Calif. students find Palin contract in trash

By ROBIN HINDERY (AP)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sarah Palin will get first-class airfare for two and three rooms at a luxury hotel when she gives a speech in June for a university foundation.

And organizers better not forget to stock her lectern with two water bottles and bendable straws.

The details of Palin's contract with the California State University, Stanislaus Foundation were contained in five pages of the document retrieved from a campus trash bin by students who heard administrators might be shredding documents related to the speech.

State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, who has been seeking details of Palin's compensation package for several weeks, provided copies of the paperwork Tuesday.

Among other perks, the former Alaska governor will fly first class from Anchorage to California — if she flies commercial. If not, "the private aircraft MUST BE a Lear 60 or larger ...," the contract specifies.

Palin also must be provided with a suite and two single rooms in a deluxe hotel near the campus in Turlock in the Central Valley.

The Turlock Convention and Visitors Bureau said that would place the high-profile politician at the year-old Comfort Suites, where high-end rooms go for $139 a night.

The document, dated March 16, does not include compensation details for Palin, who commands speaking fees as high as $100,000. Her appearance at the university's 50th anniversary gala is expected to draw a large crowd, with tickets selling for $500 each.

Palin's fee and accommodations will be covered entirely by private donations, not state funds, said Matt Swanson, president of the nonprofit foundation's board.

The students who found the document said they acted on a tip that documents were being shredded last Friday, when campus staff members were supposed to be on furlough.

"I was informed that there was suspicious activity taking place at the administration building, which I found very alarming," said 23-year-old Ashli Briggs, a junior at the school.

Briggs contacted senior Alicia Lewis, 26, who went with several other students to investigate. The building was locked and gated, but the students were able to retrieve piles of paperwork, including the contract document, from a nearby trash bin, Lewis said.

The contract pages have Washington Speakers Bureau printed at the top and a contract number. The speakers bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Yee called the incident "a dark day for the CSU".

"This is our little Watergate in the state of California," he said Tuesday at a news conference where he was joined by Briggs and Lewis.

Russell Giambelluca, the university's vice president of business and finance, said no one at the university was advised to destroy specific foundation documents, and staff members routinely shred and dispose of paperwork that is no longer needed.

Regarding the excerpt of Palin's contract, he said: "I find it interesting that among shredded documents you find one that's completely intact related to the contract."

The CSU Stanislaus Foundation previously denied the AP's request to release details of Palin's contract under the California Public Records Act.

Last week, the university responded to a similar public records request by Yee by saying it did not have any documents related to Palin's appearance and had referred the matter to Swanson.

The next day, Swanson sent letters to both Yee and the AP stating that Palin's contract includes a strict nondisclosure clause. University foundations and other auxiliary organizations were not subject to the same public records requirements as the university itself, he said.

"At this point, we believe it's within our legal right to keep that information to ourselves," Swanson said Tuesday, calling the latest dust-up "a little bit ridiculous."

Yee disputes the claim, pointing to significant overlap between the university and its foundation arm. For example, he noted, all but one member of the foundation staff and several officers from its board are university employees, and the foundation headquarters is located in the administration building where the students said the document shredding was taking place.

To eliminate any legal loopholes, Yee is sponsoring a bill that would require campus foundations and auxiliary organizations to adhere to public records requirements. The measure passed the Senate in January and awaits an Assembly hearing.

On Tuesday, Briggs and Lewis gave the state attorney general's office material they said came from the trash bins, including two boxes of documents and two trash bags filled with shredded files.

The office is reviewing Yee's request for an investigation into allegations that the university violated the California Public Records Act.

The attorney general's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Associated Press

Pope Benedict's birthplace vandalised

The house in the Bavarian town of Marktl am Inn where Pope Benedict XVI was born has been vandalised just three days before his 83rd birthday, local authorities reported on Tuesday

A police spokesperson said the words daubed on the house were of “insulting content,” adding that they referred to the child abuse affair that has rocked the Church in Germany in recent months. 

Police refused to reveal the exact words painted on the building in blue, which a passerby noticed on Tuesday morning. The words were quickly covered over. 

Pope Benedict was born as Joseph Ratzinger on April 16, 1927 in the small community in Upper Bavaria. Tuesday’s incident is the second time his place of birth has been vandalised. During a visit to Bavaria in September 2006 two balloons of blue paint were thrown at the house. 

In July 2007 a bust of the pope outside the Traunstein parish church – where he conducted his first mass in 1951 – was covered in red paint.

