Document rx3NQjVb4GyeXRRZapQYy6dyV

1 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA 2 EASTERN DIVISION 3 JOHN R. SWIFT and 4 BARBARA SWIFT, 5 Plaintiffs, 6 VS. CIVIL ACTION NO. CV-97-AR-2430-E 7 MONSANTO COMPANY, INC., et al., 8 Defendants. 9 10 11 DEPOSITION OF BETH RUSERT 12 Taken on behalf of the Plaintiffs 13 July 7, 1999 14 15 16 18 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL REPORTER 19 319 NORTH FOURTH, SUITE 322 ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 63102 20 (314)621-4408 FAX (314) 621-4533 21 22 23 2 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038486 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA EASTERN DIVISION 3 4 JOHN R. SWIFT and BARBARA SWIFT, 5 Plaintiffs, 6 CIVIL ACTION NO. VS. CV-97-AR-243 0-E 7 MONSANTO COMPANY, INC., 8 et al., 9 Defendants. 10 11 12 13 Deposition of BETH RUSERT, produced, 14 sworn, and examined on behalf of the Plaintiffs on July 7, 1999, between the hours 15 of nine o'clock in the forenoon and five o'clock in the afternoon of that day, at the 16 Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 100 Carondelet Plaza, St. Louis, MO 63105, before Sheila L. Ford, a 17 Registered Professional Reporter and Notary Public within and for the State of Missouri. 18 19 20 21 22 23 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038487 3 1 APPEARANCES 2 The Plaintiffs were represented by Donald R. Stewart, Esq., P. O. Box 2274, 1131 3 Leighton Avenue, Anniston, Alabama 36202; and Ellen B. Malow, Esq., of the law firm of 4 Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, L.L.P., 700 Louisiana Street, Suite 2200, Houston, 5 Texas 77002. 6 The Defendant was represented by 7 Adam Peck, Esq., of the law firm of Lightfoot, Franklin & White, L.L.C., The Clark Building, 8 400 20th Street North, Birmingham, Alabama 35203-2300. 9 INDEX OF EXAMINATION 10 11 EXAMINATION PAGE 12 Direct-Examination by Ms. Malow 5 13 INDEX OF EXHIBITS 14 RUSERT PA< 15 One 5 16 Two 17 Three 86 17 Four 100 Five 140 18 Six 140 Seven 148 19 Eight 156 Nine 168 20 Ten 174 Eleven 180 21 Twelve 182 22 23 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038488 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 4 1 o-O-o 2 IT IS STIPULATED AND AGREED by the 3 parties, through their respective counsel, 4 that the deposition of BETH RUSERT, may be 5 taken before Sheila L. Ford, CSR, RPR, as 6 Commissioner and Notary Public in the State of 7 Missouri, on July 7, 1999, at 9:30 a.m. 8 9 10 IT IS STIPULATED AND AGREED that it shall 11 not be necessary for any objections to be made 12 by counsel to any questions except as to form 13 or leading questions and that counsel may make 14 objections and assign grounds at the time of 15 trial or at the time said deposition if 16 offered in evidence or prior thereto. 17 18 19 IT IS STIPULATED AND AGREED that notice 20 of filing by the commissioner is waived. 21 22 23 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038489 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 5 1 o-O-o 2 3 BETH RUSERT, 4 of lawful age, produced, sworn, and examined 5 on behalf of the Plaintiffs, deposes and says: 6 7 [Rusert Exhibit Number One 8 was marked.] 9 10 DIRECT-EXAMINATION 11 QUESTIONS BY MS. MALOW: 12 Q. Will you tell us your name, please? 13 A. Beth Rusert. 14 Q. Mrs. Rusert, my name is Ellen Malow. 15 And I, along with Donald Stewart, 16 represent the-17 MR. PECK: Are we under the usual 18 stipulations? 19 MS. MALOW: We are under the usual 20 stipulations. 21 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Mrs. Rusert, my name is 22 Ellen Malow. I represent the plaintiffs SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038490 23 in the case against Monsanto and KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 6 1 Solutia. Do you understand that? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. Have you ever given a deposition before? 4 A. No. 5 Q. Let me tell you a few things that might 6 help the process go smoother for both of 7 us. Make sure you answer out loud so 8 the court reporter can get it down. She 9 can't get down a nod of the head or -- 10 A. Right. 11 Q. -- abbreviated response. Will you do 12 that for me? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. If I ever ask you a question that you 15 don't understand, please let me know 16 that, and I will be happy to repeat it 17 or rephrase it for you. 18 A. Okay. 19 Q. You understand that you're under an oath 20 to tell the truth and that the penalties 21 of perjury apply? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038491 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. If at any time you need to take a break, KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 7 1 talk to your lawyer, do whatever, let us 2 know. We'll be happy to do that. Okay? 3 A. Okay. 4 Q. One other thing. This is the hardest 5 one. If you would, let me get my whole 6 question out before you answer, and I'll 7 try and give you the same respect and 8 let you get your whole answer out before 9 I ask another question. 10 A. Okay. 11 Q. The court reporter can only take down 12 one at a time. Okay? 13 A. Okay. 14 Q. Where do you presently work? 15 A. Solutia. 16 Q. That's in St. Louis, Missouri? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. How long have you -- Have you been with 19 Solutia since the spin-off? 20 A. Yes. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038492 21 Q. Were you with Monsanto before that? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. When did you begin with Monsanto? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 8 1 A. 1990. 2 Q. What was your position when you went to 3 work for Monsanto in 1990? 4 A. I was managing editor of the Monsanto 5 Magazine. 6 Q. And what is the Monsanto Magazine 7 publication? 8 A. It was a quarterly employee magazine. 9 Q. Was it an in-house publication only? 10 A. In-house. 11 Q. What sort of topics were covered -- 12 A. I take that back. Let me think. I 13 think it also went to some headhunters 14 who maybe asked to be on it, as well as 15 retirees. 16 Q. What types of topics were in that 17 magazine? 18 A. All kinds of employee issues and current 19 activities. Could be acquisitions; it SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038493 20 could be divestitures. You know, 21 benefits topics, human resource type 22 topics. 23 Q. Any environmental issues? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 9 1 A. Probably so. 2 Q. You have in front of you what we have 3 marked as Exhibit One to your deposition 4 today. Have you seen Exhibit One 5 before? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. When did you first see that notice? 8 A. I think the end of last week it was 9 faxed to me. 10 Q. Did you make any efforts to determine if 11 there were any documents that you had in 12 your files that were responsive to 13 Exhibit Number One? 14 A. Yes. I went through to make sure I 15 didn't still have anything in my 16 possession. 17 Q. Did you locate any documents in your 18 possession that were responsive to SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038494 19 Exhibit Number One? 20 A. One document. My community advisory 21 panel file. I found documents 22 referencing Michael Elliott. 23 Q. Who is Michael Elliott? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 10 1 A. He's an external consultant. And one of 2 the things he does is help establish 3 community advisory panels. 4 Q. Would you tell me what a community 5 advisory panel is? 6 A. That's a group of people that are -- 7 It's a diverse group of people who are 8 put together to develop a two-way 9 dialogue between a business, usually, 10 and people who live in the community. 11 For example, it could be between Solutia 12 and community members who live around 13 one of our plants. 14 Q. Are you the person with Solutia that had 15 contacted Mr. Elliott in regard to 16 setting up a community advisory panel? 17 A. No, I'm not. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038495 18 Q. Who initially contacted Mr. Elliott? 19 A. I can't say for certain. I think it was 20 Diane Herndon. 21 Q. Why is it that you have this document 22 from Mr. Elliott on the community 23 advisory panel? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 11 1 A. Because Diane gave me files when we 2 transferred responsibilities after the 3 spin. And that was a document that I 4 had put in my community advisory panel 5 file instead of my Anniston file. 6 Q. Why do you have a separate community 7 advisory panel file set up? 8 A. Because Solutia has a large number of 9 plants that have community advisory 10 panels. So I keep a folder to reference 11 those potential resources as we identify 12 locations that we would like to have a 13 community advisory panel. 14 Q. And that document that you found in the 15 community advisory panel file, was that 16 the only document that dealt with SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038496 17 community advisory panels for Anniston? 18 A. Yes. 19 MR. PECK: That's one of the 20 documents I gave you last 21 night. 22 MS. MALOW: Yeah. I'm trying to 23 see where it went. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 12 1 Q. (By Ms. Malow) We have been provided 2 with numerous documents by counsel for 3 the defendant. Have you had an 4 opportunity to review any of those 5 documents? 6 A. There's very few things that I have 7 looked at. 8 Q. Let's do it this way. Tell me every 9 document that you have looked at to get 10 ready for this deposition. 11 A. I read one on a release as a refresher 12 on the benzene spill that happened at 13 the Anniston plant. 14 Q. That was a 1992 incident where there was 15 anOSHAfine? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038497 16 A. No. Can't be'92 because I wasn't 17 working on it then. Had to be '94. 18 Q. Well, the spill itself happened in'92. 19 A. But the actual fine was in '94. Yes. 20 That's it. That's right. 21 [Discussion held off the 22 record.] 23 Q. (By Ms. Malow) So you looked at a KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 13 1 document regarding the notice of 2 violation and the settlement that was 3 reached with EPA regarding a benzene 4 spill? 5 A. It was a positionstatement and a Q&A. 6 Q. And what other documents did you look at 7 other than the ones pertaining to the 8 benzene release? 9 A. Let's see. Adam also showed me a study 10 by Dr. Renee Kimbrough that came out 11 recently. 12 Q. Are you talking about that GE-funded 13 recent study on PCB health effects? 14 A. Right. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038498 15 Q. Had you seen that Kimbrough study at any 16 time before Mr. Peck showed it to you? 17 A. No. I had not. 18 Q. Have you ever had any contact at any 19 time with Dr. Kimbrough? 20 A. No. Not that I recall, anyway. 21 Q. Have you ever heard of her name before 22 Mr. Peck showed it to you -- 23 A. Yes. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 14 1 MR. PECK: Remember to let her 2 finish. 3 MS. MALOW: I knew it would 4 happen. 5 THE WITNESS: Sorry. 6 Q. (By Ms. Malow) What reference had you 7 heard to Dr. Kimbrough prior to time 8 Mr. Peck showed you this study? 9 A. Other studies that she has conducted on 10 PCBs and other topics. 11 Q. Who have you discussed those studies 12 with? 13 A. You know, I can't remember specifically. