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Sent to Merck's Directors this afternoon

B_Levinson

Well-Known Member
Jun 27, 2014
679
956
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Sent to Merck

Kenneth Frazier and his colleagues get Penn State sued for defamation
To: Merck Corporation
cc: State Senator Yudichak

I know that Merck's Directors have previously expressed confidence in Mr. Frazier's leadership, but here is the latest shoe to drop at Penn State. What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas but, because Mr. Frazier lists his association with Merck on his Penn State Trustee biography, what he does at Penn State does not stay at Penn State. His conduct as a Trustee is therefore Merck's business as well as Penn State's.

http://freehreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/1-Complaint-in-Spanier-v.-Freeh-and-Penn-State.pdf for Graham Spanier's lawsuit against Louis Freeh and Penn State.

"384. Penn State breached the Separation Agreement by holding Penn State-organized and sponsored press conferences on July 12, 2012 and July 13, 2012 in which President Erickson, Trustee Kenneth Frazier, and Trustee Karen Peetz made numerous negative comments about Dr. Spanier…"

Here is Mr. Frazier's specific contribution: "Judge Freeh's Report is both sad and sobering…. Our administrative leadership also failed. Judge Freeh's Report concludes that that the moment of truth, people who are in a position to protect children, and to confront a predator - including people at the highest levels of responsibility in the University - specifically, Graham Spanier, Joe Paterno, Tim Curley, and Gary Schultz, did not put the welfare of children first." My E-mail to you of December 17 2014, in fact, gave you a heads-up about this remark as reported in a newspaper.

I assume that Merck's human resources department has very strict rules against disparaging employees or former employees for obvious reasons, e.g. http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/defamation-lawsuits-do-you-have-case-against-former-employer.html Mr. Frazier nonetheless chose to act as he did, and the suit also alleges that Mr. Frazier played a role in causing Dr. Spanier to not be hired for another job. The details appear in the attached .pdf file, which includes an E-mail exchange in which Mr. Frazier remarks "Oh brother…" about Spanier's application for a Federal job. Note also that Mr. Frazier used the business resources of the Merck Corporation to send this E-mail, just as another person used a Merck-owned IP address to suppress a Wikipedia entry that included Mr. Frazier's racially-charged tirade to an alumnus at the March 2013 Board of Trustees meeting.

In summary, Mr. Frazier's recent activities as a Penn State Trustee have brought nothing but discredit to him, Penn State and, because his Trustee biography lists his association with Merck, the Merck Corporation. I therefore encourage Merck's Directors to consider the desirability of asking him to leave the Board of Trustees effective immediately.

Regards,

William A. Levinson (PSU B.S. '78 and Merck shareholder)
 
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wasting your time. do you really think they're going to do anything with that letter other than throw it out?
 
Better than doing nothing. Levinson helps keep this matter alive.

Multi-prong attacks from Levinson and others keep the truth on the front burner and prevent Peetz's prediction from coming true. While Levinson directs his letters to corporate bosses, they do help keep the rest of us informed who don't have the same handle on facts and the initiative to do something. I don't disagree that his letters may fall on deaf ears, but IMO we need to support him.
 
Originally posted by lattydaddy:
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wasting your time. do you really think they're going to do anything with that letter other than throw it out?
If they perceive Mr. Frazier's actions as a liability to Merck, they will act on it.

BNY Mellon also sent me an E-mail to the effect that Karen Peetz's you know what doesn't stink, but she resigned from the Board the same month.
 
All I am saying is it won't get to the board. Some secretary will filter that out. Merck cares about money, not penn state
 
Originally posted by lattydaddy:
All I am saying is it won't get to the board. Some secretary will filter that out. Merck cares about money, not penn state
E-mail creates a problem for Merck, as in, "You knew about it, but didn't do anything about it." The excuse that a secretary filtered it out won't do much good if Frazier's actions later cause trouble for Merck (e.g. disparagement of a former employee), and it turns out that the Directors knew about his habit of disparaging former employees. Look at all the trouble that very nebulous E-mails caused for Penn State.
 
The problem with the letter is that nobody, other than us on this board, will see or read it. A TV ad would be much more effective and the Board would have to consider his removal.
 
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bill is at least doing something.

What are all of you doing who says what he is doing will not work?

Bill, I have thanked you before and I thank you again.

Keep peppering the SOBs.
 
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