Germany’s Catholic Church has been embroiled in a crisis over recent weeks as victims of widespread sexual and physical abuse continue to come forward. Most cases date back by several years, a fact that has politicians debating a possible extension to the statute of limitations on such crimes. 

Similar accusations have also surfaced in the Netherlands, Austria andSwitzerland, while Ireland has been rocked by revelations about cover-up efforts by the head of the Church there in the 1970s.

The Vatican has said it received 3,000 reports between 2001 and 2010 of sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy committed over the past 50 years.

Meanwhile the pope himself has been drawn into the scandal. In late March the Vatican dismissed fresh allegations that he failed to bar the transfer of a known paedophile priest while he was the archbishop of Munich.

The case followed another accusation according to which Ratzinger failed to act over an American priest accused of molesting up to 200 deaf children between 1950 and 1974.

AFP/DDP

The Local | Germany

Oil sands involvement casts cloud over ConocoPhilips, ExxonMobil

BY CARRIE TAIT, FINANCIAL POST

ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil Corp. will face pressure at their upcoming annual meetings, once again owing to their involvement in the oil sands.

A shareholder resolution, filed in December, asks ConocoPhillips to prepare a report on environmental damage report that would result from the company’s expanding oil sands operations in the boreal forest. (ConocoPhillips this week sold its stake in Syncrude for US$4.65-billion, but remains an oil sands player).

The Exxon resolution asks the company to prepare a report discussing possible long-term risks to the company’s financial and operations tied to environmental, social and economic challenges tied to the oil sands, according to a statement released by Boston-based Green Century Capital Management, which describes itself as “an investment advisory firm focused on environmentally responsible investing,” and manages a mutual fund.

The statement also mentioned the similar resolutions BP plc and Royal Dutch Shell plc are facing, pointing to FairPensions campaign, and funds that support all four resolutions.

The Montreal Gazette

Charest calls inquiry into how Quebec judges are selected

Rhéal Séguin,

Quebec City — Globe and Mail Update

Visibly shaken by sensational attacks on his integrity, Quebec Premier Jean Charest is appointing a public inquiry to examine the appointment of judges following allegations by a former justice minister that the Premier was aware of influence peddling involving judicial nominations.

The accusations have shaken his government as well as Mr. Charest’s personal credibility.

“As a man I find it hard. In politics we become the target of those who want to attack us. I accept it but I can’t say that I like, but that’s the way it is,” Mr. Charest said during a news conference this morning.

The stunning accusations by former justice minister Marc Bellemare included charges that he witnessed the transfer of cash donations to circumvent election finance laws and was pressured by influential party fundraisers to appoint specific people as judges.

Mr. Charest will appoint a public inquiry into the nomination of judges but the investigation will stop there. He has no plans to examine closer what Mr. Bellemare has revealed as dubious party financing practices.

Premier Charest said the “serious” allegations by his former justice minister regarding the appointment of judges required an immediate public inquiry to ensure the credibility of Quebec’s justice system.

“This is an issue that deserves this kind of a treatment and excessive partisanship is not the answer and certainly not the best answer to getting to the bottom of what Mr. Bellemare is talking about,” Mr. Charest said.

Mr. Charest has threatened Mr. Bellemare with a lawsuit if he refuses to retract his comments.

“I’ll determine how we will deal with that later. But that’s not my priority. I’m not the cause here,” Mr. Charest said. “What is most important is the integrity of the judicial system”.

The Parti Québécois said the government wasn’t going far enough. The PQ argued that Mr. Charest was in a conflict of interest since according to Mr. Bellemare, the Premier approved the influence peddling and partisan nomination of judges.

Stopping short of asking for Mr. Charest’s resignation, Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois urged the Premier to appoint two well respected and independent in commissioners to head a public inquiry in the awarding of government contracts and irregular party financing methods.

Ms. Marois proposed that former justice John Gomery who headed the inquiry into the sponsorship scandal in Ottawa along with provincial auditor Renaud Lachance should head the public inquiry.

“Mr. Charest doesn’t have the credibility to proceed in a way that respects the rules of governance,” Ms. Marois said. “We need a public inquiry into the corruption in the construction industry, the awarding of contracts and party financing activities”.

The allegations come at a time when the Liberal government was struggling with the major ethical issues brought forth by the opposition parties aimed at undermining Mr. Charest’s own integrity as Premier.

The Premier insisted that despite spending 25 years in politics never before has personal integrity come under such harsh attacks.