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038499 14 I could generalize for you. Certainly 15 environmental folks in our company, 16 lawyers. Beyond that, I can't really -- 17 Q. How about Dr. Kaley? Have you ever had 18 any discussions with him about -- 19 A. Yes. Certainly. 20 Q. Tell me about the discussion you and 21 Dr. Kaley have had regarding Renee 22 Kimbrough's studies on PCBs. 23 A. It's hard to remember specifics because KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 15 1 it's been a while since I have worked on 2 this. 3 Q. Just your best general recollection. 4 A. In general, he would just describe the 5 results of her studies and what she's 6 determined to date, at the time, 7 whatever study was released, as well as 8 historical studies. 9 Q. And tell me what the reason was that you 10 and Dr. Kaley were discussing the 11 different health studies on PCBs. 12 A. Just in monitoring what's been found as SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038500 13 far as potential long term health 14 effects. 15 Q. And why did you have an interest in 16 knowing the potential long term health 17 effects of PCBs? 18 A. Because Monsanto used to manufacture 19 PCBs. We naturally want to know. 20 Q. Why do you naturally want to know since 21 Monsanto manufactured PCB s what their 22 health effects are long term? 23 A. We monitor the health effects from all KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 16 1 the products that -- potential long term 2 health effects ofall products that we 3 manufacture. 4 Q. Because you have responsibilities -- 5 A. Right. 6 Q. -- for the health effects those might 7 cause on people who are exposed to them, 8 right? 9 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 10 Q. (By Ms. Maiow) You can answer. 11 A. Sure. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038501 12 Q. We got into this because I was asking 13 you about what documents you looked at 14 to get ready for the deposition. I now 15 understand from you that you have looked 16 at some documents regarding the benzene 17 release in the '92 time frame, the 18 position statement, questions and 19 answers, the recent study by 20 Dr. Kimbrough. What other documents did 21 you look at? 22 A. That's it. 23 Q. Did you look in fact at the documents KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 17 1 from Bourne Elliott & Associates that 2 you had found? 3 A. All I did was hand that file over. I 4 said, oh, here's one from Elliott, and 5 handed it over. 6 MS. MALOW: Mark that. 7 [Rusert Exhibit Number Two 8 was marked.] 9 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Mrs. Rusert, if you 10 would, look at Exhibit Two and tell me SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038502 11 if that is a document that you located 12 in your file on CAPs. 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. So Exhibit Two is what you provided to 15 Mr. Peck in response to the notice of 16 deposition? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. And that Exhibit Two is the only 19 document that you were able to locate 20 within any of your files? Is that 21 accurate. 22 A. That's accurate. 23 Q. Okay. And it's also accurate, although KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 18 1 you handed Mr. Peck Exhibit Two, you 2 didn't actually read Exhibit Two? 3 A. No. 4 Q. And you have indicated that Diane 5 Herndon was the initial contact with 6 Michael Elliott, right? 7 A. Yes. I believe so. 8 Q. I'm not sure. Did you tell me, did you 9 ever have any contact yourself with SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038503 10 Mr. Elliott or anyone else at Bourne 11 Elliott & Associates? 12 A. I don't think I did. It's possible that 13 I have called him, not for Anniston, per 14 se, but for other plants. But I can't 15 recall for sure. 16 Q. How many plants have CAPs set up? Let's 17 talk about presently. 18 A. Several. 19 Q. Let's do it this way. How many total 20 plants are there? Let's talk about 21 Solutia right now. 22 A. Solutia total number of plants. I'm not 23 sure I can do it without adding them up KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 19 1 in my head. Let me think about this. I 2 think it's twelve in the United States, 3 plus the Columbia site, which is not 4 really a plant anymore. And then two in 5 Europe. 6 Q. And do you know out of those twelve 7 approximately how many of those 8 presently have a CAP, if any? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038504 9 A. Several of them do. 10 Q. You think we're talking two or three? 11 A. No. Hold on. At least half, more than 12 half. More than half of them do. 13 Q. Did the Anniston facility ever have a 14 CAP put in place? 15 A. No. 16 Q. Why not? 17 A. Not to the best of my knowledge. 18 Initially, when we first started 19 looking into it -- It takes a while to 20 establish a community advisory panel. 21 And the most ideal way to do it is to 22 use an outside person to identify people 23 for it so you get a good diversified KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 20 1 cross section of the community. And 2 honestly, by the time the process -- As 3 that process evolved, I did hand it over 4 and looked at it a couple of different 5 times. But by the time we got to the 6 point where we would have perhaps done 7 something, there was litigation SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038505 8 involved, and it was no longer -- we no 9 longer had the ability to be able to 10 contact people freely in the community. 11 Q. Isn't the purpose of a CAP to prevent 12 litigation? 13 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 14 the question. 15 MS. MALOW: You can answer. He's 16 just making objections for 17 the record. 18 MR. PECK: Yeah. 19 MS. MALOW: Unless he instructs 20 you not to answer, you can 21 answer. 22 MR. PECK: Right. 23 A. No. The purpose of a CAP is to have KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 21 1 dialogue with your community and keep an 2 open relationship with them. 3 i 5. (By Ms. Malow) But is a CAP used when 4 you have got a potential environmental 5 situation, for example, when you have 6 PCB contamination? Would that be a type SWIFT 07-07- 1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038506 7 of situation where you might want to get 8 a CAP involved? 9 A. Get them involved? 10 Q. Get a CAP set up? Try and have a 11 dialogue between the community about 12 that environmental issue? 13 A. Actually, it's our objective to have a 14 CAP at as many of our sites as possible 15 where it's reasonable to do so, where 16 the community is large enough and where 17 we feel like it's difficult because of 18 size -- I don't even necessarily mean 19 metropolitan, but relatively big enough 20 that it's hard to have good two-way 21 dialogue. So actually we are never 22 driven to develop a CAP because of any 23 issue. The objective is to have those KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 22 1 relationships in place all along and be 2 able to communicate what we're doing at 3 our plant openly long before there's 4 ever a problem. Not knowing, of course, 5 being able to read ahead whether there SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038507 6 will be a problem or not. 7 Q. Why do you want to establish a two-way 8 dialogue between the plant and the 9 community? 10 A. So we get to know them and they get to 11 know us, if they have questions about 12 what we do. Manufacturing facilities 13 are difficult to understand unless 14 you're in them, no matter what they are, 15 unless you work there. And it's a good 16 opportunity for us to tell people what 17 we do and what we make and about our 18 safety programs and about our 19 interaction. If s also an excellent 20 opportunity for us to hear what kind of 21 things -- how they think that would be 22 good for us to enter in the community 23 because we are members of the community. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 23 1 Q. But isn't it what it really comes down 2 to, the perception that the community 3 has about the company? Isn't that 4 really what it's about? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038508 5 A. I wouldn't say that it's just -- No. It 6 really isn't just about what the 7 perception is. We hope that through 8 that interaction that they will have a 9 good perception of us, naturally. But 10 it's actually much more, so that we have 11 a chance to hear what they're thinking 12 about us, their concerns, and being able 13 to address them. Because we find 14 typically if you have that dialogue you 15 can address most people's concerns and 16 prevent any kinds of things that could 17 be -- you know, happening in a 18 manufacturing facility as far as issues. 19 Q. But the truth of the matter, 20 Mrs. Rusert, is that you want to be 21 considered a good corporate citizen? 22 A. That's true. 23 Q. And the reason you want to be considered KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 24 1 a good corporate citizen is because when 2 you go to trial, you want to be sure 3 that the people to whom you're talking SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038509 4 view you in that light. Isn't that 5 right? 6 A. It's not our business to go to trial. 7 Q. I understand that. But it's important 8 to you that when you're in trial you can 9 tap on the fact that you have given 10 donations to the community and that 11 you're a good corporate citizen, 12 correct? 13 MR. PECK: Object to form. 14 A. But that's not why we have a CAP, and 15 it's not why we have dialogue, by any 16 stretch of the imagination. Our 17 employees work. We have a business. If 18 you look at our environmental report, we 19 have environmental commitments, and it's 20 our objective to earn the right to 21 operate. We do not believe we have a 22 god-given right to be there. We have to 23 earn that right. And we have to do that KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 25 1 every single day with our actions and 2 what we do and say and how responsible SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038510 3 we are in that community. So a 4 community advisory panel is just one and 5 not the only mechanism to help us do a 6 better job of earning our right to 7 operate. 8 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Don't the community 9 action panel brochures and information 10 packages specifically talk about the 11 fact that it's importance is due to the 12 fact that litigation is proliferating or 13 growing? 14 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 15 A. I'm not familiar with that. 16 Q. (By Ms. Malow) And are you telling me 17 that in all of your experience in 18 dealing with community action -- is it 19 panels? 20 A. Yes. Community advisory panels. 21 Q. Community advisory panels, that you have 22 never heard any of these consultants 23 tell you that one of the benefits from KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 26 1 it deals with litigation? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038511 2 A. I can honestly say I don't recall that 3 being a part of the conversation. 4 Q. So you mentioned -- I asked you why it 5 was that the CAP was not established in 6 Anniston, and you indicated it took a 7 while to establish and by the time it 8 had been mulled over, litigation had 9 started and it couldn't happen. Isn't 10 that right? 