Monday, June 20, 2011
ANTI-AMERICAN LA RAZA SUPREMACY MOVEMENT ON THE RISE - AT OUR EXPENSE
ON THE GROWIN POWER OF “LA RAZA” FASCISM FOR MEX SUPREMACY
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http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/04/history-of-mexican-fascist-party-of-la.html
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LaRaza Calls For Boycott Against Free Speech
________________________________________
No surprise here. Pulling the race/hate card again and using political correctness La Raza goes after cable shows reporting on illegal immigration.
"Murguía said she recognized that ultimately the power to change the debate lies with the Hispanic community itself. “Latinos buy products from the advertisers supporting these programs,” she said. “Latinos vote in primaries and in the general election. We have a significant role to play picking winners and losers in both arenas. We need to make it clear to those who embrace hate that they do so at their own economic and political peril.”
http://www.nclr.org/content/news/detail/50375/
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http://www.mexica-movement.org/ They claim all of North America for Mexico!
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http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/04/history-of-mexican-fascist-party-of-la.html
*
LaRaza Calls For Boycott Against Free Speech
________________________________________
No surprise here. Pulling the race/hate card again and using political correctness La Raza goes after cable shows reporting on illegal immigration.
"Murguía said she recognized that ultimately the power to change the debate lies with the Hispanic community itself. “Latinos buy products from the advertisers supporting these programs,” she said. “Latinos vote in primaries and in the general election. We have a significant role to play picking winners and losers in both arenas. We need to make it clear to those who embrace hate that they do so at their own economic and political peril.”
http://www.nclr.org/content/news/detail/50375/
*
http://www.mexica-movement.org/ They claim all of North America for Mexico!
ALIPAC - LA RAZA PROPAGANDA IN TEXAS - FIGHTING AGAINST LA RAZA SUPREMACY
Friends of ALIPAC,
We have two important items to share with you today.
ITEM 1
A video that is going viral on the web related to our efforts to pass SB 9 in Texas, which would end sanctuary cities for illegal aliens in America's second largest state.
The bill is in the Texas House, where we hope all of you have taken time to make calls and send emails as we have requested.
While being debated in the Texas Senate, this explosive exchange took place!
(Please view, comment, and circulate)
Texas Senator Insulted Testimony in Spanish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoR3qLgL_uU&feature=channel_video_title
Please consider sending copies of this video to your state lawmakers with a note encouraging them to support English as the official language of America.
ITEM 2
ALIPAC recently appeared on a BBC broadcast heard around the world. We do our very best to represent your American point of view concerning the illegal immigration crisis. Please take a few moments to listen to ALIPAC's President William Gheen debate two illegal immigration supporters on BBC's show called Americana.
Note: Fake poll statistics are presented at the end of this interview by the Pew Hispanic Center claiming most Americans favor Amnesty for illegal immigrants. Those of you who have reviewed our large collection of polls at ALIPAC know this to be false.
Collection
http://www.alipac.us/polls_surveys_opinions.html
BBC Americana Interview with William Gheen of ALIPAC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011p24j
We will update everyone soon on the situation in North Carolina and other states.
The ALIPAC Team
www.alipac.us
PS: We are falling behind on our goal to raise a minimum of $40,000 by the end of July to meet ALIPAC's base operations budget to continue our mission. More donations made online or by mail are needed immediately! If you value our efforts to fight illegal immigration, then please use the following link to donate today by mail, credit card, or paypal....
http://www.alipac.us/content-9.html
ON THE GROWIN POWER OF “LA RAZA” FASCISM FOR MEX SUPREMACY
*
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/04/history-of-mexican-fascist-party-of-la.html
*
LaRaza Calls For Boycott Against Free Speech
________________________________________
No surprise here. Pulling the race/hate card again and using political correctness La Raza goes after cable shows reporting on illegal immigration.
