Part 20 (1/2)
Judge Martin agreed that Pfizer was a relevant party, and ruled that the company would have to comply with the subpoena. For its part, Pfizer insisted on a guarantee that the Inst.i.tute for Justice wouldn't divulge its doc.u.ments to anyone. The company's primary concern was the press. The inst.i.tute had been very active with the media, and Pfizer didn't want its internal correspondence ending up in a press release. Bullock agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement.
Then, once he and Berliner had had a chance to review the Pfizer doc.u.ments, Bullock wanted to depose an individual from the company. Pfizer's attorney balked at this request.
”Well, we're obviously going to have questions about these doc.u.ments, and we'll need to talk to someone from Pfizer who can answer them,” Bullock said.
It sounded reasonable to Judge Martin. But whom did the inst.i.tute have in mind?
”Possibly George Milne,” Bullock said.
Pfizer's attorney said the company would fight any attempt to produce George Milne for a deposition.
Without much push back from Bullock, Pfizer's lawyer supplied various reasons Milne was not an option. He was a very busy man. He had other commitments. The list went on.
It was clear that any attempt to get Milne under oath would cause Pfizer to draw a line in the sand. Judge Martin didn't want a protracted legal battle over whether Milne could be forced to testify. Bullock didn't either. But Bullock didn't want to back down until he first saw Pfizer's doc.u.ments and was able to see where the paper trail led.
When word reached Milne that he might be called to be deposed, he was not eager to partic.i.p.ate. ”That's not a good use of my time,” he said. The attorneys a.s.sured him that they'd present that argument, along with the fact that he had little to offer.
Milne had no plans to testify, but he held some strong opinions. He disagreed with the way the inst.i.tute had framed its case. Pfizer, from his standpoint, was being unfairly a.s.sociated with the NLDC and eminent domain, both by the inst.i.tute and the media. Yet Milne maintained that the way Pfizer had done things had been nothing but proper; Pfizer had been a catalyst for improvement in New London.
”The Pfizer investment was pivotal in convincing the state to put a tremendous amount of money into New London,” Milne later said. ”I think we've been pretty clear that these other things had to happen in order for Pfizer to make the investment.
”The state's money was probably an important part of the engine,” he continued. ”It's a little hard to pull the two apart. In other words, if Pfizer hadn't agreed to make the investment, I'm not sure the state would have made the investment. I have no idea what would have happened at Fort Trumbull, but it certainly wouldn't be the beautiful place it is today if John Rowland and the state hadn't seen this as a showplace. Calamari Junkyard would still be there, and all the rest of that.
”Clearly, the Pfizer involvement was an initiating event.”
Dave Goebel wasn't thrilled about the fact that his agency had to turn over doc.u.ments to the inst.i.tute. When Bullock arrived at the NLDC's office at a prearranged time to examine the files, Goebel, cold and stern, escorted him into a conference room containing a table lined with files and doc.u.ments. Bullock pulled out colored note tabs to mark the doc.u.ments he wanted copied. Goebel took a seat near him, his eyes focused on Bullock.
After an hour pa.s.sed, Bullock realized Goebel had no intention of leaving the room. Rather than a.s.sign a staff person to observe Bullock, Goebel simply stayed. Bullock was long accustomed to being observed while reviewing records belonging to adversarial companies and agencies, but he had never seen a chief executive fill that role.
Going through one file, Bullock discovered a glossy, color architectural rendition of what the area might look like if the existing neighborhood were incorporated into the redevelopment plan. Goebel had momentarily left the room, replaced by another NLDC official.
”Do you know the origin of this?” Bullock asked the official, handing him the drawing. ”Have you seen it before?”
A contemptuous smile flashed across the official's face. ”Oh, yeah.”
”I'd like a copy of it.”
The official flung the drawing on the table and shrugged. ”You can have it,” he said. Bullock picked it up. After the official left the room, he inspected the drawing more carefully and recognized the name of the architect who had drawn it: John Steffian.
After two full days, Bullock had pored through boxes and boxes of files. He also had compiled a list of additional doc.u.ments he had been unable to locate in the NLDC's records. He handed the list to Goebel, indicating he wanted the NLDC to produce them.
”What are you talking about?” Goebel asked, incredulous.
”Follow-up doc.u.ments,” Bullock said, unsure what had upset Goebel.
”What do you mean follow-up follow-up doc.u.ments? You are only here for two days.” doc.u.ments? You are only here for two days.”
”Well,” Bullock said, trying not to smile, ”the discovery period extends out until the end of April. You have an ongoing obligation to produce these doc.u.ments during that time period.”
”I'll have to talk to the attorneys about that.”
Bullock figured Goebel found his presence unnerving.
After Bullock's visit, Goebel e-mailed Corcoran Jennison president Marty Jones to stress the importance of finalizing the development agreement right away. ”We [NLDC] ... feel that concluding the development agreement prior to the start of the Inst.i.tute lawsuit will go a long way to deflate the argument that property is being taken with no plan in place,” he said. ”In fact, we feel this is crucial.”
After spending nearly two full days examining files at Pfizer's facility, Bullock hadn't turned up any corporate doc.u.ments that proved that Pfizer was behind the NLDC's efforts to clear the Fort Trumbull area.
