ACTIVISTS FACE OFF WITH MAXXAM'S HURWITZ
Date: 20-May-99
Country: USA
Author: Andrew Kelly
But the recently formed coalition looked set to lose a key vote on the appointment of two independent directors at Hurwitz's Houston-based company, Maxxam Inc..
Maxxam is best known for the long-running controversy over the logging of ancient redwood trees in northern California by its Pacific Lumber Co. subsidiary.
Since last fall, however, trouble has been brewing on a second front for Maxxam in the form of a bitter labour dispute at another affiliate, Kaiser Aluminum Corp..
Activists have used Maxxam's annual meeting in recent years to focus attention on their charges that aggressive logging by Pacific Lumber is damaging the environment.
This year they were joined by the United Steelworkers of America, which has accused the company of a callous disregard for 3,000 Kaiser workers who were locked out after going on strike.
The two groups joined forces earlier this year to nominate two independent directors to Maxxam's five-member board in an effort to counter the dominance of Hurwitz, who is the company's chairman and holds a 69 percent voting stake.
Independent voices were needed, they argued, because Hurwitz had led Maxxam and its subsidiaries into unnecessary conflicts that have undermined its financial performance.
A final count of the votes was not available on Wednesday but Maxxam officials said a preliminary count showed that the two independent candidates had lost by a wide margin.
Environmental activists and union officials conceded that the decision had gone against them but estimated that they had won 25 percent of the votes not controlled by Hurwitz.
Union official David Foster said the vote sent a powerful signal to the company and to the financial community.
"To investors on Wall Street, this is a real message about lack of accountability and lack of confidence in the current board of this corporation," he said.
California environmentalist Jill Ratner said she was encouraged by the vote and hoped to mobilise an even greater show of opposition to Hurwitz at next year's meeting.
"If we can do that well...just imagine what a broader coalition could do next year," she said.
But Maxxam spokesman Joshua Reiss said the dissident shareholders were simply trying to put a positive spin on their defeat.
"Second place might be a victory in the New Hampshire primaries, but not here," he said.
The Maxxam meeting was held amid tight security at a rural location near Huntsville, some 80 miles north of Houston.
Some participants complained about the security measures and a three-minute time limit imposed on speakers.
Several speakers made personal attacks on Hurwitz, who generally shrugged them off without engaging in argument.
"You're a very evil man, Charles Hurwitz," said one young environmentalist from California. v Hurwitz expressed his regrets to the mother of David Chain, a young activist who was killed last year by a tree felled by a Pacific Lumber employee.
Chain's mother, Cindy Allsbrook, attended the meeting and won an assurance from Maxxam and Pacific Lumber officials that they would seek a dialogue with environmental activists to prevent similar tragedies from occurring again.
Pacific Lumber owns some 200,000 acres of Pacific forests that are home to endangered species such as the marbled murrelet and the coho salmon.
It recently sold 10,000 acres of the most environmentally sensitive land to the California and U.S governments for $480 million
