Global News Continuing Coverage of the Douglas Students' Union
Joey Coleman reports on the latest Global news coverage of the Douglas Students' Union.
A very interesting story, to say the least.
The report states that Philip Link, who apparently approved the $276,000 loan from CFS-Services to the Douglas Students' Union, simply "works" for CFS-Services. In fact, according to news reports on the Travel CUTS lawsuit settlement, Mr. Link is the Executive Director of CFS-Services. This is a very substantial responsibility.
Now, I had known from reading articles in The Peak that Mr. Link had a colourful past, but it had been my impression that his only formal altercation with the law came with his 1997 acquittal of assault charges against Lana Many-Grey-Horses (whose testimony regarding the above you can read in these Langara Students' Union old minutes). So the Global news report is a new revelation for me.
In any event, I am now seriously considering re-posting the Douglas Students' Union forensic audit on my website. The post-audit memorandum is disconcerting in and of itself, but this is nothing compared to the forensic audit. When I last posted this forensic audit, Joey Hansen's lawyer gave me a letter threatening to sue me unless I took it down. At the time, I assumed that he had to have some sort of solid legal ground. But now that mainstream media companies like Global TV are prepared to talk about the contents of this forensic audit, this seems more like "SLAPP-like" behaviour to me....
Joey Coleman reports on the latest Global news coverage of the Douglas Students' Union.
A very interesting story, to say the least.
The report states that Philip Link, who apparently approved the $276,000 loan from CFS-Services to the Douglas Students' Union, simply "works" for CFS-Services. In fact, according to news reports on the Travel CUTS lawsuit settlement, Mr. Link is the Executive Director of CFS-Services. This is a very substantial responsibility.
Now, I had known from reading articles in The Peak that Mr. Link had a colourful past, but it had been my impression that his only formal altercation with the law came with his 1997 acquittal of assault charges against Lana Many-Grey-Horses (whose testimony regarding the above you can read in these Langara Students' Union old minutes). So the Global news report is a new revelation for me.
In any event, I am now seriously considering re-posting the Douglas Students' Union forensic audit on my website. The post-audit memorandum is disconcerting in and of itself, but this is nothing compared to the forensic audit. When I last posted this forensic audit, Joey Hansen's lawyer gave me a letter threatening to sue me unless I took it down. At the time, I assumed that he had to have some sort of solid legal ground. But now that mainstream media companies like Global TV are prepared to talk about the contents of this forensic audit, this seems more like "SLAPP-like" behaviour to me....
18 Comments:
There are more news items in The Now (a Parto Coquitlam paper including the audit that have a lot of detail. One could avoid the SLAPP by quoting the info here, it seems they get the majority of the stuff. I found them by doing a Google NEws search on "Brad Barber" as he is the Douglas College spokesperson.
Nov. 03: College Holds Back Student Fees
http://www.thenownews.com/issues06/111206/
news/111206nn1.html
Nov 8: Police File on Student Society (this one is particularly interesting and has new stuff I haven't seen on the blogs!)
http://www.thenownews.com/issues06/112106/
news/112106nn1.html
Nov. 10 Student Society hires financial advisor:
http://www.thenownews.com/issues06/112206/
news/112206nn2.html
I'm loving the DSU incident. The Global News coverage gives me goosebumps.
A quick search will show that Christa Peters, partner of Joey Hansen who was allegedly paid $20,000 by DSU, is both a former VP Internal for Carleton and a former regional coordinator for CFS-BC.
http://action.web.ca/home/cfs/en_alerts.shtml?x=28549
http://www.ubyssey.bc.ca/OldWebs/2002/20020208/newsLobby.htmlf
Gold.
Oh, but there's more, rumour has it she's a staffer at the Student Union at Vancouver Community College, CFS Locals 73 & 76 (co-worker heard to be Ms. Tiffany Kalanj) and that the political/ financial situation there is no better than at Douglas.
That rumour can be confirmed with regards to Christa Peters' employment.
Both Christa Peters and Tiffany Kalanj are listed as SUVCC employees and members of the CUPE 15 executive:
http://www.cupe15.org/aboutus/executive.htm
Phillip Link does not just "work" for the CFS he is, according to CFS mythology the organizing 'founder' of the organization. "He travelled the country sleeping on union floors etc etc..."
He and his partner are the central brains of the org. (Not 'officially' on paper but unofficially as organizational dynamics go)
I actually detailed much of Link's criminal history in one of the articles now the subject of my lawsuit. Unfortunately, we've taken it off the web pending the court's decision. Hopefully one day they will be available for public reading again.
I know Link has been to every CFS meeting since its inception (Charlottetown, 1981...his mother must be so proud) - but who is his parner and what is her/his role at CFS?
Forget the name of his partner but I met her at a CFS AGM once and she was damn scary looking... this skinny platinum blond who seemed totally coked out and spent the whole time giving bitchy evil stares to everyone.
As despicable as Link might be, using 15-year old assault charges (and an eight year-old acquital) doesn't seem to me to be that useful or relevant. An inability to control his temper as a 32-year-old doesn't prove intent or motive for fraud as a 47 year-old.
The more important questions (and any studentunion.ca readers heading to the CFS AGM are invited to seek and post answers to them) are:
1) Did Link actually have the authority to sign for a $275,000 "advance" (yeah, yeah, I know - "what's my problem"?) on his own, without informing the CFS Board?
2) If not, and he did not inform the Board, when will he be fired?