11 A. Well, it became challenging to find 12 people in the immediate community that 13 we would want that would make the most 14 -- that would be the best people for the 15 community advisory panel that we could 16 have for participants. 17 Q. Tell me what your role was with respect 18 to trying to establish a CAP for the 19 Anniston area. 20 A. My role specifically was just in 21 discussions with the plant manager at 22 the time. 23 Q. Which was who? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 27 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038512 1 A. Jack Mayausky. 2 Q. Tell me what the date was you first had 3 discussion with Jack Mayausky about the 4 CAP? 5 A. It was probably around the fall or late 6 summer of'94. 7 Q. What was it that triggered you to 8 discuss setting up a CAP with 9 Mr. Mayausky? 10 A. Just the fact that he's a new site 11 manager. And community advisor came up 12 because they were being increasingly 13 used by our company and the chemical 14 industry itself. And it seemed like it 15 would make good sense to establish a CAP 16 and allow him as the new site manager to 17 get to know people that way. 18 Q. How many times did you and Mr. Mayausky 19 have discussions about a CAP? 20 A. I'm not really sure how many times you 21 could say. It was sort of an ongoing 22 conversation until I was no longer on 23 that site. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 28 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038513 1 Q. Which was when? 2 A. I left that responsibility in the winter 3 of'95,1 think, in February. 4 Q. Why did you leave that position at that 5 time? 6 A. Because we changed the way we were put 7 together. We went to a shared business 8 services concept. And my 9 responsibilities were changed. 10 Q. What did your responsibilities become in 11 February of'95? 12 A. Well, for a brief time I was employee 13 communications. At that time I was at 14 bed rest with a pregnancy. And during 15 that time then they asked if I would 16 join environmental communications. And 17 that is what I did ultimately when I 18 came back from my maternity leave. 19 Q. Which was when? 20 A. I think right around the 4th of July. 21 Q. What year? 22 A. '95. 23 Q. And how long did you stay in the KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 29 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038514 1 environmental communications? 2 A. Two years, up until the spin-off of the 3 chemical businesses to become Solutia. 4 Q. And once it became Solutia, what title 5 did you then hold? 6 A. My title now is public affairs director. 7 Q. And? 8 A. And with those responsibilities are both 9 public relations, community relations, 10 as well as state government affairs. 11 Q. Are you and Mr. Cahill peers in the 12 corporate structure, or is one of you 13 boss of the other? 14 A. No. Peers. 15 Q. You're laterally at the same level? 16 A. I don't honestly know what level he's 17 at. He's in environmental group. I'm 18 public affairs group. So we're not in 19 the same group. 20 Q. I believe he testified y'all were in the 21 same group? That's how-- 22 MR. PECK: Kevin Cahill? 23 THE WITNESS: Kevin Cahill? I KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038515 30 1 thought you said Kaley. 2 MS. MALOW: No. 3 A. Kevin Cahill. We are in the same group. 4 And yes, we are lateral. We are peers. 5 I apologize. 6 Q. (By Ms. Malow) That's fine. I said 7 their names backwards throughout his 8 deposition. Let me back up because we 9 started to get a little bit of history 10 on you. And you had told me that you 11 had begun working at Monsanto 1990 as 12 managing editor of Monsanto Magazine, 13 right? 14 A. Right. 15 Q. Let's back up and get the rest of that 16 background. 17 A. Okay. 18 Q. Is that magazine still published? 19 A. I don't know. I don't think they 20 publish it any longer, no. 21 Q. How long did you hold that position as 22 managing editor? 23 A. Two years. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038516 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 31 1 Q. Who was your supervisor at that time? 2 A. Cathy Heine. 3 Q. And I had asked you if sometimes that 4 magazine had any environmental issues. 5 Did you have responsibility for actually 6 doing any of the investigation for the 7 articles, or was it simply an editing 8 position? 9 A. No. I also looked for story ideas. 10 Q. Did you during that two years that you 11 held the position as managing editor do 12 any investigation for story ideas on 13 environmental issues? 14 A. I don't recall doing that, no. 15 Q. Tell me what the next position was you 16 held at Monsanto. 17 A. I became editor of a publication called 18 Commentary Magazine, which was for the 19 Chemical Group. That was also an 20 employee publication. 21 Q. Was that a publication that was only 22 distributed in-house? 23 A. I believe so. I was trying to remember SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038517 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 32 1 -- it may have gone to some chemical 2 retirees as well. But it was considered 3 an internal document. 4 Q. So it wouldn't go to groups like CMA or 5 anything like that? 6 A. We may have sent them on a monthly basis 7 to, like, CMA. I can't recall, to be 8 honest. 9 Q. What type articles were in Commentary 10 Magazine? 11 A. Stories similar to Monsanto Magazine, 12 but very targeted to the Chemical Group. 13 New businesses talking about products, 14 talking about programs at the time, like 15 Total Quality was really in. We had a 16 lot of Total Quality, those kinds of 17 stories. 18 Q. Were there ever environmental articles 19 in Commentary Magazine? 20 A. I don't recall ever doing one during the 21 time I worked on it. 22 Q. Let me back up. When you were working SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038518 23 as managing editor of Monsanto Magazine, KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 33 1 did you ever have any familiarity with 2 PCBs? 3 A. No. 4 Q. How about in your role as editor of 5 Commentary Magazine? 6 A. No. 7 Q. How long were you editor of Commentary? 8 A. Less than a year. 9 Q. And then what's the next position you 10 held? 11 A. I moved to Decatur, Alabama, where I 12 worked as the plant communicator for the 13 Decatur plant. 14 Q. What is a plant communicator? 15 A. Responsibility for internal and external 16 communications, both employees as well 17 as community and media. 18 Q. Was there a similar person who had that 19 job for Anniston at that time? 20 A. I don't believe so. 21 Q. Why is it that that type of position was SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038519 22 set out for the Decatur facility? 23 A. Because Decatur was a large plant. A KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 34 1 few of the large plants had those 2 positions. 3 Q. And you were actually on site at the 4 plant? 5 A. That's right. 6 Q. How long? 7 A. For fifteen months. 8 Q. Who were some of the contacts that you 9 made with the press during the time that 10 you were in that role at Decatur? 11 A. Who were the contacts? 12 Q. Yes. What people did you interface with 13 with the press? 14 A. It would have been all local media, like 15 folks from -- reporter from the Decatur 16 Daily. I'm trying to remember. There 17 was one guy I worked with most often. 18 His first name wasJay, but I don't 19 recall his last name. 20 Q. Did you ever deal with anybody at a more SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038520 21 state-wide level at that time? 22 A. Not for media, really. There may have 23 been some interaction with the KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 35 1 Huntsville paper. 2 Q. How about with politicians? Were you 3 having any interaction with politicians? 4 A. Very, very little. Actually, before I 5 left that plant I was just beginning to 6 get a little bit into state politics. 7 But I really didn't know any state 8 politicians. Someone I really knew was 9 Tommy Carter, who actually used to work 10 at the Monsanto plant. And I replaced 11 his position when I came down there. 12 Q. You said there was some contact sort of 13 at the tail end with politicians. What 14 kind of contact was that? 15 A. I went to, like, an Alachem legislative 16 reception, I recall. Besides that, I 17 don't remember too much else. 18 Q. Alachem is the Alabama Chemical 19 Association? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038521 20 A. Right. 21 Q. And that's made up of companies such as 22 Monsanto and Solutia that are chemical 23 manufacturers? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 36 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. Did you have anyone in particular you 3 dealt with at Alachem? 4 A. Yeah. I just don't remember. I'm 5 trying to remember the guy's name. I'm 6 not sure I can recall. But a very 7 limited basis, though. I wasn't, you 8 know, real active with Alachem myself. 9 Q. During your time either at the Decatur 10 facility or at any other time you have 11 been with Monsanto or Solutia, have you 12 received documents from Alachem 13 regarding legislation and the importance 14 to the chemical industry? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. Do you recall anything specifically from 17 Alachem regarding tort reform 18 legislation? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038522 19 A. Probably--I'm sure I have received 20 something on that. 21 Q. Did you have any involvement with 22 respect to tort reform legislation or 23 the position that was taken by Monsanto KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 37 1 or Solutia on that issue? 2 A. No. 3 Q. In your role as the plant communicator 4 at Decatur, we talked about some contact 5 with local media, a little bit of 6 contact with politicians. What other 7 external communication contacts did you 8 have in that role? 9 A. Local community members, just different 10 people whom I interacted with through 11 either philanthropic activities or 12 through people I would meet when I was 13 out in the community. A number of those 14 relationships were established through 15 philanthropic contributions. 16 Q. Is this around the'94 time frame that 17 you're out there? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038523 18 A. Let me think here. '93 to'94. Yes. 19 Q. How big was the Decatur facility at that 20 time? 21 A. Over a thousand employees. 22 Q. Do you know what its philanthropic 23 budget was during that time frame? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 38 1 A. I believe it was over a $180,000, 2 something like that. 3 Q. How was it determined how much each 4 facility would get for philanthropic 5 giving? 6 A. I don't really know because at that time 7 I was not involved in that process. 8 They just told me, here's what you're 9 getting. And I would use it, spend it. 10 Q. So unlike the smaller facilities such as 11 Anniston, where the plant manager 12 decides how to allocate the 13 philanthropic funds, in this case, you 14 would be the one as the plant 15 communicator who would determine how to 16 spend the funds? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038524 17 A. The plant manager and I did that 18 together. 19 Q. Who was the plant manager there? 20 A. Peter Clark. 