The guys over at Uri L'Tzedek should read this and ponder it deeply.
State of the Jews writes:
1) Rubashkin's CCO made promises, but so far there have been no changes
on the ground.
2) An anonymous hot-line doesn't mean very much if you are an illegal
and it is connected to a former Federal Prosecutor. Would you trust
that your comments will be kept annonymous and there won't be a knock
at the door from ICE?
3) Jim Martin is not moving to Postville. Neither is his assistant.
Neither are the two other people he has promised to hire. They will
review compliance documents submitted to State and Federal Agencies
which are voluntarily completed by Rubashkin employees.
4) Jim Martin's contract is for one year. Then what?
5) If Rubashkin wants to be in compliance with OSHA regulations all he
has to do is invite OSHA into his plant to conduct an audit. OSHA would
then give Agri a list of what safety and health issues need to be
corrected and then Agri could comply. For good measure Agri could give
OSHA an invitation to visit the plant unannounced, whenever they like
to help guide Agri to better compliance.
6) Jim Martin is a former Republican federal prosecutor.
7) This follows classic Rubashkin efforts to deflect criticism: If it
costs money to make changes, don't do it. Make cosmetic changes only.
Tell everyone you're in great shape (Lubinsky). Attack your critics (5W).
Plow ahead.
If state of the Jews is correct (and he usually is), Martin's Republican Party affiliation helps to explain why he has remained on the job despite Agriprocessors' continued misdeeds.
The Rubashkin family are large Republican campaign contributors and their backers – Agudath Israel of America, in particular – often have close ties to the Bush Administration.
But I don't think this president's incompetence or his blindness to his cronies' corruption will save Rubashkin this time, even though it saved him in 2005.
Rubashkin will go down. Members of the family will do hard time. And so, I believe, will others who covered for and enabled Rubashkin's misdeeds. And some of them will share the same first name – Rabbi.