the case.
Cushing, who clearly has no interest in sharing information with the community, and who was twisting a simple request by the Senator for a meeting into an ambush, complained to Martinez, “All that basically Mr. Shapleigh has asked for is that we have you and Mr. Birch show up some place on a specified time, and when you get there, you’re supposed to hand over the keys to the City and be at his disposal; is that fair?” asked Cushing.
Finally showing a little reluctance to being led around by the nose by Cushing’s leading questions, Martinez responded, “I don’t want to be part of that hyperbole.” Hyperbole indeed. You know it’s bad when even Jabba finds Cushing’s rhetoric and posturing over the top. Martinez added that he’s tried to find out what Shapleigh wanted, but that Shapleigh’s “been reluctant to say what the purpose of the meeting is and what he intended to ask.”
Cushing then said he didn’t want to send Martinez into a gunfight with a rock.
Gunfight? While Cook and Austin appear to be on the side of the community it should now be crystal clear to all that Cushing, COBOS and Wardy (vis a vis Jimbo/Jabba) are on the side of ASARCO. I guess in Cushing’s head, this would be the City’s equivalent of “Clash of the Titans.” My only question is, who would be the Harry Hamlin character wearing the tiny loincloth…Cushing or Jabba? That thought sent me reeling into the jaws of disgust.
Cushing’s gunfight rhetoric immediately reminded me of the scene from the first Godfather where Sonny Corleone, played by James Caan, emphatically tells his underlings that he doesn’t want his younger brother Michael (played by Al Pacino) to go to a meeting with a corrupt police captain and the captain’s mafia boss without a gun, “just holding his ---- in his hand!“ It was a remarkable moment at Council. Come to think of it, Wardy & Co frequently remind me of a petty version of a mafia crime family. Whaddya think, there, FBI guys?
Anyway, Bob Corleone…er…Cushing said he was afraid of sending little Jimbo (the self-proclaimed “superstar” lawyer) with the Jumbo salary in there unprepared for the climactic battle with THE SENATOR. God forbid. Cushing succeeded in doing nothing more than reveal, in a most dramatic fashion, his opposition not only to the Senator but to the rest of the community. He stands opposed to them for a host of reasons, only one of which is his secret desire to see ASARCO re-opened—despite the official position of the City to the contrary—so he can continue to pander to “the greater business community”.
Ray Gilbert signed up to speak on the item and said that as a citizen, he demands to be at that meeting. He applauded Council for trying to stall a meeting. “If you all approve something like this, I wanna be there as a citizen like he’s there to be.” Sorry, Ray, but you weren’t elected in a county-wide race to be our state senator and you haven’t once even bothered to take a public side in this important debate.
Council went into a very lengthy executive session (a little over an hour, to be exact, although they were considering two other executive session items as well), and when they came out City Manager Joyce Wilson said the staff recommendation was to draft a letter advising the Senator that the City Council had not authorized staff or attorneys to meet with him due to lack of specific information. She also recommended postponing the item one week in order to give the Senator an opportunity to meet with the body, attend the meeting or to allow him to confer with Council members individually so they could make an informed decision. The letter would also invite the Senator to lend his professional legal expertise as a member of the team or to recommend to the City specific legal experts.
While I’m glad that Wilson (and presumably Cook and Austin) prevented Cobos from deleting the item altogether, I find it highly instructive that Cobos thinks a state senator should bow down to the likes of him.
Anyhow, that was that, and although there were a few other zoning items on Council agenda, the rest of the meeting was pretty uneventful.
We’ll have to see what develops on the ASARCO issue next week…it will be interesting, indeed.
Until next week.
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