21 Q. And why is it that you went from being 22 the editor of Commentary Magazine to 23 working at Decatur? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 39 1 A. Because my position was eliminated, and 2 I had two job offers. And one of them 3 was in Decatur. 4 Q. What was the other one? 5 A. Plant in St. Louis. 6 Q. Solutia or Monsanto? 7 A. With Monsanto. 8 Q. And then where did you go after you left 9 Decatur? 10 A. Back to St. Louis. 11 Q. In what role? 12 A. Community relations role. 13 Q. What was the name of the actual group 14 you were in? 15 A. It was in the Chemical Group. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038525 16 Q. Was it called community relations? 17 A. Well, it was the public affairs 18 organization. 19 Q. Was it public and government affairs? 20 A. Yes, together. 21 Q. And your role in that department was 22 what? 23 A. There I was responsible for community KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 40 1 relations and environmental 2 communications for certain plant sites. 3 Q. Which ones? 4 A. I'll do my best to recall. 5 Q. Let me ask you this: Was Alabama one of 6 them at that time? 7 A. Yeah. I had all three plants in 8 Alabama. 9 Q. What other areas did you have? 10 A. Pensacola, Florida. I'm pretty sure I 11 talked with Bayou, Texas. 12 Q. In Alvin? 13 A. In Alvin, right. Augusta, Georgia, and 14 Delaware River Plant in New Jersey, and SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038526 15 Bridgeport, New Jersey. 16 Q. Any others? Did you have Illinois? 17 A. No. 18 Q. Who had that at that time, if you know? 19 A. I believe it was Kevin Cahill. 20 Q. And give me an example of what your 21 daily responsibilities would have been 22 back in '94 with respect to community 23 relations and environmental KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 41 1 communications for those facilities. 2 A. Well, no day looks alike. 3 Q. Just a general thumbnail sketch of your 4 responsibilities. 5 A. Okay. Responsible for, you know, 6 helping the site establish their 7 community outreach programs, responsible 8 for ensuring that would continue -- like 9 I said, even back then we were working 10 to continue to earn our right to 11 operate, so establishing programs and 12 relationships according to that. If 13 there were a particular issue, like a SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038527 14 safety issue or environmental concern 15 that arose, I would help communicate 16 that internally and externally. 17 Q. Let's say, for example, there's a spill 18 at a plant. Are you involved in making 19 sure that there's an appropriate press 20 release dealing with that issue? 21 A. If it were one of my sites, yes, I would 22 help with that. 23 Q. What else? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 42 1 A. I mean, generally that's the kind of 2 stuff we do. 3 Q. And was it -- was Alabama completely 4 your jurisdiction back in that '94 time 5 frame? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. When is the first time that you ever 8 went to the Anniston facility? 9 A. Probably I would assume in '94, when I 10 started working with it. 11 Q. Who had Alabama before you did? 12 A. Beth Vanderbeck was her name. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038528 13 Q. Where is -- is it Vanderbeck? 14 A. Vanderbeck. 15 Q. Where is Ms. Vanderbeck working now? 16 A. At home with her children, best of my 17 knowledge. 18 Q. When did she leave Monsanto? 19 A. When I j oined -- when I came up to that 20 position approximately March/April '94. 21 Q. And at that time is that when she 22 decided to stay home with the kids? 23 A. Right. That's how I ended up taking KRJEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 43 1 that job. 2 Q. Do you know how long Ms. Vanderbeck had 3 that position? 4 A. Probably about two years. 5 Q. Who was her predecessor? 6 A. I couldn't tell you. I can't remember 7 anymore for sure. 8 Q. Who did you report to when you were in 9 that role in the community relations 10 area? 11 A. Loren Wassell. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038529 12 Q. How do you spell her last name? 13 A. Him. 14 Q. Oh, Loren? 15 A. L-O-R-E-N. W-A-S-S-E-L-L. 16 Q. Is Loren Wassell still with Solutia or 17 Monsanto? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. What role? 20 A. He has a similar job to mine at Solutia. 21 Q. So did he get demoted? 22 A. No. 23 Q. Because you reported to him at that KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 44 1 point? 2 A. Right. 3 Q. And he has been promoted up to his level 4 now? 5 A. Right, something close to that. 6 Q. Which is what? 7 A. My responsibilities now, you're asking 8 me? 9 Q. Yeah. 10 A. Public -- community relations and SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038530 11 environmental communications and state 12 government affairs. 13 Q. How is that different than what you were 14 doing in '94? 15 A. I was not responsible for state 16 government affairs. 17 Q. That additional responsibility is now in 18 your area? 19 A. Right. 20 Q. Let's back up. Beth Vanderbeck, when 21 she left the company, did you and her 22 sit down and get together so you could 23 get up to speed on the different KRJEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 45 1 facilities? How did you learn the job? 2 A. Well, usually you just dive in. But I 3 don't recall. We may have spent a 4 little bit of time transitioning things. 5 I would assume we would. Sounds like 6 how she was leaving the job. I can't 7 recall. 8 Q. Let me ask it this way: How did you 9 come to have knowledge about the SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038531 10 Anniston facility? 11 A. Just started working with it, working 12 with the plant. 13 Q. Were you given any sort of background or 14 historical documents about the Anniston 15 site? 16 A. No. I mean, I'm sure there were some 17 files that I was given at the time we 18 transferred jobs. 19 Q. That's what I was -- What were you given 20 that you looked at to get up to speed in 21 Anniston? 22 A. I don't recall specifically what I had. 23 Q. Where would it be now, whatever you were KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 46 1 given at that time? 2 A. Where would it be? 3 Q. Uh-huh (indicating yes). 4 A. If we still had it, whatever it was I 5 had, it would probably be in the same 6 box as the stuff they just copied 7 yesterday. Because that was all -- has 8 been transferred from one person to the SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038532 9 next. We just move the whole files 10 through each plant when we switch 11 plants. 12 Q. Did you come to know what it was that 13 had been manufactured at the Anniston 14 site over the course of time? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. How did you learn that? 17 A. The site manager told me, told me about 18 it. Also, I did get some background 19 from Bob Kaley. He gave me the history 20 on the plant. 21 Q. What history did Bob Kaley relate to you 22 about the plant, as best you can recall? 23 A. You know, the manufacture of PCBs and KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 47 1 some of the other products that have 2 been manufactured. 3 Q. Parathion? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. Did he tell you why it was that they 6 stopped manufacturing PCBs? 7 A. Yes. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038533 8 Q. Why did he tell you the reason was? 9 A. Persistence in the environment. 10 Q. Meaning they stay in the environment 11 over a long period of time? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. What is theproblem with that? 14 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 15 MS. MALOW: You can answer. 16 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Why is that bad? 17 MR. PECK: Same objection. 18 A. Just because you don't want anything to 19 persist that long. I don't have an 20 answer for that, to be honest with you. 21 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Did he explain to you 22 that the EPA had banned the use of PCBs? 23 A. Yes. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 48 1 Q. Did he tell you when that happened? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. When? 4 A. I'm not -- I know it was in the '70s, 5 late '70s, I believe. 6 Q. Did he tell you how long it was that SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038534 7 Monsanto knew that PCBs were persistent 8 in the environment? 9 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 10 the question. 11 A. I believe he did, yes. 12 Q. (By Ms. Malow) What did he tell you? 13 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 14 A. I believe that we started -- we stopped 15 manufacture in the early '70s, I think 16 it was, in Anniston. It was right 17 around that time that we had solid 18 evidence that there was persistence in 19 the environment, around the same time we 20 stopped manufacturing. Also, as I 21 recall, there is an agreement with the 22 EPA that we would do some manufacturing 23 until they found a suitable replacement KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 49 1 because they did their job very, very 2 well. And so that we agreed to 3 manufacture for a little bit longer than 4 we would have intended to. But I don't 5 recall -- I can't recall the specific SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038535 6 time frames on that. 7 Q. Mrs. Rusert, in answering that question 8 you said that there wasn't really solid 9 evidence until around the same time that 10 you stopped manufacturing PCBs, about 11 their persistency in the environment. 12 How about just any evidence that they 13 had this characteristic of being 14 persistent in the environment. When did 15 Dr. Kaley tell you that Monsanto knew 16 that? 17 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 18 A. I don't recall. I don't remember that. 19 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Have you ever learned 20 during any of your time at Monsanto or 21 Solutia that prior to the time that 22 Monsanto stopped manufacturing PCBs that 23 they were aware that PCBs were KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 50 1 persistent in characteristic? 2 MR. PECK: Object to form. 3 A. No. In fact, what I learned was as soon 4 as we had a hint that there was a SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038536 5 problem, we began to phase out that 6 production. Our timing actually -- we 7 stopped manufacturing before the EPA 8 even required that we -- that PCBs no 9 longer be used. 10 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Did Dr. Kaley share with 11 you the history of the relationship that 12 Monsanto had with IBT, a lab that was 13 used to conduct some tests on toxicity 14 issues of PCBs? 15 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 16 the question. 17 A. I don't recall that. 18 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Have you ever heard of a 19 company called IBT? 20 A. It's not ringing any bells for me. 21 Q. Have you ever heard of accusations that 22 Monsanto had falsified data regarding 23 PCBs? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 51 1 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 2 the question. 3 A. No. