Attending: Norman G. Kurland, Joe Recinos, Kemp Harshman, Dawn K. Brohawn, Harriet Epstein, Alan Wong, Michael D. Greaney.

Materials Distributed: Agenda, Core Values, Code of Ethics, Dan Parker (Whitecourt Advisor) review of Capital Homesteading book, the Art of Change Chart.

Meeting was called to order at 10:15 a.m. by Joseph Recinos, rotating chairman. The chairmanship later rotated to Kemp Harshman, and, finally, to Dawn K. Brohawn.

The Opening Prayer was offered by Dawn K. Brohawn. The Core Values and Code of Ethics were read.

Approval of Board and Executive Committee Minutes. A motion to approve the Excom Minutes from the March and April meetings and table the minutes from the May meeting was made by Dawn K. Brohawn and seconded by Norman G. Kurland. The motion passed unanimously.

News/Information Items

Oglebay Norton Employee Buyout (Update). Norman Kurland discussed the progress of the effort by workers to purchase the marine assets of Oglebay Norton Marine Services, the premier commercial shipper on the Great Lakes. This effort has been progressing for about a year; it is extremely complex. Norm, Rich Biernacki, Dawn Brohawn and several other CESJ members are part of a professional team advising the workers’ economic empowerment association (ONEEEA) that was formed by a core group of workers (including Rob Woodman, John Biolchini, Bill Heitman and Gregg Bostic). Norm feels the workers group and their buyout team have proceeded professionally and effectively. They’ve read The Capitalist Manifesto and other materials on CESJ’s website. They view CESJ as the educational arm of this buyout initiative.

Rob Woodman has been critical to the effort, having brought people together and educated them with a website and a newsletter. Rich Osborn, past President of the Cleveland Press Association, has opened up the media, and has been advising our group on its media strategy. Allison Grant of the Cleveland Plain Dealer has written a series of excellent articles on the buyout initiative, and has been promised an exclusive on the story.

In April, Norman Kurland, Dawn Brohawn, Rich Biernacki and Dave Gustafson (who is conducting the feasibility study) visited all the vessels as well as the people in the office, to begin educating and communicating to workers about ownership, the ESOP and Justice-Based Management, even prior to the acceptance of the buyout offer. The presentations seem to be very well-received by the workers, who raised questions about the initiative.

ONEEEA has obtained from the Ohio Employee Ownership Center a $25,000 grant to cover the cost of the feasibility study, and a matching soft loan of $100K from the National Cooperative Bank. NCB has gathered a consortium of big lenders interested in financing the deal. Workers have contributed some money. $50K has been disbursed so far, mainly to cover the upfront costs of the feasibility consultant, the lawyers, and the team’s travel expenses. The representatives for the workers group will be meeting with top management to present ONEEEA’s bid this Friday.

On Monday Norman Kurland and Dave Gustafson met in Pittsburgh with four of the top people in the United Steelworkers of America (including Lynn Williams, former USW President), to discuss the role that we would like the union to play. We want the union to use their political muscle to get Fed-generated money and credit for the long-term financing of the venture. The USW Regional Representative, Dave McCall, expressed interest in the Federal Reserve strategy as a source of financing capital formation. The USW is waiting on the results of Friday’s meeting.

ONEEEA will be offering the company cash (the amount based mainly on projections of earnings) plus a loan assumption and a share of any future profits above projected earnings. This could be a major breakthrough in the concept of democratizing ownership of productive assets, and a new role for the union (to help get new money and credit for capital ownership by workers and other citizens). This offers a long-term strategy to revive basic industries in the United States.

Brazil ESOP Project. Norman Kurland reported that the Gethal project has great potential, but it is at an earlier stage than that of Oglebay Norton. The forestry operation in Brazil was formerly owned by a German operation, which caused a lot of environmental damage in the rain forest; the operation was later bought out by GMO, which engages in socially responsible investing but wants to sell this operation. A personal contact in the Inter-American Development Bank had gotten in touch with Joe Recinos. Michael Clasby, a partner in GMO in charge of the project had contacted them, asking for an expert in ESOP buyouts. The IDB contact recommended Joe Recinos, and Joe put Michael Clasby in touch with Norman Kurland and Equity Expansion International. Michael Clasby and Norman Kurland went later to the World Bank and the World Wildlife Fund, to discuss the combination of an employee buyout and a sustainable forestry project, and to seek funding.

