Gibson Guitar Factories Raided by Feds

[jsteele]

Let's see if there is any interest in a completely different topic.

On August 16th, I had the pleasure of touring Gibson's Memphis factory and seeing how Gibson's hollow and semi-hollow bodied electric guitars are built. Days later, the factory -- along with two Gibson factories in Nashville -- were raided by agents of the Fish and Wildlife Service. The cause of the raid was Gibson's alleged violation of the Lacey Act which is aimed at preventing the import of endangered animals, plants, and things of that nature. In this case, the alleged violation dealt with rosewood from India.

Immediately after the raid, Gibson's CEO Henry Juszkiewicz held a press conference in which he painted his company as the victim of an overzealous government. Much of what Juszkiewicz had to say contradicts information contained in the Government's affidavit used to obtain a warrant for the raids. In particular, Juszkiewicz was very misleading about what he described as the cause of the raid. Juszkiewicz implied that the Government was taking a position that would cause work currently done by Gibson's American employees to instead be done by Indian labor in India. The affidavit doesn't support Juszkiewicz's claim and actually points to falsified export and import documents and being the major cause of the raid. Regardless, rightwing media outlets such as Fox News, Michelle Malkin, various raid personalities, etc. have jumped on this incident to attack the Obama administration for all sorts of evils. The right wingers typically ignore the affidavit, accept Juszkiewicz's claims without question, and suggest any number of conspiracy theories for the raid (e.g. Juszkiewicz made political contributions to Republicans while Gibson's competitors contributed to Democrats. It's not exactly true, but that never stopped the right wingers).

Tonight, Juszkiewicz will apparently attend Obama's speech as either a guest of Tea Party Representative Marsha Blackburn or Speaker Boehnor. He will be an example of someone whose business being strangled by government regulations. Incidentally, the Lacey Act is named after the Republican Congressman who sponsored it. It was signed into law by a Republican President. Amendments to it were signed by both Reagan and GW Bush (who actually approved the section being used against Gibson). I think Juszkiewicz is making a huge mistake by aligning the historic Gibson Corporation with the Tea Party. I am not sure that Gibson is receiving fair or deserved treatment in this case. It is actually the second time their factories have been raided and they have yet to have been charged in the first case. But, a company with Gibson's resources can afford to handle it's legal problems via normal channels (particularly if it is innocent). This turn to the political environment suggests to me that Gibson feels it can't win in the courtroom and has decided the political sphere is more advantageous.

[Anonymous]

Here's the thing.

The guy claims that a broker probably made a mistake in labeling the goods.

But that is exactly how pretty much ANY import/export ban is circumvented. If you want to sell Chinese weapons to the US government for the war in Iraq, you find a foreign dealer to buy them from who will falsify the origin.

This is such a common scam in import/export that it sounds a lot more obvious to people who deal with it than it may to the public.

Here is the WSJ explanation, which despite the source is pretty balanced: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903895904576542942027859286.html

[Anonymous]

Great job killing maneuver - way to go Republicans.

[Anonymous]

I would like to hear the facts only, not some made up mumbo-jumbo about what you think, just what we know happened

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:I would like to hear the facts only, not some made up mumbo-jumbo about what you think, just what we know happened

Your response makes no sense. Nearly my entire message, minus a sentence or two, deals with the facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would like to hear the facts only, not some made up mumbo-jumbo about what you think, just what we know happened

Why don't you do a little work and bring those facts here