"Murguía said she recognized that ultimately the power to change the debate lies with the Hispanic community itself. “Latinos buy products from the advertisers supporting these programs,” she said. “Latinos vote in primaries and in the general election. We have a significant role to play picking winners and losers in both arenas. We need to make it clear to those who embrace hate that they do so at their own economic and political peril.”
http://www.nclr.org/content/news/detail/50375/
*
http://www.mexica-movement.org/ They claim all of North America for Mexico!
We have two important items to share with you today.
ITEM 1
A video that is going viral on the web related to our efforts to pass SB 9 in Texas, which would end sanctuary cities for illegal aliens in America's second largest state.
The bill is in the Texas House, where we hope all of you have taken time to make calls and send emails as we have requested.
While being debated in the Texas Senate, this explosive exchange took place!
(Please view, comment, and circulate)
Texas Senator Insulted Testimony in Spanish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoR3qLgL_uU&feature=channel_video_title
Please consider sending copies of this video to your state lawmakers with a note encouraging them to support English as the official language of America.
ITEM 2
ALIPAC recently appeared on a BBC broadcast heard around the world. We do our very best to represent your American point of view concerning the illegal immigration crisis. Please take a few moments to listen to ALIPAC's President William Gheen debate two illegal immigration supporters on BBC's show called Americana.
Note: Fake poll statistics are presented at the end of this interview by the Pew Hispanic Center claiming most Americans favor Amnesty for illegal immigrants. Those of you who have reviewed our large collection of polls at ALIPAC know this to be false.
Collection
http://www.alipac.us/polls_surveys_opinions.html
BBC Americana Interview with William Gheen of ALIPAC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011p24j
We will update everyone soon on the situation in North Carolina and other states.
The ALIPAC Team
www.alipac.us
PS: We are falling behind on our goal to raise a minimum of $40,000 by the end of July to meet ALIPAC's base operations budget to continue our mission. More donations made online or by mail are needed immediately! If you value our efforts to fight illegal immigration, then please use the following link to donate today by mail, credit card, or paypal....
http://www.alipac.us/content-9.html
ON THE GROWIN POWER OF “LA RAZA” FASCISM FOR MEX SUPREMACY
*
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/04/history-of-mexican-fascist-party-of-la.html
*
LaRaza Calls For Boycott Against Free Speech
________________________________________
No surprise here. Pulling the race/hate card again and using political correctness La Raza goes after cable shows reporting on illegal immigration.
"Murguía said she recognized that ultimately the power to change the debate lies with the Hispanic community itself. “Latinos buy products from the advertisers supporting these programs,” she said. “Latinos vote in primaries and in the general election. We have a significant role to play picking winners and losers in both arenas. We need to make it clear to those who embrace hate that they do so at their own economic and political peril.”
http://www.nclr.org/content/news/detail/50375/
*
http://www.mexica-movement.org/ They claim all of North America for Mexico!
Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) Fights For Legals As Obama Fights For LA RAZA SUPREMACIST
ARE YOU WAVING A MEXICAN FLAG AS OFTEN AS OBAMA? IF NOT, HE MAY SUE YOU ON BEHALF OF ILLEGALS!
Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) is fighting for AMERICANS as Barack Obama, the Democrat Party are fighting to expand their LA RAZA voter base.
THERE IS A STAGGERING COST TO THE MEXICAN INVASION, OCCUPATION AND FASCIST LA RAZA SUPREMACY!
THE MAYOR OF THESE 100 SANCTUARY CITIES ARE PROTECTING ILLEGALS FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE EMPLOYERS OF ILLEGALS!
THEN THESE SAME ILLEGALS HEAD OVER TO THE COUNTY WELFARE OFFICE TO MAKE UP FOR THE MISERABLE WAGES AND TO HAVE MONEY TO SEND BACK TO MEXICO.
UNEMPLOYMENT IN MEXICO IS UNDER 6%. UNEMPLOYMENT IN PARTS OF CALIFORNIA IS NEARLY 30%.