Then he came across two letters. The first one had been written by Claire to Milne on December 15, 1997, months before Pfizer announced its decision to build in New London: ”Dear George: The directors of the New London Development Corporation are pleased to make the commitments outlined below to enable you to decide to construct a Pfizer Central Research facility in New London,” she had written. ”The new Pfizer facility will be the centerpiece of a concentrated reuse of the area surrounding the former New London Mills.”
The letter showed that the promises Claire outlined had been endorsed by Governor Rowland and had ultimately convinced Milne to recommend New London to Pfizer's board of directors. Among other things, Claire had promised a ”mixed retail and residential s.p.a.ce that will be fully integrated into the surrounding neighborhoods.” She had closed her letter with a simple a.s.surance to Milne: ”We will work with you to refine this proposal to meet Pfizer's requirements.”
The word ”requirements” caught Bullock's attention. ”Requirements” has a different implication than ”preferences” or ”suggestions.” A requirement is a demand.
The second letter was written by Milne to Claire on March 8, 1999, shortly after Pfizer had begun construction: ”We are building a $270 million Global Development Facility [GDF] in New London to open October 1, 2000,” he wrote. ”This facility will employ more than 2,000 Ph.D.s, M.D.s and other scientists, researchers and clinical specialists. Our New London expansion requires the world cla.s.s redevelopment planned for the adjacent 90 acres in the Fort Trumbull Munic.i.p.al Development Plan.”
Again Bullock noted the word choice: ”requires.”
Milne was more explicit than Claire had been, making clear that the redevelopment of the ninety acres around the Pfizer facility was part of the deal. Bullock read on: ”The Fort Trumbull area is integral to our corporate facility and to the plan for the revitalization of New London to a world cla.s.s standard,” Milne had written. ”The Amended Reuse Plan will provide a waterfront hotel with about 200 rooms, a conference center and physical fitness area, extended-stay residential units and 80 units of housing. We will use the proposed hotel and conference facility as an extension of our facility, committing to 100 of those rooms on a daily basis for visiting international staff and other professionals. In addition we require conference s.p.a.ce and are exploring a 'virtual' Pfizer University to keep our researchers up to date on the most recent breakthroughs in biotechnology. The extended-stay housing will provide for researchers who often stay for periods of up to 36 months. Year round quality housing is also crucial for recruiting top scientists. The waterfront residential neighborhood envisioned provides a one-of-a-kind housing option desired by many of our employees.”
Bullock's eyes lit up. On corporate letterhead, the president of Pfizer had told the president of the NLDC that his company saw the ninety acres around its facility as an extension of Pfizer's research-and-development headquarters. Milne had committed Pfizer to occupying one hundred rooms per day in the new hotel. He had said Pfizer required more conference s.p.a.ce outside the footprint of its own facility. He needed extended-stay housing for visiting scientists and permanent high-end housing for full-time employees. The specificity of the plan amazed Bullock. It was pretty clear, he concluded, why Pfizer wanted Susette and her neighbors to go away.
”We are prepared,” Milne had written, ”to enter into agreements with the NLDC and developers to build the type of facilities we require, but this is not just about Pfizer. The plan developed by the NLDC is intended to transform New London and is destined, we believe, to become a model for high impact, high value public/private partners.h.i.+ps.”
For Bullock, the situation was very much about Pfizer. The company had made it a requirement that the state make certain commitments and do things a certain way before it would commit to building a facility in the city.
When Bullock returned to Was.h.i.+ngton, he immediately took Milne's letter to Berliner. ”Look what we have here!” Bullock said.
Berliner read it. ”This confirms our suspicions,” she said. ”Pfizer is the driving force behind the munic.i.p.al-development plan.”
”This doc.u.ment takes it out of the realm of mere suggestion and into the category of demands,” Bullock said. ”It wasn't just Pfizer saying, 'Here's what we'd like and here are our thoughts.' It's a doc.u.ment that says, 'These are our requirements.' Pfizer required these things as part of the MDP.”
”And all those requirements were put in the MDP,” Berliner said.
”That's right,” Bullock said, grinning. ”Pfizer was driving this and it was primarily for their private benefit, not the public benefit.”
But Bullock and Berliner recognized it would be difficult to link eminent-domain abuse directly to Pfizer since the drug company had never obtained the private properties. That had never been the plan. After all, the company didn't want owners.h.i.+p or even possession of the surrounding neighborhood. It just wanted the area around its facility cleared and redeveloped, a process that would ultimately improve the value of its investment and benefit the company.
Bullock and Berliner began to understand the power and the convenience of the personal relations.h.i.+p between Milne and Claire. The arrangement simultaneously afforded Pfizer both control and cover. Ostensibly, whenever Claire pushed Pfizer's agenda, she was acting in the capacity of an agent for the City of New London, not for Pfizer. Legally, the distinction was critical.
”Pfizer was always one step removed from this process,” Bullock said. ”The takings were not for Pfizer.”
”That's going to make it difficult for us to directly show a private benefit because Pfizer can claim: 'This isn't for Pfizer,'” Berliner said.
”That's right,” said Bullock. ”And if you accepted the fact that taxes and jobs are a legitimate public use, then of course the city is going to try and benefit Pfizer.” He could hear Tom Londregan's defense already. ”The city is going to say: 'Of course we did things to please Pfizer. What's good for Pfizer is good for New London.'”
Yet one thing was clear. With doc.u.ments so clearly tying Milne to the Fort Trumbull development, it was no longer as critical to get him to testify. Bullock preferred to let the doc.u.ments speak for themselves at trial, convinced that Milne would try to explain away their significance.