Norbert Hermes told his brother Bishop Herbert Hermes (in Cristalandia, Brazil) about the project, and Bishop Hermes liked it. He brought Norman Kurland down to Brazil, where Norm met with some government officials, notably Environment and Natural Resources Minister Marina Silva and her top deputy, Gilney Vianna. Minister Silva, a personal friend of Bishop Hermes, was a former rubber tapper who became a leader of the Workers’ Party in Brazil. She has developed “Brazil Vision 2001,” a long-term comprehensive blueprint for empowering all citizens from the bottom-up, in Brazil’s future development.

Norm and Bishop Hermes later went to Goiania, a city in which the mayor, Pedro Wilson, is interested in the CIC concept and in the introduction of advanced waste-to-energy technologies for addressing their waste problem. Gilney Vianna, Marina Silva’s political advisor, said they don’t want to go to the central bank just yet, they have the money already in the Brazilian Development Bank.

For a while it appeared that the Gethal project was dead, but a few weeks ago Norman Kurland was contacted by Michael Clasby, who said that Gethal was still up for sale. Norm called the bishop who was meeting with Marina Silva, to get her expression of continued support for the worker buyout proposal. Michael Clasby then put Norm in touch with a high-level financial consultant of GMO who seemed comfortable with the proposal. Last night the bishop called to say that he had good meetings with Brazilian officials. Clasby and his team are interested in possibly leaving GMO to head up the effort, which he recognizes is “highly replicable.”

San Francisco CIC Project (Ulysses Jim Montgomery). Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco is up for grabs. Norm Kurland was approached by Ulysses Jim Montgomery, who is working with Michael Strauss to purchase the property using a CIC. The local real estate elite are trying to buy up the property (which would displace a lot of low-income families), but there is now political opposition. Montgomery, an engineer from MIT, knew Louis and Patricia Kelso, and was familiar with Bucky Fuller’s ideas. He was involved in real estate development projects in San Francisco in the early 1960s. He was also involved in liberation movements in Africa, and has economic development projects in Angola as well as other countries. Norman Kurland advised him to concentrate on getting to Mandela on Capital Homesteading projects on the African continent. Jim knows President Santos (in Angola). He can also reach out to the Presidents of Libya, Cameroon and Tanzania.

Last Friday Jim brought Norm together with the Deputy Director of the Land Development Agency in San Francisco. Jim opened the presentation by drawing a connection to the war on terrorism; explaining why we need development approaches that empower all citizens, not just an elite. Jim mentioned that their group plans to build a warehouse on the Hunter’s Point property where they could manufacture housing. He would like the warehouse to be owned through a CIC by the people who live in the area. Jim has been in touch with Dean Price, prior to his meeting, to explore the use of the Equitech technology in the housing complexes. He will try to get these ideas to Dianne Feinstein. Jim is also working with various Native American tribes to produce housing.

Victoria Grof. Went in for an operation for possible ovarian cancer yesterday. No news yet, but her friends at CESJ offer our prayers and concern.

Focus Topic: Marketing Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen.

Alan Wong Internship Project. Alan Wong has put together a marketing plan as part of his CESJ internship project. He will be approaching academics, politicians and the media. Harriet Epstein said that we’ve distributed copies of the book and gotten some feedback. Kemp said that the press release program might be useful. Norman Kurland said that we need more people to write reviews and to help market the book.

Fr. Miller and Dan Parker Reviews. Dan Parker has had a review of Capital Homesteading published in the Alberta Whitecourt Advisor; Fr. Miller’s excellent review will be appearing in the Social Justice Review. John Moorehouse wants to put Fr. Miller’s review in the Catholic Men’s Quarterly.