WELFARE FOR ILLEGALS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY IS $600 MILLION, AND NEARLY HALF THE MURDERS IN CALIFORNIA ARE BY MEXICAN GANGS!!!
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Barletta makes pitch on immigration
By Ramsey Cox - 06/20/11 05:15 AM ET
Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) said he didn’t choose illegal immigration as his defining political issue when he implemented an Arizona-style bill while mayor of a small Pennsylvania city — but that issue has followed him to Washington.
“It wasn’t something I ever thought about doing or had an urge to do. [The city ordinance] came out of pure frustration with Washington and the federal government,” Barletta said.
As mayor of Hazleton, in northeastern Pennsylvania, Barletta said that in 2005 he was the first mayor to propose illegal immigration legislation with the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, an ordinance that took business licenses away from employers of illegal immigrants and landlord licenses away from those who harbored illegal immigrants.
Barletta said he saw first-hand as mayor how illegal immigration negatively affected the quality of life in a small community.
“Our population grew by 50 percent. However, our taxes remained the same. In a city that is barely getting by with its small budget, something like illegal immigration can be the difference from being able to provide the level of public service that people expect,” Barletta said. “It was affecting education, it was affecting healthcare [and] it was affecting our public service.”
Barletta said the Hazleton-area school district’s English as a Second Language (ESL) program budget was $500 in 2000 but exploded to $1.5 million in 2006.
In 2005, Barletta came to Washington, D.C., and met with the Justice Department about the illegal immigration problem in his town.
“I was so excited and encouraged. They brought all the experts in to sit with me and hear me out. At the end of that meeting, I got this nice coffee mug, a lapel pin and a pat of the back and a push out the door and a ‘Good luck,’” Barletta said. “I realized that Washington and the federal government wasn’t going to help me. I took an oath to help the people of Hazleton and protect them, so we created an ordinance.”
Although Barletta said he wasn’t popular with politicians after introducing the ordinance, it gave him national attention and he received letters and donations of support from across the country.
“I realized that this wasn’t just a problem in my small town,” Barletta said. “The frustration that I was feeling was the same frustration that millions of Americans were feeling as well. We brought the issue to the forefront. I believe that people saw hope that something was going to be done.”
Six years after the ordinance Barletta was elected to Congress and, he said, “Washington has still failed to address the issue [of illegal immigration].”
Last month, Barletta introduced his first bill, the “Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Act,” which would prohibit any federal funding for “sanctuary cities.”
Barletta said mayors in more than 100 cities are protecting illegal immigrants by not reporting information to the federal government.
“Mayors do not have that authority to pick and choose what laws they’re going to enforce,” Barletta said. “And at a time where right now we’re watching 80-year-old grandmothers ... being touched in airports for the sake of national security, [and] on the other hand we have more than 100 cities where mayors are protecting could-be-terrorists ... this is wrong.”
Barletta said his bill is not only about national security but also the economy. “When unemployment is over 9 percent and so many Americans are out of work, now seems to be the best time [for this bill],” Barletta said.
“Here we are cutting senior citizens’ assistance for heating and at the same time we have people who are defrauding America through either welfare [or] not paying taxes, and the federal government continues to turn its back. American people are fed up with it and I’m going to be [their] voice.”
Barletta said he is not anti-Hispanic and he argued that no one is hurt more by illegal immigration than legal immigrants.
“[Legal immigrants] have waited, came here, respected the rule of law in this country ...They want all the opportunities that America has to offer and we’re allowing an underground workforce to come in and compete for their jobs,” Barletta said. “That’s not fair to them, to the legal immigrants.”
When asked if the House GOP leadership supports his bill, Barletta said, “I haven’t asked them.” “I’ve never asked for permission for anything in the past when it comes to what I believe in and I’ll make my case and hopefully it will get support,” Barletta said. “I just want to keep America safe. Who could be against that?”
Bucking party leadership might help Barletta’s re-election in his traditionally Democratic district. Obama carried the 11th district in the 2008 presidential election with 57 percent of the vote. Barletta said he’s used to running for office in Democratic territory.