3) If this was done with the kowledge of the Board, is there a documentary record of the decision?
4) Regardless of the answer to 3, when did it come to the CFS' attention that Douglas Student Union was unable to pay its bills?
5) When it came to the attention of CFS that Douglas was in trouble, what steps did it take to tell its own members at Douglas of the situation? More specifically, did either George Soule or Amanda Aziz actually vote to give this money to cover Hansen's trail rather than inform the students of Douglas College of what was being done?
6) What, exactly, were the terms of the "advance"? How is it recorded in CFS' budget (assuming it is at all)?
And - unrelated to the lovely Mr. Link - there's a quesion that has been puzzling me. This building that th DSU bought - the one shown in the Global clips as a mini-mall - what the hell is it? Who owns it, exactly? DSU? Hansen? If DSU bought it, was there a debate as to the purchase? For what purpose, ostensibly, was it bought? Couldn't DSU just sell it to cover some of its debts?
If anyone can expain this, please do.
Link's partner: Lucy Watson, also long time CFS Staff.
They were both BC component staff until the aquittal for assault, and then were moved when no one was fired as a result of that incident. The CFS student union directory (last year, anyway) lists them as staff on leave from BC.
I am hoping someone will get some answers at the CFS National.
The Global News stories (specifically the second one) indicate that there are NO terms for the advance at all--there is nothing on paper.
The DSU "owns" the building in question, however, much of it is mortgaged--800,000 of the mortgage is held by Kismet Holdings, and the building was worth 1.2 million at purchase. If the CFS BC and National ever takes out any security on the building, tey will be fighting with eachother to do it: at $200,000 for BC, circa $270,000 for national the building can't cover the whole amount, unless the value has risen a lot--but I don't even know if you can use a new value assessment in a mortgage--probably possible. But in any case, it would seem to me that DSU owns it on paper, but the people they owe the money to are the real owners because they are in such financial trouble.
And if the college is successful at forcing the DSU into bankruptcy, the would lose the building to Kismet with some of the sale value (above 800,000 I guess) going to debtors. If the CFS gets security on the building, they would be first in line for that money, if not, it is bye-bye to half a million of students' money.
Anyone thinking of posting to this site anonymously from the CFS AGM, I would strongly advise doing so from a internet cafe.
I know the CFS is always on my site and keeps a close eye here. You do not want to be caught by the CFS breaking from the collective especially while in the mothership. As they say in the collective "resistance is futile"
With respect to the DSU building, its right across the street from the 8th street entrance, the building with the Subway in it.
I remember hearing that the forensic audit reported that it was priced over market value, resulting in the DSU paying more than it was worth. The Forensic audit also reportedly indicated that the tenants are not covering the DSU monthly mortgage payments, and as a result the DSU is losing money on holding the building, I think I heard the losses were around $5,000 a month. The value of the property may explain why they haven't sold it, I agree seems like the smartest way to get out of debt, even if they did sell at a loss.
I had heard too that the DSU had actually bought it with the hopes of moving into it. The College itself is out of space, whether or not there were discussions with the College to take on the DSUB I don't know. I also heard that part of the problem with moving into it was because the building was in disrepair, and the DSU obviously was not in a position to fix it up.
So let me see here, CFS schools in BC contribute approximately $600k to CFS BC per annum, which means another $600k to National. Total $1.2 mil per annum.
Of that $1.2 mil paid by BC students the CFS has loaned/advanced/donated $470k or if you'd rather about 40% to Douglas Student Union.
Anyone in BC feeling like they're not getting good return on their dollar?
Lucy Watson! An exec at Carleton University Students Association, mid-90s. Seem to recall back then that execs there had a habit of awarding themselves "loans" which would subsequently not be repaid. Can't off-hand recall whether the lovely Ms. Watson was a beneficiary or not...
I do see, however, that she is shop steward for the CFS branch of CUPE 1281. And how much difficult that must be. Every CFS President goes on to work for CFS and hence become a 1281 member (Conlon, Boyko, Soule) - her job is to bargain against people whose career aspiration is to work in her bargaining unit. Must be *very* tough negotiations...
Re: Return on your dollar:
The real question, I think, is this:
If the CFS can afford to give 40% of its annual income out in a loan that is unsecured... why are we giving them so much money? They clearly don't need those funds for operations, OR, they are taking out from investment that previous generations of students have put in which are meant for buildings and capital, or something like that.
Hard to know in the absence of an audit, so anyone at National, please remember to bring one home and post it here!!!
Re: defendant journalist
It would be great if a law student who has access to one of those databases of court records could get the records of all the cases CFS has started against students or student societies, and that LINK has started against students/ societies/student papers.
It would make for a telling read. I mean, how much money does the CFS spend suing its own members?
Actually, CFS spends very little suing its own members or student journalists (I actualy can't think of a single time CFS has sued a journalist...threatened, yes, but not actually done so).
Most of its legal money has been spending defending itself (not very effectively) against lawsuits brought against it by others. Such as when it lost 25% of Travel CUTS because it turned out they had, in fact, stolen the damn thing years ago and needed an out of court settlement to avoid losing the whole thing.
Speaking of legalities, turns out that under the Canada Corporations Act, any Director of a non-profit corporation can ask for an independent inspector to do a once-over on company finances to look for malfeasance.
If CFS doesn't recognize UPEI's withdrawl - does that mean someone at UPEI could still claim a PEI component seat and then request an independent inspection?
Just asking.
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