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038537 4 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Did Mr. Kaley ever share 5 with you any historical documents that 6 showed that back in the'30s and'40s 7 and '50s there were problems associated 8 with PCBs? 9 MR. PECK: Object to form. 10 A. No. 11 Q. (By Ms. Malow) So all you did is rely 12 on what Dr. Kaley told you verbally? 13 A. For the most part. I did see, as I 14 referenced earlier, some studies by 15 Dr. Kimbrough and perhaps some others. 16 But I don't remember specifically who 17 authored them, but some more recent 18 study that had been done, nothing as far 19 back as the'30s. I don't recall seeing 20 any studies from then. 21 Q. What's the earliest date of a study on 22 PCBs that you can recall being shown? 23 A. I'd be guessing here. But I would guess KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 52 1 probably a study from the '70s. 2 Q. Okay. Were you ever informed about the SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038538 3 fact that the attorney general's office 4 had conducted an investigation in the 5 1980s regarding PCB contamination of 6 Snow Creek? 7 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 8 the question. 9 A. I probably did see that, I would assume, 10 given the nature of my j ob. 11 Q. (By Ms. Malow) In what context did you 12 see that? 13 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 14 A. Very likely Bob Kaley sent to me a copy 15 or gave me a copy to look at. 16 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Do you recall when it 17 was that you first learned there had 18 been such an investigation in the '80s? 19 MR. PECK: Object to form. 20 A. Probably in '94. 21 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Other than Dr. Kaley, 22 has there been anyone else that has 23 shared with you -- Again, back in '94, KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 53 1 when you first took over this position, SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038539 2 has there been anyone else who has 3 shared with you information about PCBs? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. Who else? 6 A. Mike Newport. 7 MR. PECK: To the extent -- Don't 8 disclose -- Mike Newport's an 9 attorney. 10 Don't disclose any 11 communication with you and 12 in-house counsel. You can 13 identify them as having 14 occurred, but don't disclose 15 the content of them, as 16 they're privileged. 17 THE WITNESS: Okay. 18 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Is that a lawyer? 19 A. In-house attorney. 20 Q. Anyone other than attorneys, either 21 in-house at Monsanto or outside counsel? 22 A. I don't believe so. 23 Q. Did Dr. Kaley ever share with you any KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 54 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038540 1 negative information about PCBs, that 2 is, that they -- other than the fact 3 that they're persistent? Did he share 4 with you any negative information about 5 health affects attributable to PCBs? 6 MR. PECK: Objection to form. 7 A. No. 8 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Did he talk to you at 9 all about chloracne? 10 MR. PECK: Object to form. 11 A. Yes. So actually, yes, I did know about 12 chloracne. 13 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Did he tell you in what 14 context they had had problems with 15 workers who had been exposed to PCBs 16 that developed chloracne? 17 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 18 A. I'm not sure I quite understand your 19 question. 20 Q. (By Ms. Malow) I'll rephrase it. Tell 21 me what Dr. Kaley told you about 22 chloracne. 23 MR. PECK: Object to form. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 55 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038541 1 A. Just at certain levels -- I can't tell 2 you what they are. I can't recall if I 3 knew that PCBs can cause chloracne and 4 that once the PCB exposure is removed, 5 chloracne also goes away. 6 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Did he talk with you at 7 all about any animal studies regarding 8 cancer associated with PCB exposure? 9 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 10 A. May have. I don't recall. 11 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Did he tell you anything 12 about birth defects? 13 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 14 the question. 15 A. I don't recall that. 16 Q. (By Ms. Malow) How about hearing 17 disabilities? 18 MR. PECK: Object to form. 19 A. I believe I read some studies that 20 referenced that possibility. Beyond 21 that, I can't tell you any more. 22 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Was Mayausky plant 23 manager in '94? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 56 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038542 1 A. Bill Defer was the first couple of 2 months, and Jack Mayausky came on board. 3 Q. Tell me about your initial contact with 4 Bill Defer when you took over this role 5 in the community relations department in 6 '94? 7 A. Actually it was more just like I am with 8 all the other site managers. You 9 introduce yourself and find out what the 10 plant makes, what they're doing there 11 and what kind of community outreach 12 they're doing. Of course, running down 13 any potential concerns, issues of the 14 site, that kind of thing. 15 Q. At the time you took over that position 16 in 1994, were there any potential 17 concerns that Mr. Defer identified for 18 you? 19 A. I'm sure he mentioned that they were 20 manufacturing PCBs in our conversation. 21 And I'm not -- I would think he probably 22 also mentioned some of the on-site PCB 23 levels they had found. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038543 57 1 Q. Did he and you discuss any out site PCB 2 migration? 3 A. He probably did 4 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 5 A. They probably -- We probably did near 6 the end of his tenure because that was 7 when we first started discussing it, 8 around that time frame. 9 Q. (By Ms. Malow) When is the first time 10 that you learned there were PCBs outside 11 of the Anniston facility? 12 A. I'm not sure I can tell you exactly 13 when. I know it was during the time 14 that I was working on it. So sometime 15 between April '94, and certainly 16 sometime in that up until the end of the 17 year. Sometime before August or 18 September, I would say of '94,1 had 19 learned that there were studies going 20 on. 21 Q. What was your understanding as to how 22 widespread the contamination was off 23 site? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038544 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 58 1 MR. PECK: Object to the form. No 2 foundation. 3 A. We had no idea at that time. There were 4 no results back to tell us anything. 5 Q. (By Ms. Malow) What studies were being 6 done at that time? 7 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 8 the question. Go ahead. 9 A. The studies were being done just on 10 whether the water run-off was -- had 11 left any PCBs off site. 12 Q. (By Ms. Malow) And was that being done 13 by Monsanto? 14 A. No. 15 Q. Who was doing that? 16 A. I believe it was ADEM. 17 Q. Have you had any direct contact with 18 anyone at ADEM any time? 19 A. No. 20 Q. How about anybody with EPA? 21 A. No. 22 Q. I know you said that you were aware of 23 an EPA issue regarding a benzine spill SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038545 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 59 1 in '92 but you didn't have any direct 2 dealings with EPA officials -- 3 A. No. Usually we don't. 4 Q. Who does? 5 A. It would be the environmental folks who 6 work in the environmental department. 7 Q. Like Michael Pierle? 8 A. Perhaps. Or probably someone who has 9 responsibility for that plant, or even 10 more likely the plant environmental 11 person. 12 Q. As we sit here right now in 1999, do you 13 know what the extent of the PCB 14 contamination is that's off site? 15 MR. PECK: Object to form. No 16 foundation. 17 A. No. 18 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Do you know anything 19 about levels that have been found in the 20 neighborhood? 21 A. No specifics. 22 Q. Did Mr. Defer inform you about the fact SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038546 23 that in 1993 Alabama Power Company had KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 60 1 found high levels of PCBs on property 2 that had been owned by Monsanto? 3 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 4 A. That's actually what I was trying to 5 reference earlier. I just couldn't 6 remember specifics. 7 Q. (By Ms. Malow) What part are you trying 8 to reference? 9 A. The fact that there had been some found 10 on that property which we then 11 repurchased. 12 Q. What did he tell you specifically about 13 the Alabama Power incident? 14 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 15 A. Pretty much what you stated, that levels 16 had been found on the Alabama Power 17 property and that we agreed to 18 repurchase that property from them. 19 Q. (By Ms. Malow) What was your 20 understanding why it was that Monsanto 21 agreed to repurchase that property? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038547 22 A. Because we would be responsible for the 23 cleanup of it. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 61 1 Q. Were you told that if Monsanto took the 2 property back that it could be handled 3 through ADEM as opposed to EPA? 4 A. No. 5 MR. PECK: Object to form. 6 Q. (By Ms. Malow) But there was no 7 question that it was Monsanto PCB 8 materials and that you guys had 9 responsibility for that? 10 A. None. No question that I was aware of. 11 Q. Do you know anything regarding the 12 actual transaction as far as settlement 13 between Alabama Power and Monsanto for 14 the swap? 15 A. No. 16 Q. Other than Mr. Defer, has anyone else 17 talked to you about the Alabama property 18 issue? 19 A. Not that I recall. 20 Q. Did you actually make a site visit to SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038548 21 meet Mr. Defer? 22 A. No. I don't think I did go down there 23 before he left that position. I did go KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 62 1 down there once Jack was in place. 2 Q. And have you already told me about what 3 Jack informed you with respect to the 4 history of the facility, or did you gain 5 that from Mr. Defer? 6 A. More so from Bill because he had been 7 there. 8 Q. What conversations, if any, did you have 9 with Mr. Mayausky in that regard? 10 A. Regarding the history? 11 Q. Right. Or PCB issues. 12 A. It would have just been in conversations 13 about what's happened in the past and, 14 you know, just in assessing the 15 situation. 16 Q. Did you and Mr. Mayausky work together 17 on the property purchase program? 18 A. No. 19 Q. Who was involved from St. Louis on that SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038549 20 issue? 21 A. Diane Herndon. 22 Q. Let me go back and finish up the history 23 of your employment there. We had KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 63 1 reached the point of 1994 where you were 2 in this role in community relations. 3 How long did you stay in that position? 4 A. Until we went to shared services. 5 Q. When you went to share services, who 6 then had responsibility for Alabama? 7 A. Diane Herndon. 