“People know that I’m going to do what’s right,” Barletta said. “It’s people before party with me, and it seems to work.”
Source:
http://thehill.com/capital-living/new-member-of-the-week/167251-barletta-makes-pitch-on-immigration
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http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/06/obama-mexican-supremacist-party-of-la.html
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http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/04/history-of-mexican-fascist-party-of-la.html
*
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/wikileaks-exposed-obamas-la-raza-open.html
Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) is fighting for AMERICANS as Barack Obama, the Democrat Party are fighting to expand their LA RAZA voter base.
THERE IS A STAGGERING COST TO THE MEXICAN INVASION, OCCUPATION AND FASCIST LA RAZA SUPREMACY!
THE MAYOR OF THESE 100 SANCTUARY CITIES ARE PROTECTING ILLEGALS FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE EMPLOYERS OF ILLEGALS!
THEN THESE SAME ILLEGALS HEAD OVER TO THE COUNTY WELFARE OFFICE TO MAKE UP FOR THE MISERABLE WAGES AND TO HAVE MONEY TO SEND BACK TO MEXICO.
UNEMPLOYMENT IN MEXICO IS UNDER 6%. UNEMPLOYMENT IN PARTS OF CALIFORNIA IS NEARLY 30%.
WELFARE FOR ILLEGALS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY IS $600 MILLION, AND NEARLY HALF THE MURDERS IN CALIFORNIA ARE BY MEXICAN GANGS!!!
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Barletta makes pitch on immigration
By Ramsey Cox - 06/20/11 05:15 AM ET
Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) said he didn’t choose illegal immigration as his defining political issue when he implemented an Arizona-style bill while mayor of a small Pennsylvania city — but that issue has followed him to Washington.
“It wasn’t something I ever thought about doing or had an urge to do. [The city ordinance] came out of pure frustration with Washington and the federal government,” Barletta said.
As mayor of Hazleton, in northeastern Pennsylvania, Barletta said that in 2005 he was the first mayor to propose illegal immigration legislation with the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, an ordinance that took business licenses away from employers of illegal immigrants and landlord licenses away from those who harbored illegal immigrants.
Barletta said he saw first-hand as mayor how illegal immigration negatively affected the quality of life in a small community.
“Our population grew by 50 percent. However, our taxes remained the same. In a city that is barely getting by with its small budget, something like illegal immigration can be the difference from being able to provide the level of public service that people expect,” Barletta said. “It was affecting education, it was affecting healthcare [and] it was affecting our public service.”
Barletta said the Hazleton-area school district’s English as a Second Language (ESL) program budget was $500 in 2000 but exploded to $1.5 million in 2006.
In 2005, Barletta came to Washington, D.C., and met with the Justice Department about the illegal immigration problem in his town.
“I was so excited and encouraged. They brought all the experts in to sit with me and hear me out. At the end of that meeting, I got this nice coffee mug, a lapel pin and a pat of the back and a push out the door and a ‘Good luck,’” Barletta said. “I realized that Washington and the federal government wasn’t going to help me. I took an oath to help the people of Hazleton and protect them, so we created an ordinance.”
Although Barletta said he wasn’t popular with politicians after introducing the ordinance, it gave him national attention and he received letters and donations of support from across the country.
“I realized that this wasn’t just a problem in my small town,” Barletta said. “The frustration that I was feeling was the same frustration that millions of Americans were feeling as well. We brought the issue to the forefront. I believe that people saw hope that something was going to be done.”
Six years after the ordinance Barletta was elected to Congress and, he said, “Washington has still failed to address the issue [of illegal immigration].”
Last month, Barletta introduced his first bill, the “Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Act,” which would prohibit any federal funding for “sanctuary cities.”
Barletta said mayors in more than 100 cities are protecting illegal immigrants by not reporting information to the federal government.