By refusing to meet opposition party demands for a full public inquiry into the numerous allegations of wrongdoing, Mr. Charest has angered Quebec voters to the point where according to a recent public opinion poll they gave the Liberal government a record 77-per-cent disapproval rating.

The Globe and Mail

Obama: 'Real progress' at nuclear summit

By the CNN Wire Staff

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama said Tuesday that a nuclear security summit reached unanimous agreement on the threat posed by unsecured nuclear weapons and materials, and on steps to keep them out of the hands of terrorists.

"We've made real progress in building a safer world," Obama said at the conclusion of the two-day meeting of 47 nations.

Obama also said he felt confident about the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program.

Earlier Tuesday, the United States and Russia signed an update to a 2000 agreement intended to eliminate weapons-grade plutonium from their military programs.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signed the protocol amending the earlier agreement at the Nuclear Security Summit involving 47 countries.

Clinton said the agreement commits each country to "irreversibly and transparently" dispose of at least 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium. She said the total amount of material involved is enough for 17,000 nuclear weapons.

Both Clinton and Lavrov said the agreement prevents any military use of the plutonium.

In addition, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev confirmed plans to close down a plutonium production reactor in the Siberian city of Zheleznogorsk, the White House said. Obama called Medvedev's announcement an "important step forward" that demonstrates Russia's leadership on nuclear security issues, said a White House statement.

Earlier Tuesday, the White House also announced an agreement involving the U.S., Canada and Mexico to help convert fuel at Mexico's nuclear research reactor to a lower grade of uranium unsuitable for nuclear weapons.

The White House said the highly enriched uranium fuel at the reactor would be converted to low enriched uranium, which would eliminate all highly enriched uranium in Mexico.

In a statement, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said the agreement contributes to reducing the risk of nuclear materials such as highly enriched uranium being sold illegally and possibly ending up in the hands of terrorists.

The agreement follows announcements Monday by Ukraine saying it would get rid of its highly enriched uranium and Canada saying it will send highly enriched uranium from an Ontario power plant to the United States to be converted into another form.

Meanwhile, Obama opened the main working session of the 47-nation Nuclear Security Summit earlier Tuesday with a call for unified action against nuclear terrorism.

Obama said the gathering was an opportunity to act against one of the "greatest threats to global security".

"It will require a new mindset: that we summon the will, as nations, as partners, to do what this moment in history demands," Obama said.

"I believe strongly that the problems of the 21st century cannot be solved by any one nation acting in isolation; they must be solved by all of us coming together".

The two-day summit that began Monday seeks to safeguard nuclear weapons and materials, both old and new, to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists and rogue states.

On Monday, Obama's goal of getting specific commitments and working plans from participating nations received a boost when Ukraine announced it would get rid of its highly enriched uranium within the next two years.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich announced the decision on enriched uranium after a side meeting with Obama before the summit began.

On Tuesday, the participating leaders gathered for a group photo before entering the meeting hall for daylong plenary sessions around a large circular table.

The session began with a moment of silence for the victims of last weekend's plane crash that killed Poland's president, first lady, military leaders and other top officials.

Referring to the changing global situation regarding nuclear weapons, Obama said it was "a cruel irony of history" that the risk of nuclear confrontation between nations has decreased while the risk of nuclear terrorism has risen.

He noted that terrorists only needed "plutonium about the size of an apple" for a weapon capable of causing widespread death and destruction.

"Were they to do so, it would be a catastrophe for the world," Obama said.

Obama convened the summit as part of a broader strategy to decrease the threat of nuclear weapons and technology from reaching terrorists. It is considered an unprecedented effort to rally global action on securing vulnerable nuclear materials.

"It's an indication of how deeply concerned everybody should be with the possibilities of nuclear traffic, and I think at the end of this we're going to see some very specific, concrete actions that each nation is taking that will make the world a little bit safer," Obama said Monday.

Later Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the plan to return highly enriched uranium from the Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario to U.S. facilities for conversion into a form "unusable in nuclear weapons," according to the Canadian government Web site.

In the run-up to the summit, Obama met with 10 of the visiting leaders on Sunday and Monday, including Yanukovich and a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The bilateral talks were intended to bolster a summit that included a working dinner Monday night and Tuesday's plenary session chaired by Obama.

The summit also is the centerpiece of a major Obama objective aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and technology. As it takes place, the United States is negotiating with the four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council on tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear ambitions.

Obama has made clear he wants to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and to halt North Korea's program. Neither nation was invited to the summit.

CNN