8 Q. Diane had responsibility for Alabama 9 from when to when? 10 A. For about two years. 11 Q. You think, like, '94 to '96 or '95? 12 A. No. '95, around '95 to '97. 13 Q. Okay. Once the company spun off into 14 Solutia, did it again then go to 15 Mr. Cahill? 16 A. No. It went back to me. 17 Q. Went back to you? 18 A. Yes. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038550 19 Q. Was that September 1st? 20 A. No. We kind of transitioned it, so 21 somewhere between May and June of '97. 22 Q. So prior to the spin, you got it back? 23 A. Because what we did is we ran as -- KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 64 1 officially as separate companies 2 beginning April of '97, even though it 3 wasn't official from the public 4 perspective until September. So we 5 acted like two separate companies, even 6 though we weren't, beginning in April. 7 Q. So let me make sure I have your history 8 with respect to Anniston. You would 9 have had it from'94 to'95. And then 10 again in about May or June of '97? 11 A. Yeah. Until about February of'98. 12 Then Kevin took it. 13 Q. And is February'98 when you went on 14 maternity leave? 15 A. No. 16 Q. Or am I missing that time frame? 17 A. No. Maternity leave was in'95 when SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038551 18 Diane took it. There was a transition 19 time in there when I was on maternity 20 leave. 21 Q. That's what I want to make sure I have. 22 A. So in February of '95 I was on bed rest. 23 Q. That was when Diane had it? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 65 1 A. Diane started taking it then because we 2 had switched to a different -- 3 Q. Shared services? 4 A. Shared services. 5 Q. Then why is it that you stopped having 6 responsibility for Alabama in February 7 of'98? 8 A. It was a resourcing issue. I had too 9 many projects, so we switched. I took 10 Chocolate Bayou in Alvin, Texas, and he 11 took the plants in Alabama. 12 Q. He, meaning Kevin Cahill? 13 A. Kevin Cahill. 14 Q. So you guys just swapped. You got 15 Chocolate Bayou; in exchange he got the 16 Alabama three facilities? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038552 17 A. Right. Plus, there were a number of 18 other responsibilities I had outside of 19 plant community relations that I needed 20 more time. 21 Q. Isn't Chocolate Bayou a pretty large 22 facility? 23 A. Yes. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 66 1 Q. Is it larger than Decatur? 2 A. No. It's actually smaller. 3 Q. How many employees are at Chocolate 4 Bayou? 5 A. I think it's somewhere around 600. 6 Q. How many in Decatur? 7 A. Still around 1000,1 believe, not 8 counting contractors. 9 Q. All right. Then in February of'98 what 10 was your title at that time? 11 A. Same department. Same title. 12 Q. Has that remained the same with the 13 addition of now having government 14 affairs? 15 A. Right. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038553 16 Q. Do I now have your full work history? 17 A. Yeah. 18 MS. MALOW: Let's take a break. 19 [A break was taken.] 20 Q. I had asked you earlier about Exhibit 21 One, whether you had done anything to 22 look for documents. And you had told me 23 that the only thing you were able to KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 67 1 locate is what we have marked as Exhibit 2 Two? 3 A. Right. 4 Q. I do want to ask you about some 5 categories of documents on Exhibit One. 6 Specifically are you aware of any 7 documents regarding meetings with EPA, 8 federal state officials or ATSDR? 9 A. No. 10 Q. In your time at Monsanto and Solutia 11 have you ever -- I asked you about ADEM 12 and EPA. Have you had on about ATSDR? 13 A. No. 14 Q. How about with any state officials in SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038554 15 Alabama other than what we talked about 16 at Decatur? 17 A. No. 18 Q. How about Federal official s? 19 A. No. 20 Q. Have you ever arranged for any meeting 21 to take place between EPA and some other 22 person, such as plant personnel? 23 A. No. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 68 1 Q. Have you ever arranged for any similar 2 meetings with respect to any state 3 agency or regulatory agency? 4 A. No. 5 Q. Are you aware of any such meetings that 6 have taken place between any regulators 7 and plant personnel in Anniston? 8 A. I mean, I can't answer that, I don't 9 know. 10 Q. For example, let me tell you this and 11 see if this rings a bell: Mike Foresman 12 has already testified at a similar case. 13 But he had meetings that he participated SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038555 14 in and there were representatives of 15 ADEM and EPA. Are you aware of any 16 other meetings? 17 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 18 A. At the time when I was working on 19 Anniston, I'm sure there were some 20 meetings. I just wasn't involved in 21 them. I can't tell you any specific 22 reference to them. 23 Q. (By Ms. Malow) In your role in KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 69 1 community relations, have you provided 2 any briefing pieces to any news media 3 contacts? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. Tell me about that. 6 MR. PECK: You mean with regard to 7 Anniston? 8 MS. MALOW: Let's deal with 9 Anniston. 10 A. Well, I'm not sure other than that 11 position paper we talked about with the 12 benzine spill. I don't recall that SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038556 13 there were -- and even that wasn't 14 anything I provided to the newspaper. 15 That was a position statement used 16 internally if we were contacted by the 17 media. I didn't deliver that to the 18 media. 19 Q. (By Ms. Malow) When you said yes to 20 providing briefing pieces to media 21 contact, what did you have in your mind? 22 A. For other plants we provided 23 announcements on expansion projects and, KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 70 1 you know, just depends on what the 2 subject matter is. That's something 3 that comes to mind because I'm working 4 on that in Florida. 5 Q. Have you hadany contact with any 6 reporters at The Anniston Star at any 7 time? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. Who? 10 A. I'm trying to remember his name. I 11 would say it was more of have they had SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038557 12 contact with us than I necessarily had 13 contact with them. 14 Q. What contact was there between you and 15 any reporter at The Anniston Star? 16 A. Typically anything I would have done, it 17 would have been setting up interviews 18 with the site manager, that kind of 19 thing. I typically didn't do the 20 interviewing because I wasn't at the 21 plant. 22 Q. So you would be the liaison between the 23 reporter and site manager? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 71 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. Would you help prepare the site manager 3 for that interview process? 4 A. If they requested it. 5 Q. Do you have any -- Were there times 6 where you did help prepare a site 7 manager in Anniston? 8 A. I don't really recall any, but I can't 9 say for sure. 10 Q. Do you know a reporter named Jonathan SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038558 11 Lifland? 12 A. No. I don't think so. 13 Q. About how Elizabeth Solo? 14 A. I recognize her name, but I didn't have 15 any interaction with her. 16 Q. Have you received information regarding 17 ADEM updates? 18 A. Very likely. 19 Q. In fact you had been provided with some 20 information from the Alabama Chemical 21 Association regarding ADEM environmental 22 updates in 1993 and '94, correct? 23 A. I'm sure that's true. That's pretty KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 72 1 common in all states we work in. 2 Q. What was your interest in knowing about 3 John Smith, who was the ADEM chief at 4 that time? 5 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 6 A. I don't know. I don't recall any 7 particular interests. 8 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Well, why was it that 9 you asked Alabama Chemical Association SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038559 10 to send you information about ADEM? 11 A. I don't know. I don't remember why I 12 would have done that. I'm sure at the 13 time there was a reason, but I don't 14 remember what it is. 15 Q. Have you ever had any contact with any 16 Wall Street Journal reporters regarding 17 the Anniston facility? 18 A. No. 19 Q. Do youknow a reporter named Carrick 20 Mollenkamp? 21 A. No. 22 Q. In trying to find documents responsive 23 to Exhibit One, did you have any KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 73 1 conversations with Diane Herndon 2 regarding what files she had in her 3 possession? 4 A. No. Because to the best of my knowledge 5 she transferred all those files to me. 6 Q. So after you got back to Alabama in May 7 of '97, you then received Diane's files? 8 A. Yes. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038560 9 Q. And then when you relinquished Alabama 10 to Mr. Cahill in February of'98, those 11 files on Alabama would have gone to 12 Mr. Cahill? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. And those files could have been in 15 Mr. Cahill's possession from February of 16 '98 through the present? 17 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 18 Q. (By Ms. Maiow) Correct? 19 A. That's correct. 20 Q. Do you know of a reporter named Rick 21 Bragg? 22 A. I don't know him. 23 Q. Have you heard of him? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 74 1 A. I have heard of him. 2 Q. What context? 3 A. He's a reporter. 4 Q. That's all you know? 5 A. I believe he's from The New York Times. 6 Q. How do you know that? 7 A. He has done some stories. I know he did SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038561 8 a story on the Anniston -- 9 Q. What story did he do? 10 A. I can't even remember specifically what 11 it was about. I just know it pertained 12 to the Anniston plant. 13 Q. Who from Monsanto or Solutia had contact 14 with Mr. Bragg regarding that story? 15 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 16 A. I believe it was Diane Herndon. 17 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Do you remember when 18 that story came out? 19 A. No, I don't. 20 Q. Did Diane tell you anything about her 21 dealings with Mr. Bragg? 22 A. Not really. 23 Q. How about generally -- KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 75 1 A. No. I just knew at the time there was a 2 story being worked on by him, but I 3 didn't know anything about, you know, 4 who -- relationship or interaction with 5 him. 6 Q. Do you know who he interviewed? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038562 7 A. No. 8 Q. Do you know about any meeting that 9 Mr. Bragg had in Birmingham with people 10 that worked at the Monsanto plant? 11 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 12 the question. 13 A. No. 14 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Did you work anywhere 15 before you went to Monsanto in 1990? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. Where? 18 A. Webster University -- several places. 19 You want me -- 20 Q. Why don't you give me a brief history? 21 Where did you go to school? 22 A. I got my undergraduate degree at 23 Valparaiso University. