Ralph-
Greetings. Hope you guys are doing well. I hear that the kids are going thr=
ough all the kids' things like loosing teeth, getting glasses, etc. I'm sur=
e it's fun to participate.
=20
As you can imagine, there is some scrambling going on in Houston's labor ma=
rket with the demise of Enron. When I was in discussions with Maury about j=
oining WM two years ago, he talked about the need to possibly re-organize t=
he company's government affairs area. I'm sure he's already done whatever i=
t was he was planning to do at the time, but in case there is still a need =
I wanted to pass along a name of someone who I think is one of the most tal=
ented people in a large group of very bright people. As you know, Enron put=
a lot of resources into regulatory/government affairs and until the CA mar=
ket unraveling, they were having a great deal of success because of these p=
eople. Out of the roughly 50 people in the state/federal government affairs=
area, Jim Steffes is unique and stands out because of his experience in so=
many areas of regulatory, government and business. He ran Enron's Northeas=
t area when those states were passing deregulation legislation; he's been i=
nvolved on the federal level with FERC and other agencies; he's managed a c=
ase that was recently argued before the Supreme Court; and most importantly=
and an area where I think would be very beneficial to a company like WM, h=
e oversaw an effort to do a thorough audit of what changes in laws/regulati=
ons could really benefit Enron's businesses versus the areas that they were=
advocating just because it would make for better laws. It was a highly suc=
cessful exercise that saved the company a lot of time and resources. Jim wa=
s a VP when I left but he might have been promoted since then, went to Geor=
getown undergrad and got his masters from the Kennedy School where he was o=
ne of three members of the Republican club.=20
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I assume you have scaled back your involvement in WM's management now that =
it's running smoothly and are focused on other places like Mattel (good pie=
ce on today's front page of the WSJ) but if you think that there is a need =
for someone like Jim, you can be very confident to recommend him to talk to=
someone at WM. He won't disappoint you. =20
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Call if you have any questions. Hope to see you soon.=20
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Thanks, Gary