“Mayors do not have that authority to pick and choose what laws they’re going to enforce,” Barletta said. “And at a time where right now we’re watching 80-year-old grandmothers ... being touched in airports for the sake of national security, [and] on the other hand we have more than 100 cities where mayors are protecting could-be-terrorists ... this is wrong.”
Barletta said his bill is not only about national security but also the economy. “When unemployment is over 9 percent and so many Americans are out of work, now seems to be the best time [for this bill],” Barletta said.
“Here we are cutting senior citizens’ assistance for heating and at the same time we have people who are defrauding America through either welfare [or] not paying taxes, and the federal government continues to turn its back. American people are fed up with it and I’m going to be [their] voice.”
Barletta said he is not anti-Hispanic and he argued that no one is hurt more by illegal immigration than legal immigrants.
“[Legal immigrants] have waited, came here, respected the rule of law in this country ...They want all the opportunities that America has to offer and we’re allowing an underground workforce to come in and compete for their jobs,” Barletta said. “That’s not fair to them, to the legal immigrants.”
When asked if the House GOP leadership supports his bill, Barletta said, “I haven’t asked them.” “I’ve never asked for permission for anything in the past when it comes to what I believe in and I’ll make my case and hopefully it will get support,” Barletta said. “I just want to keep America safe. Who could be against that?”
Bucking party leadership might help Barletta’s re-election in his traditionally Democratic district. Obama carried the 11th district in the 2008 presidential election with 57 percent of the vote. Barletta said he’s used to running for office in Democratic territory.
“People know that I’m going to do what’s right,” Barletta said. “It’s people before party with me, and it seems to work.”
Source:
http://thehill.com/capital-living/new-member-of-the-week/167251-barletta-makes-pitch-on-immigration
*
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/06/obama-mexican-supremacist-party-of-la.html
*
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/04/history-of-mexican-fascist-party-of-la.html
*
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/wikileaks-exposed-obamas-la-raza-open.html
Barletta makes pitch on immigration - TheHill.com
Barletta makes pitch on immigration - TheHill.com
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/06/obama-mexican-supremacist-party-of-la.html
*
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/04/history-of-mexican-fascist-party-of-la.html
*
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/wikileaks-exposed-obamas-la-raza-open.html
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/06/obama-mexican-supremacist-party-of-la.html
*
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/04/history-of-mexican-fascist-party-of-la.html
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http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/wikileaks-exposed-obamas-la-raza-open.html
OBAMAnomics: Why the Super Rich Love Obama As Much As LA RAZA ILLEGALS
Stock awards and bonuses push up compensation totals
By Danielle Douglas, Published: June 19
Hefty stock awards and bonuses drove total compensation up more than 20 percent for Washington’s highest-paid chief executives last year, reflecting a nationwide trend among the largest public companies.
The awards came in a year when many top executives were busy steering their companies out of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. And for many, the packages are the last before new government rules take effect this year mandating nonbinding “say-on-pay” votes by shareholders.
David M. Zaslav, chief executive of Discovery Communications, topped the local list of the highest-paid executives with $42.6 million in total compensation in 2010, according to data filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That represented a 264 percent increase from 2009.
The bulk of Zaslav’s pay, about 84 percent, was derived from stock and option awards, or equity pay, aligned with the growth of Discovery’s stock. Shares of the Silver Spring-based cable programming giant traded as low as $14 in 2009, but hovered around $42 per share by the close of last year. Profit in 2010 also climbed 19 percent year over year to $653 million.
Discovery, which declined to comment for this story, cited Zaslav’s accomplishments in its proxy statement, including his “success in driving quality content . . . and strong advertising sales that outperformed other major cable groups.”
For Zaslav to receive the full amount of his $20.3 million stock award, he must meet set performance goals before the award vests in 2013. That’s not unusual. Stocks and bonuses at many companies these days come with performance targets, said Charlie Tharp, executive vice president for policy at the Center on Executive Compensation.