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 76 1 Q. Where is that located? 2 A. Northern Indiana. 3 MR. PECK: She's obviously not a 4 basketball fan. 5 MS. MALOW: No. Just a Rockets SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038563 6 fan, not college ball. 7 Q. (By Ms. Malow) What year did you 8 graduate from college? 9 A. '84. 10 Q. What was your degree in? 11 A. Journalism. 12 Q. And then did you have any education 13 beyond college? 14 A. Yes. I have a master's in marketing 15 from Webster University. 16 Q. Webster? Where is that located? 17 A. Here in St. Louis. 18 Q. What year did you get that master's? 19 A. '93,1 believe. 20 Q. Then you said you did some work at 21 Webster after school, after you got you 22 master's? 23 A. It would be easiest for me to go KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 77 1 chronologically. 2 Q. That's fine. 3 A. After I graduated, I worked at the 4 Lafayette Journal and Courier Newspaper. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038564 5 Q. What role did you -- 6 A. Advertising. Then I worked at Purdue 7 University for the school of mechanical 8 engineering doing PR for them mostly 9 intern and alumnae. Then I moved to St. 10 Louis and worked for Missouri Goodwill 11 Industries doing PR for them. Then I 12 went to Webster University doing some of 13 their external newsletters and 14 communications and events. 15 Q. You had media training? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. From whom? 18 A. Monsanto, through Monsanto. 19 Q. Was that paid for by Monsanto when you 20 came on? 21 A. Since I have been employed with them, 22 yes, when it pertained to my job. 23 Q. Right. But they provided you with the KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 78 1 media training at their expense? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. Who was the company that put you through SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038565 4 the media training? Was it Ryan & 5 Associates? 6 A. No. It was Motion Masters. 7 Q. When did you receive that media 8 training? 9 A. In -- I think it was '94. 10 Q. Is that something that you just had 11 once, or is it something you have 12 periodically? 13 A. I have had specific media training once. 14 I have had -- I have provided media 15 training where I have participated at 16 other times. 17 Q. Who have you provided media training to? 18 A. What that means, I have set it up for 19 different people, and I participated in 20 that process in helping with putting 21 that together. 22 Q. Have you done that with anybody at the 23 Anniston facility? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 79 1 A. I don't recall doing that. 2 Q. Do you know how long there has been a SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038566 3 public relations department at Monsanto? 4 A. I don't know how long. I have no idea. 5 Q. You don't have a history of when they 6 began having a PR department? 7 A. No. 8 Q. We have been provided with a lot of 9 historical documents regarding press 10 clippings that date back to the '60s and 11 '70s. Do you know -- Have you been 12 shown those documents? I'm talking 13 specifically about press clippings on 14 PCBs that date back in the'70s. 15 A. I don't know if I saw those or not. 16 Q. Is there a file within the public 17 relations department of Solutia, or 18 formerly Monsanto, regarding PCBs? 19 A. No. 20 Q. That you're aware of? 21 A. Not that I'm aware of. 22 Q. Is it broken out instead in terms of 23 site, specific site? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 80 1 A. Yes. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038567 2 Q. So each site receives any press 3 clippings from the clipping service that 4 pertains to that site? Is that the way 5 it works? 6 A. Right. 7 Q. We had talked before about your contact 8 with Bill Defer, and one of the things 9 you mentioned that you do is you talk 10 about community outreach. Do you recall 11 what sort of community outreach programs 12 were in place, if any, back in the '94 13 timeframe? 14 MR. PECK: In Anniston? 15 MS. MALOW: In Anniston. Yeah. 16 A. Well, I wouldn't say -- call it -- Most 17 of the site outreach are in the 18 programs. If s standard routine 19 outreach that we do. We interact with 20 leaders in the community. We interact 21 with philanthropic agencies that we 22 identified are appropriate to give to 23 based on the needs in the community. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 81 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038568 1 Typically we have historically had, 2 since I have been involved, a community 3 relation plan, and that's what we work 4 from. But it's not an outreach program, 5 per se. 6 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Do you know when it was 7 that a community relation plan was 8 established at the Anniston site? 9 A. What do you mean? The first time? 10 Q. Yes. 11 A. I don't know the first time. 12 Q. Do you know what community relation plan 13 was in place, if there was one, in '94 14 when you took over that responsibility? 15 A. Each year we update the community 16 relations plan. There are plans 17 annually. 18 Q. Are those written plans? 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. Are those plans maintained, copies of 21 those plans? 22 A. Yeah. 23 Q. Where would those be kept? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 82 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038569 1 A. Just depends on the person who's 2 managing it. Sometimes they're called 3 community relation plans, and sometimes 4 they're in the plant file. It depends 5 on the person managing. 6 Q. How did you maintain it for Anniston or 7 Alabama? 8 A. Typically I maintained minein the file 9 that went with the plant. 10 Q. So if we have the entire Anniston file, 11 we would have any community relations 12 plans? 13 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 14 the question. 15 A. The ones that I did --Maybe. But I 16 didn't manage those files. Once they 17 were out of my hands, what they did with 18 them -- Whether they kept those or not, 19 I can't say. 20 Q. (By Ms. Malow) And I don't remember 21 seeing the written community relations 22 plan. 23 MS. MALOW: Have you seen -- KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 83 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038570 1 MR. PECK: I have seen at least 2 one in there. 3 MR. STEWART: One in there. 4 MR. PECK: I have seen a couple in 5 the file. I don't know. 6 MS. MALOW: There may be others? 7 MR. PECK: I don't know of any 8 others. To the extent we 9 have them, they're in there, 10 as far as I'm aware. 11 Q. (By Ms. Malow) What I'm trying to 12 figure out now, though, is do you recall 13 what the community relation plan was 14 that was in place when you got that 15 responsibility and before in Anniston? 16 A. I don't remember exactly what was in it. 17 Q. Who decides what a community relation 18 plan should be for a particular 19 facility? 20 A. It's usually worked out with the person 21 who has my responsibilities and the site 22 manager. 23 Q. It's a team cooperative effort? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038571 84 1 A. It's a team, right. 2 Q. It has nothing to do -- For example, 3 Solutia had a fund. 4 A. It does. We do tie our philanthropic 5 contributions to community relations 6 plan. 7 Q. Have you ever been on the board of the 8 Solutia Fund? 9 A. No. 10 Q. Have you ever been on the board of the 11 Monsanto Fund? 12 A. No. 13 Q. Are you familiar with the amount of 14 monies that have been allocated to the 15 Anniston site during the time that you 16 have had responsibility for them? 17 A. When I had responsibilities, I was 18 familiar with it, yes. 19 Q. Let's talk about the last time that you 20 had responsibility, which would have 21 been -- let's say '97, early '98. Do 22 you know what the philanthropic budget 23 was at that time for Anniston? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038572 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 85 1 A. I don't recall exactly what it was. It 2 would have been the 40 to 60 range, 3 thousand. I don't recall exactly. 4 Q. And what is your understanding of how 5 that number is determined? 6 A. Depends on whether you're talking about 7 Monsanto or Solutia. 8 Q. Let's talk about Monsanto first. Then 9 we can deal with when you had it in '94. 10 Do you remember what the budget was for 11 Anniston in '94? 12 A. It was lower. I don't remember exactly, 13 but I know it was less than that. 14 Q. We were provided with a document last 15 night from Mr. Peck that has Fund 16 Budgets by Location. It seems to 17 indicate that in 1997 the Anniston plant 18 was 60,000. Does that sound right? 19 A. That sounds right. 20 Q. And in '94 it indicates $24,800? 21 A. I was thinking it might have been in the 22 20s. I know it went up. 23 Q. Have you reviewed or looked at the Fund SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038573 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 86 1 Budgets by Location? 2 A. Not for a while. 3 Q. Is that a document that you would be 4 copied on? 5 A. Yes. 6 Q. And how often are those put out? 7 A. Eisually we -- once a year we 8 reevaluate. 9 Q. Who prepares the Fund Budgets by 10 Location document? 11 A. Who manages that document? 12 Q. Who issues the Fund Budgets by Location? 13 MR. PECK: You mean Solutia Fund? 14 MS. MALOW: Yeah. 15 Q. (By Ms. Maiow) Who generates this fund 16 budget? 17 A. Keeps track of what --1 guess maybe 18 Janet Ryan. I mean Janet Striker, who 19 is our person that actually writes the 20 checks -- when we request them. 21 [Rusert Exhibit Number Three 22 was marked.] SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038574 23 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Just so the record is KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 87 1 clear, what I handed you before to look 2 at, what we have now looked at, Rusert 3 Exhibit Three, which is the Fund Budgets 4 by Location, looks like they go from '94 5 through '99. Is that accurate? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. And you did not look at this document 8 before the deposition? 9 A. I glanced at it; I didn't look at it in 10 any detail. 11 Q. Are there any other documents that you 12 glanced at that we haven't covered? 13 A. I don't recall. No. 14 Q. What are the factors that go into 15 determining how much is budgeted to a 16 particular facility? 17 A. Well, I mean, if you're talking from 18 Monsanto, I was not a part of that. 19 Q. Let's talk Solutia, then. 20 A. For Solutia, we look at -- There's three 21 areas that we look at as far as needs in SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038575 22 the community. We look at environmental 23 stewardship opportunities. We look at KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 88 1 science education needs. And we look at 2 community infrastructure. And we 3 determine what the need is in that 4 community. And that helps us assess 5 what we should be doing. 6 Q. Can you tell me why it is that the 7 budget for the Anniston plant doubled 8 between '94 and '97? 