Green Change Wants Delaware to Revoke BP's Corporate Charter

Some would criminally prosecute BP
America and its executives for the oil spill
in the Gulf of Mexico.

Others
would debar BP from federal contracts.

But
a group called Green Change is calling for the corporate death
penalty.

It
is calling on the state of Delaware to revoke BP's corporate charter.

"BP
deserves the corporate death penalty," Green
Change co-founder Gary Ruskin told Corporate Crime Reporter
last
week. " BP America Inc. does not have a God given right to perpetually

violate our laws with near impunity."

"Look
at BP's record. The Gulf of Mexico catastrophe. Three environmental
crimes,
one deferred prosecution agreement, and a very long string of big
fines and
other wrongdoing."

"There
comes a point when enough is enough. Our nation should not have to
tolerate
any more abuse from this company. No more deaths, no more
catastrophes, no more
giant pollution disasters."

"The
corporate death penalty will remove BP America Inc. from the field of
action.
It will stop their carelessness and lawlessness -- for sure."

"If
our laws mean anything at all, we've got to draw a line in the sand
and
say that if you violate our laws again and again, you will lose your
charter."

"Deterrence
is very important. We've got to revoke BP's charter to deter other
companies from acting with such carelessness."

"If
we don't, then we basically invite other companies to cut corners
everywhere,
and disregard the law, because the consequences won't be worth
worrying
about."

"We
can expect that the threat of charter revocation will make companies
act with
greater respect for environmental, health and safety laws."

"Severe
wrongdoing deserves severe punishment. When a company does something
as awful
as the carelessness that lead to the Macondo oil rig blowout and
disaster, they
deserve the corporate death penalty."

"This
is a simple matter of justice and of the dignity of our society, and
really,
of all of us."

Ruskin
sent
letters
last week to the leaders of the Delaware legislature and to Delaware
Attorney
General Beau Biden - the son of Vice President Joseph Biden.

"Serial
corporate criminals are willing to kill people and wildlife, poison
the water
and land, and then pay the relevant fines, because it is more
profitable to
do so than to respect life, wildlife, health, the environment and the
law,"
Ruskin wrote. "It is for this reason that ordinary legal and
regulatory
action and fines cannot correct their behavior -- drastic and permanent

punitive actions are the only appropriate measures. In this case, the
proper
penalty is to revoke the corporate charter of BP America Inc."

Attorney
General Biden's office and the leaders of the Delaware legislature did

not return calls seeking comment.

The
Delaware General Assembly can revoke BP America's charter outright.

The
Delaware Attorney General is empowered to ask the Delaware Court of
Chancery
to revoke BP America's charter, Ruskin said.

Ruskin
said that as far as he knew, no for-profit corporate charter has been
revoked
by Delaware.

But
it has happened elsewhere.

"In
the 1990's, some Florida stock brokerage companies involved in
pump-and-dump
schemes had their charters revoked or dissolved for failure to file
annual reports,"
Ruskin said.

"In
2001, the Texas Secretary of State revoked the charter of Lionheart
Newspapers
for nonpayment of franchise taxes."

"But
I am not familiar with any cases involving large corporations, or
multinational
corporations, in modern times," Ruskin said.

Since,
there has been no adjudication of wrongdoing yet, and Ruskin is
already calling
for the death penalty for BP, isn't Ruskin a little concerned that
he's
getting ahead of the game?

"There
hasn't been adjudication, but BP has admitted they are responsible for

the oil spill. Tony Hayward said that BP is 'absolutely responsible'
for the spill," Ruskin said.

"We
know already from one month of news stories about the recklessness of
the company
and how they cut corners and their misconduct. There is extensive
evidence of
this. Look at the Wall Street Journal's investigation of the oil rig
blowout
on May 27th. And read the letter from House Energy and Commerce
Committee Chairman
Henry Waxman to Tony Hayward. It's devastating. It lays out lots of
evidence
that 'BP repeatedly chose risky procedures in order to reduce costs
and
save time and made minimal efforts to contain the added risk.'"

"Also,
a quarter owner of the rig -- Andarko -- said that the blast resulted
from BP's reckless operation. How much more evidence do we need? There

is ample evidence that this company has an awful corporate culture --
from
its record of accidents, from its lawlessness, and from its own
internal reviews
that told it to be much more careful about obeying environmental and
safety
laws."

Why
is there such strong support in America for the death penalty for
individuals
-- but we rarely hear about the death penalty for corporations?

"There
are lots of reasons," Ruskin says.

"There
is a tremendous amount of media attention devoted to street crime, but
very
little to corporate crime. Why? Most media outlets carry advertising,
and I'll
bet that giant corporations will be less likely to advertise in
newspapers and
magazines that advocate for the corporate death penalty."

"And
so many of our news outlets are part of big media conglomerates that
don't
want to promote any discussion of the corporate death penalty."

"Second,
because we have a corrupt campaign finance system at the federal level
and in
most of our states."

"Since
so many of our elected officials get so much of their campaign
contributions
from corporate officials, they are not willing to bite the hand that
keeps them
in office."

"Third,
because corporate crime is more complicated than street crime."

"Fourth,
because companies spend a huge amount of money in advertising to make
us all
think that they are great corporate citizens."

"Fifth,
because the Justice Department doesn't adequately publicize statistics

about corporate crime and trends in corporate crime."

"When
you add it all up, our elected officials act like the most permissive
kindergarten
teacher in the world, when it comes to punishing corporate crime and
violence."

Don't
we lose leverage over BP if we revoke its corporate charter?

"I
think you gain leverage," Ruskin says. "If BP America is put in
receivership, the company will find it harder to advocate for its own
interests,
because they won't really exist anymore. Its assets would be sold off
to pay the creditors, like people in the Gulf states."

Most
Americans would think that if they start a business, it belongs to
them, not
to the government. But you believe a corporation is a creature of the
state
and serves the state?

"Yes.
Corporations are artificial entities created by states. States grant
them powers
and privileges, as a part of their corporate charter. These powers and
privileges
are revocable. States do not, or should not, charter companies so that
they
can break our laws. When a corporation abuses its charter, for
example, by repeatedly
violating the law, its charter should be revoked, to put an end to its
lawlessness."

[For
a complete transcript of the Interview with Gary Ruskin, see 24 Corporate

Crime Reporter 26(13), June 28, 2010, print edition

only.]