“Giving long-term awards is more reflective of the scope of decision-making,” he said. Corporations also want to ensure “senior executives are aligned with the interest of shareholders. The best way to do that is to give a large portion of the pay in equity.”
Some payouts are not guaranteed
Executives often have to wait several years before cashing in options, with or without performance tie-ins, but the face value of the awards can soar — or plummet — by that time.
“CEOs have been able to profit from stock market fluctuations,” said Brandon Rees, deputy director of the AFL-CIO’s office of investment. “The stock options they received in 2008 have allowed many CEOs to profit for simply getting share prices back up to where they were, whereas long-term investors have not seen significant share price appreciation.”
More companies are starting to require C-suite executives to own a substantial amount of the equity they receive, a measure supporters believe mitigates risky behavior by aligning an executive’s potential payout with shareholders.
Option awards locally shot up 41 percent year over year in 2010, while stock grants rose 12.6 percent, according to a study conducted for Capital Business by Equilar, an executive compensation research firm. Salaries climbed a smaller 4.3 percent, though bonuses surged 19.2 percent.
The rise in all components of pay reverses two consecutive years of decline, said Aaron Boyd, an analyst at Equilar. “The improvement of the economy from 2009 to 2010 and the rise of stock prices drove these values upwards,” he said.
All told, the median pay for Washington’s highest paid executives was $2.5 million last year, a 13.2 percent increase over 2009.
At the top
As was the case the year before, a number of the executives who landed in the top 10 received the lion’s share of their compensation in equity. Nearly 96 percent of the total compensation for NVR’s Paul C. Saville was composed of stock and option awards. The head of the home-building company in Reston ranked second on the list, with reported pay of $30.9 million. Capital One’s Richard D. Fairbank, who ranked seventh, received nearly all of his compensation — $14.8 million of his total $14.9 million pay — in equity awards, continuing a longtime practice at that financial firm.
There were some new entrants into the top tier, such as Human Genome Sciences’ H. Thomas Watkins, who climbed to 10th place with $9.9 million in pay. The Rockville pharmaceutical company bestowed on its leader a $8.4 million performance-based stock award at a time when its groundbreaking treatment for lupus was attracting notice for being the first new therapy for the disease to come to market in 50 years. The Food and Drug Administration in approved the drug in March.
Once again defense contractors — with third-place Wesley G. Bush of Northrop Grumman at $22.1 million, fourth-place Robert J. Stevens of Lockheed Martin at $19.1 million and eighth-place Jay L. Johnson of General Dynamic at $13.8 million — dominated the top ranks. Those chief executives, however, logged little to no growth in their total pay, as the government moved to slow spending in the sector.
Say on pay
Opponents of excessive executive pay anticipate companies will be taking a new look at how they structure pay packages in the wake of rules passed in the aftermath of the recent economic downturn. One of the few written rules to come out of the Dodd-Frank legislation requires public companies to give investors a “say on pay” at annual shareholder meetings.
Though the vote is nonbinding, boards have discretion to change pay packages, said Ronald O. Mueller, an attorney in the corporate governance practice at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in the District.
Protests against pay packages for this year have been scant, but corporate watchdogs remain heartened by the activity. Of the 2,061 say-on-pay ballots held as of June 16 at the largest public companies nationally, 33 have resulted in sizable “nay-on-pay” votes, according to Institutional Shareholder Services of Rockville, which itself advised investors to vote against the compensation awarded at NVR.
Two of those negative showings occurred at local firms NVR and Cogent Communications; several other Washington-area companies, including TNS and LaSalle Hotel Properties, had large minority “no” votes.
At NVR, 44 percent of shareholders voted against the company’s executive compensation awards. Saville saw his total compensation skyrocket 2,408 percent thanks to $29.6 million in equity awards. On the other hand, he has for the past four years requested the company freeze his $800,000 salary.
NVR has performed better than many other home builders since the housing meltdown, posting a 7.2 percent increase to $206 million in profit last year, at a time when its competitors were struggling to survive. Officials at the company did not return repeated calls for comment.
