Friday, July 06, 2007

Caught In the Cookie Jar

The Bush administration has been relentless in going after corrupt corporate executives. It looks like some of that enthusiasm is being directed to execs involved in illegal immigration activities. According to HR Executive magazine, another illegal alien-hiring pair of executives got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Mel Kay, founder and president of Golden State Fence Company and Michael McLaughlin, general manager pleaded guilty to knowingly hiring illegal aliens. This is the same company that once worked on the San Diego border fence back in the 1990s although they apparently weren't using illegal aliens in that project.

The punishment? 1,040 hours of community service and 3 years probation for the two execs plus $200,000 for Kay and $100,000 for McLaughlin in fines. The company will fork over a $4.7 million fine—quite a lot for a small company.

If the President wants a legacy, tackling corporate corruption is one that has momentum and certainly one that was long overdue. It may not be as big as the immigration issue, but if he continues to go after exploiters of illegal border crossers, he will have some impact on it just the same.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mel Kay the CEO of Golden State Fence that you have described responded to content in our blog at http://www.fencewizard.blogspot.com

He made a complete defense for himself but failed to return fire after we poked holes in his rebutle with some easily found facts.

Thanks, And great site!
The World Famous Fence Wizard.