At UN, Questions of Skanska's Involvement in NJ Bribery Case and Cut-Back of Tours

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un5cmp073008.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 30 -- While publicizing an initiative to raise the temperature by five degrees this August inside UN headquarters, the UN's Michael Adlerstein was asked for his reaction to the UN's contractor, Skanska, being part of a bribery guilty plea on a New Jersey job they were fired from, and why public tours of the Security Council will end later this week. "I'm cautious that that's accurate information," Adlerstein said, arguing reflexively that general contractors are only responsible for "their people" and not "one of their hundreds of subsidiaries." Video here, at Minute 22:55.

But Skanska's own senior vice president for communications, Tom Crane, reportedly confirmed that the "United States Attorney's office has notified Skanska USA -- the construction contracting company initially hired to oversee the construction of the metal-draped science library designed by Frank Gehry -- that an employee of the company is suspected of receiving 'unauthorized payments.'" As Inner City Press cited to Adlerstein, this was reported in New Jersey's Daily Princeton, here, citing the Times of Trenton.

So does Adlerstein's Capital Master Plan office monitor Skanska? Apparently Skanska does not disclose such material information to the UN.

On the abrupt discontinuance of public tours of the UN's Conference Building, including the Security Council, Adlerstein was vague on what work the City of New York asked to be done. He mentioned sprinklers, which have not been installed. The municipal officials involved in the meeting emerged with the adjective "contemptuous." But at least at Wednesday's press conference, Adlerstein was on his best behavior. UN COOL, one wag quipped.

At Wednesday's noon briefing, spokesperson Michele Montas announced the new prices with the truncated tours, which are barely a dollar cheaper than the previously full tours. One journalist asked: so the Security Council, along with ECOSOC and the Trusteeship Council, are worth only a dollar? The experiment in less air conditioning in the UN smacks of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s -- by no means the worst reference. One Japanese journalists notes the "Cool Biz" program in his country, in which he said government officials ended up dressing like yakuza gangsters, "in suit coats but no ties." We'll see.

Footnote: a personnel matter which Adlerstein may be asked about is the shift from Facilities Management to the CMP of one Joan McDonald. An event marking her transfer was cancelled due to a fire drill and building evacuation last Friday. But why the transfer, one year before retirement? Adlerstein, it emerges, is in charge of both the CMP and Facilities Management. Whether this helps the UN in its negotiations with the City of New York is open to question.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un5cmp073008.html