Cogent, TNS and LaSalle also did not respond to a request for comment.
“Shareholders’ objections cannot be ignored,” said Paul Hodgson, senior research associate at GovernanceMetrics, formerly the Corporate Library. “Even if it’s a minority no vote, if all of those investors decide to sell tomorrow it could significantly damage the company’s share price.”
Shareholders, he added, tend not to bristle at jaw-dropping figures in pay packages, so don’t expect them to tamp down chief executive awards. Investors will, however, raise a stink if rewards and results are out of sync.
Wage disparity
Renewed public scrutiny likely gave pause to perks such as gross-ups, in which firms pay such things as the excise tax on retirement parachutes. Companies may be looking at other benefits once regulators, as part of Dodd-Frank, force every public company to disclose the disparity between the pay of the CEO and the average worker.
According to the AFL-CIO, chief executive pay last year was 343 times workers’ median compensation, compared to 42 times higher in 1980.
“CEOs are being paid as if they were in a bubble,” said Rees of the AFL-CIO. “Companies compare their CEOs to their peer group and benchmark pay based on the median levels of compensation, which go up year after year.”
Corporations are lobbying Congress to strike down the disclosure provision, due out later this year, but a number of investors have come out in support.
By Danielle Douglas, Published: June 19
Hefty stock awards and bonuses drove total compensation up more than 20 percent for Washington’s highest-paid chief executives last year, reflecting a nationwide trend among the largest public companies.
The awards came in a year when many top executives were busy steering their companies out of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. And for many, the packages are the last before new government rules take effect this year mandating nonbinding “say-on-pay” votes by shareholders.
David M. Zaslav, chief executive of Discovery Communications, topped the local list of the highest-paid executives with $42.6 million in total compensation in 2010, according to data filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That represented a 264 percent increase from 2009.
The bulk of Zaslav’s pay, about 84 percent, was derived from stock and option awards, or equity pay, aligned with the growth of Discovery’s stock. Shares of the Silver Spring-based cable programming giant traded as low as $14 in 2009, but hovered around $42 per share by the close of last year. Profit in 2010 also climbed 19 percent year over year to $653 million.
Discovery, which declined to comment for this story, cited Zaslav’s accomplishments in its proxy statement, including his “success in driving quality content . . . and strong advertising sales that outperformed other major cable groups.”
For Zaslav to receive the full amount of his $20.3 million stock award, he must meet set performance goals before the award vests in 2013. That’s not unusual. Stocks and bonuses at many companies these days come with performance targets, said Charlie Tharp, executive vice president for policy at the Center on Executive Compensation.
“Giving long-term awards is more reflective of the scope of decision-making,” he said. Corporations also want to ensure “senior executives are aligned with the interest of shareholders. The best way to do that is to give a large portion of the pay in equity.”
Some payouts are not guaranteed
Executives often have to wait several years before cashing in options, with or without performance tie-ins, but the face value of the awards can soar — or plummet — by that time.
“CEOs have been able to profit from stock market fluctuations,” said Brandon Rees, deputy director of the AFL-CIO’s office of investment. “The stock options they received in 2008 have allowed many CEOs to profit for simply getting share prices back up to where they were, whereas long-term investors have not seen significant share price appreciation.”
More companies are starting to require C-suite executives to own a substantial amount of the equity they receive, a measure supporters believe mitigates risky behavior by aligning an executive’s potential payout with shareholders.
Option awards locally shot up 41 percent year over year in 2010, while stock grants rose 12.6 percent, according to a study conducted for Capital Business by Equilar, an executive compensation research firm. Salaries climbed a smaller 4.3 percent, though bonuses surged 19.2 percent.
The rise in all components of pay reverses two consecutive years of decline, said Aaron Boyd, an analyst at Equilar. “The improvement of the economy from 2009 to 2010 and the rise of stock prices drove these values upwards,” he said.