Follow-up on Steve Roy Marketing Project/Capital Homestead Website. Steve Roy has developed material for the website to market the Capital Homesteading book. He sent it to Norman Kurland in .jpg format.

Getting more reviews and testimonials. We are getting some, but we need more

Decision/Follow-Up Items

JBM Certification Process (Kemp Harshman). The trademark office asked that the JBM certification application be resubmitted with certain adjustments and re-drawn art. The artwork has been completed. We now need to submit our written response by the 7^th of July. Kemp says he will complete the response — most of it is already written. The main issue he has to respond to is their requirement that the goods and services to be certified must be specified. This, Kemp will argue, is not applicable to the JBM certification, which is certifying standards in management systems of the companies who produce the goods or provide the services (whether they meet the JBM critieria). We don’t know the specific types of company that will be seeking JBM certification. Kemp will be asking for them to make an exception, and will cite cases similar to ours, such as ISO 9000 and the Baldrige Award.

Bangladesh JBM Garment Factory (Update).We are waiting for a report from Bangladesh, and hope to have more interaction with the new legal team. Fr. Bill is in Rome trying to raise money.

CESJ Iraq and Abraham Federation Projects (Updates and Follow-Up). Norman Kurland said we don’t have a champion for the Abraham Federation yet. Norman Kurland spoke before two Muslim groups (one largely Sunni and the other Shiite), whose participants indicated openness to the Iraq oil proposal. We are seeking to get the idea to leaders in Iraq.

Harriet Epstein felt that Norm’s article presented to the conference of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy was an excellent summary on the Just Third Way and Capital Homesteading, and that it is a perfect companion piece to the Capital Homesteading book. Norm sent a copy of his article to Rabbi Michael Lerner.

Alan is sending a letter to Bruce Feiler, who sees Abraham as a symbol for unifying the different religious groups in the Middle East; Alan will send materials introducing the Abraham Federation concept to Feiler and will try to arrange a telephone conference between Feiler and Norm.

Rowland has given the Iraq proposal and the Capital Homesteading book to an Iraqi friend at work whose husband formerly handled oil negotiations between Iraq and France. Dr. Bakir Al-Hassani spent the entire weekend reading the book, and expressed to his wife that “God was speaking to these people.” Norm wants to set up a meeting with Dr. and Mrs. Al-Hassani because they will be returning to Iraq in the Fall. We would like Dr. Al-Hassani to write a statement of support for the Iraq proposal and names for contacting on the Iraq proposal.

Ferree Social Virtues Collection (Michael Greaney). The foreword is drafted but the section introductions still need work. A new title is in order as the present one is only a working title. Norm recommended changing the subtitle to “A Challenge to Moral Philosophers.” Mike has asked Brother John Samaha of the Marianists to help him locate further Ferree writings.

Increasing Response to CESJ volunteer data form. Tabled.

Focus topic for next meeting. Marketing Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen. Getting more reviews and testimonials.

Catholic Men’s Quarterly. Michael D. Greaney was recently contacted by John Moorehouse, editor of a new periodical, the Catholic Men’s Quarterly. John Moorehouse wants to publish Michael Greaney’s article on the 1566 siege of the Hungarian fortress of Szigetvár. In exchange, the CMQ will carry free advertising for Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen. John Moorehouse has indicated that he would like to feature Michael Greaney’s articles in future issues as well.

Name Recognition Survey. Michael D. Greaney recently conducted a survey in an internet forum to determine the name recognition of selected individuals prominent in thought on social justice. To date the responses indicate a very low level of recognition of some very important names. Louis Kelso’s name was recognized by 30% of the respondents; Fr. Ferree’s name was not recognized at all.

The next Executive Committee Meeting will be combined with the Board Meeting to be held Saturday, July 17, 2004 at 9:30 am.

A motion to adjourn was made by Dawn K. Brohawn and seconded by Michael D. Greaney. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting adjourned at 12:25 pm.