Please Distribute
June 19, 2004
Nelson Phelps, President and Executive Director
ASSOCIATION OF U S WEST RETIREES
AUSWR Board Members and general members
Supposedly, for more than two (2) years, the Kansas
City District office of the United States Department of Labor (DOL)
has been conducting an "investigation" of the Qwest Pension Plan.
But, "investigation" is a loosely used word. I suppose that
if I ask you a question, any question, I am "investigating" you.
Nevertheless, there exists a lot of well deserved
concern amongst the retiree group about the DOL's "investigation" of
the Qwest Pension Plan concerning events during the Joseph Nacchio /
Arthur Andersen regime. Who knows what hanky panky, if any,
occurred. Remember the "friends and family" IPOs that immediately
enriched certain officers? Not to mention the KPNQwest and Qwest
Digital Media debacles. During the Joseph Nacchio / Arthur Andersen
regime, the Qwest Pension Plan lost all of its cushion,
all of the multibillions dollars surplus! You have a right to
know what went wrong. Who is responsible?
There is a federal law called the "Freedom of
Information Act" (FOIA). You don't hear much about FOIA except when
the news media organizations use the law to sue federal government
agencies to force them to reveal information so as to check on
deceptions, lies, and "half-truths" about what is going on with our
federal government. FOIA is a means to cause a federal government
agency to reveal its records and, therefore, is an indirect means
for citizenry to cause the government to be honest and fulfill its
duties.
We have a case in point. AUSWR tried unsuccessfully
to get the DOL to tell us what, if anything, is going on with the
over 2 year old "investigation" of the Qwest Pension Plan. We asked
the Kansas City office of the DOL to produce its records. We were
totally rebuked. There was a blanket refusal by the Kansas City
office of the DOL to tell us anything, and that is not countenanced
by FOIA. We timely appealed to the Solicitor of Labor who had
twenty days to respond to our appeal. Nothing happened and the
Solicitor is already 70 days past the FOIA deadline! That is an
example of our federal government diligently at work.
Therefore, yesterday (Friday - June 18) I filed a
FOIA based lawsuit against the United States Department of
Labor. The case is led by Mary "Mimi" Hull, your future AUSWR
President. The U.S. Attorney's office was served with the
Complaint. The case has been assigned to Chief Judge Babcock of the
Denver Federal Court. The DOL has 30 days to file a response.
I have attached hereto in Adobe PDF file format your
copy of the "Complaint under Freedom of Information Act." The
eleven (11) page document should prove to be easy reading. The
deputy clerks in the Denver Federal Court Clerk's office commented
to me yesterday that they have never seen an individual
pursue a case under FOIA against a federal government agency, only
news organizations with the necessary know-how and
resources. Obviously, your AUSWR organization is working hard for
you.
Please stay involved and support AUSWR. We will keep
you informed of all developments in this case and other matters that
are pending.
Curtis
CurtisLKennedy@aol.com
303-770-0440