All told, the median pay for Washington’s highest paid executives was $2.5 million last year, a 13.2 percent increase over 2009.
At the top
As was the case the year before, a number of the executives who landed in the top 10 received the lion’s share of their compensation in equity. Nearly 96 percent of the total compensation for NVR’s Paul C. Saville was composed of stock and option awards. The head of the home-building company in Reston ranked second on the list, with reported pay of $30.9 million. Capital One’s Richard D. Fairbank, who ranked seventh, received nearly all of his compensation — $14.8 million of his total $14.9 million pay — in equity awards, continuing a longtime practice at that financial firm.
There were some new entrants into the top tier, such as Human Genome Sciences’ H. Thomas Watkins, who climbed to 10th place with $9.9 million in pay. The Rockville pharmaceutical company bestowed on its leader a $8.4 million performance-based stock award at a time when its groundbreaking treatment for lupus was attracting notice for being the first new therapy for the disease to come to market in 50 years. The Food and Drug Administration in approved the drug in March.
Once again defense contractors — with third-place Wesley G. Bush of Northrop Grumman at $22.1 million, fourth-place Robert J. Stevens of Lockheed Martin at $19.1 million and eighth-place Jay L. Johnson of General Dynamic at $13.8 million — dominated the top ranks. Those chief executives, however, logged little to no growth in their total pay, as the government moved to slow spending in the sector.
Say on pay
Opponents of excessive executive pay anticipate companies will be taking a new look at how they structure pay packages in the wake of rules passed in the aftermath of the recent economic downturn. One of the few written rules to come out of the Dodd-Frank legislation requires public companies to give investors a “say on pay” at annual shareholder meetings.
Though the vote is nonbinding, boards have discretion to change pay packages, said Ronald O. Mueller, an attorney in the corporate governance practice at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in the District.
Protests against pay packages for this year have been scant, but corporate watchdogs remain heartened by the activity. Of the 2,061 say-on-pay ballots held as of June 16 at the largest public companies nationally, 33 have resulted in sizable “nay-on-pay” votes, according to Institutional Shareholder Services of Rockville, which itself advised investors to vote against the compensation awarded at NVR.
Two of those negative showings occurred at local firms NVR and Cogent Communications; several other Washington-area companies, including TNS and LaSalle Hotel Properties, had large minority “no” votes.
At NVR, 44 percent of shareholders voted against the company’s executive compensation awards. Saville saw his total compensation skyrocket 2,408 percent thanks to $29.6 million in equity awards. On the other hand, he has for the past four years requested the company freeze his $800,000 salary.
NVR has performed better than many other home builders since the housing meltdown, posting a 7.2 percent increase to $206 million in profit last year, at a time when its competitors were struggling to survive. Officials at the company did not return repeated calls for comment.
Cogent, TNS and LaSalle also did not respond to a request for comment.
“Shareholders’ objections cannot be ignored,” said Paul Hodgson, senior research associate at GovernanceMetrics, formerly the Corporate Library. “Even if it’s a minority no vote, if all of those investors decide to sell tomorrow it could significantly damage the company’s share price.”
Shareholders, he added, tend not to bristle at jaw-dropping figures in pay packages, so don’t expect them to tamp down chief executive awards. Investors will, however, raise a stink if rewards and results are out of sync.
Wage disparity
Renewed public scrutiny likely gave pause to perks such as gross-ups, in which firms pay such things as the excise tax on retirement parachutes. Companies may be looking at other benefits once regulators, as part of Dodd-Frank, force every public company to disclose the disparity between the pay of the CEO and the average worker.
According to the AFL-CIO, chief executive pay last year was 343 times workers’ median compensation, compared to 42 times higher in 1980.
“CEOs are being paid as if they were in a bubble,” said Rees of the AFL-CIO. “Companies compare their CEOs to their peer group and benchmark pay based on the median levels of compensation, which go up year after year.”
Corporations are lobbying Congress to strike down the disclosure provision, due out later this year, but a number of investors have come out in support.
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