9 A. I mean, I didn't have it in that whole 10 timeframe. I know that when I was in 11 there in '94 we did get an increase 12 because we felt they were reasonably 13 low. In their ability to do things, 14 there was a lot of need for education 15 resources in that community. It's a 16 community we draw employment from, and 17 we really wanted to be able to 18 contribute in improving that. 19 Q. Exhibit Three, which is the Fund Budgets 20 by Location, indicates that in 1999 that SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038576 21 the Anniston plant had a budget of 22 $ 189,310. Are you aware of that? 23 A. No. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 89 1 Q. Do you know why it is that the budget 2 actually tripled from 1997 to 1999? 3 A. No. I was not part of that 4 decision-making process. 5 Q. Who would know the answerto that 6 question? 7 A. Kevin Cahill probably would know because 8 he was the one that works with that 9 plant. 10 Q. Well, Mr. Cahill didn't seem to know 11 what the budget was. 12 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 13 the question, if that's a 14 question. 15 MS. MALOW: I don't think that was 16 a question. That was just 17 commentary. 18 Q. (By Ms. Maiow) Are you aware that the 19 Anniston plant received more money than SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038577 20 any other plant in 1999, other than the 21 fund in the St. Louis headquarters? 22 A. No. 23 Q. Does that seem surprising to you, based KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 90 1 on the fact that there are only ninety 2 employees in the facility? 3 A. It's not done by number of employees. 4 That wouldn't be a reference or rational 5 for that. 6 Q. Does it seem strange to you, based on 7 fact that it's in a fairly small 8 community? 9 A. I can't really comment on how those 10 decisions were made. 11 Q. There's a portion at the bottom that has 12 three things. Has "matching," plus 13 "fund," plus "plans." Do you know what 14 those each stand for the -- what the 15 matching stands for? 16 MR. PECK: I'm showing her. 17 A. I can't say for sure. It may reference 18 LinitedWay. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038578 19 Q. (By Ms. Malow) For example, if you'll 20 look at the 1997 one, which is a few 21 pages down, there's a matching of over 2 22 million dollars? 23 A. Would be my guess it's United Way, the KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 91 1 companies would match. That's changed, 2 one, because that was under Monsanto. 3 But I don't know specifically what's 4 different about it. You'd actually have 5 to talk to someonewho works on the 6 funds to know for sure. 7 Q. Would that be Christy Beckman? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. What about the monies that are under the 10 part that says "Plants"? Do you know 11 what that means or stands for? 12 A. I believe that's money allocated to all 13 our plants throughSolutia Fund or 14 Monsanto Fund. 15 Q. There's a category that says "Fund" with 16 dollar amounts. And there's a number of 17 plants -- SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038579 18 A. I don't know. 19 Q. I'm trying to figure out what the 20 differences were. 21 A. I don't know what the difference is. 22 Q. Do you have knowledge regarding why it 23 was that the -- Let me back up. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 92 1 The Fund Budgets by Location, is 2 that dealing with philanthropic monies? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. Are there other monies besides 5 philanthropic monies that are allocated 6 to each of the plants? 7 A. Other monies for what? 8 Q. Anything. I mean, how about for 9 community relations? 10 A. Not --No. Usually community relations 11 money is budgeted in St. Louis. And 12 if s in a lump that's not usually for 13 one particular plant. 14 Q. What, if there's a specific program such 15 as Solutia Education Connection Program, 16 would that be separate money? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038580 17 A. I don't know how they set that program 18 up. 19 Q. Do you have an understanding why it is 20 that the Fund Budgets by Location 21 increased from 1.7 million dollars in 22 1995 to over 11 million dollars in 1996? 23 A. No, I don't. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 93 1 Q. Seem like a significant jump to you? 2 A. I don't know. It's under Monsanto, so I 3 don't know anything about that at all. 4 Q. We were talking before about the written 5 community relations plans. What issues 6 drive that community relations plan? 7 What types of issues? 8 A. Well, I wouldn't say they're necessarily 9 issues. They could be activities at 10 plants; expansions, for example. Any 11 number of factors that would be 12 affecting employees as well as the 13 community. 14 Q. What are some of the factors that go 15 into establishing a community relations SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038581 16 plan? 17 A. Well, we look at what the current -- 18 what the plant is currently doing, if 19 they're expanding, if they're growing, 20 or what products they make, the level of 21 knowledge in the community. In a 22 particular sense, since we have spun off 23 from Monsanto, there's a real lack of KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 94 1 awareness of the name "Solutia." So we 2 have tried to evaluate that recognition 3 in the community and target our 4 philanthropic and any outreach plans 5 accordingly. 6 Q. Is that true even today, that Solutia is 7 still having difficulties in terms of 8 name recognition in the community? 9 A. Yes. 10 MR. PECK: Only recently have we 11 got you guys to use that 12 name. 13 MS. MALOW: It takes us a while to 14 catch on. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038582 15 Q. (By Ms. Maiow) Do you know of a 16 consulting firm named Fleishman Hillard? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. What is your knowledge regarding 19 Fleishman Hillard's involvement in 20 Monsanto or Solutia? 21 A. We have used them on and off for 22 different programs and projects. 23 Q. Have you specifically had any direct KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 95 1 contact with any persons at Fleishman 2 Hillard? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. Who's your contact? 5 A. I worked with a man named Bob Pearce. 6 Q. What did you and Mr. Pearce work on 7 together? 8 A. We worked on the community relation plan 9 for expansion that's going on in 10 Pensacola, Florida. 11 Q. How many years to your knowledge has 12 Fleishman Hillard been retained by 13 Monsanto or Solutia? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038583 14 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 15 A. I don't know how long. But if s not 16 been years, like in year after year. 17 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Did you know of them in 18 1990 having some work that they did for 19 Monsanto? 20 A. I don't know if they did any in '90. 21 Q. When is your first contact with them? 22 A. Personally? 23 Q. Yes. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 96 1 A. I did some work with them when I was 2 doing environmental communications in 3 the shared services. I don't recall 4 what the proj ect was. 5 Q. Have you had any dealings with Fleishman 6 Hillard regarding the Anniston facility? 7 A. No, I have not. 8 Q. Do you know of any person with Solutia 9 or Monsanto that has worked with 10 Fleishman Hillard regarding the Anniston 11 facility? 12 A. No. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038584 13 Q. What type of company is Fleishman 14 Hillard? Is it an outside public 15 relations firm? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. Has Fleishman Hillard to your knowledge 18 been used regarding jury consulting type 19 issues? 20 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 21 A. I really don't know. 22 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Have you ever hired an 23 outside PR firm to do any work regarding KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 97 1 any of the Alabama facilities? 2 A. Have I hired them actually? 3 Q. Yes. 4 A. I was instrumental in finding Steve 5 Bradley. 6 Q. Tell me how that came about that you 7 found Mr. Bradley. 8 A. At the time, as I just mentioned, we had 9 recently spun off from Monsanto to form 10 Solutia. And we knew we had the name 11 recognition issue. And Alabama was a SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038585 12 very important state to us with the 13 manufacturing station there. And a lot 14 of employees -- and at the same time we 15 were generating quite a bit of media 16 attention in various parts of the states 17 from Anniston. So we felt it became 18 important to really work at our 19 community -- look at the community 20 outreach programs and reevaluate -- and 21 make sure we are doing the right thing, 22 given that most people were not familiar 23 with Solutia. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 98 1 Q. How is it you came to find Mr. Bradley? 2 A. I believe I got his name through Alabama 3 Power. 4 Q. Who at Alabama Power gave you 5 Mr. Bradley's name? 6 A. I don't remember who it was. 7 Q. Why is it that -- How is it that you 8 were talking to Alabama Power about this 9 issue? 10 A. It wasn't that I was -- I'm not sure SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038586 11 what issue -- We thought they might know 12 someone locally in the area that could 13 help us. 14 Q. What was your relationship with Alabama 15 Power at that time? 16 A. I didn't have a relation. 17 Q. Monsanto did? 18 A. Someone had suggested that. And I don't 19 recall who any more. So I tried that. 20 Q. You don't remember who it was that told 21 you to call Alabama Power? 22 A. Not at all. 23 Q. Do you remember if it was someone in St. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 99 1 Louis or someone at the site? 2 A. It was probably someone at the site, but 3 it would be speculation. 4 Q. We wouldn't want you to do that. 5 A. No. 6 Q. Your lawyer would get upset. 7 Did Warren Lightfoot refer 8 Bradley-Townsend to you guys? 9 A. I know we got their name -- was from the SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038587 10 Alabama Power folks. 11 Q. There is a document -- 12 MS. MALOW: Just so we know, this 13 is one of the documents you 14 gave us last night. And we 15 can't read that document. 16 Looks like it has a reference 17 name. It says "Warren" 18 something. We would ask for 19 that document to be produced 20 in a readable form. 21 MR. PECK: That might be her 22 writing. 23 MR. STEWART: We have got -- you KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 100 1 have got originals of the 2 documents. 3 MR. PECK: I don't have them with 4 me right now. I'm trying to 5 expedite things. I'll look 6 for the original document. 7 MR. STEWART: If you have - I 8 thought you had them. SWIFT 07-07- 1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038588 9 MR. PECK: No, no. I sent them 10 back. I've got enough 11 problems without carrying -- 12 [Rusert Exhibit Number Four 13 was marked.] 14 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Mrs. Rusert, we have now 15 marked as Exhibit Four to your 16 deposition a document that appears to be 17 a fax that was sent to you from Alan 18 Faust on January 7th of 1998 regarding 19 Bradley-Townsend Public Affairs firm. 20 Do you recall -- Do you recall receiving 21 that from Mr. Faust? 22 A. As I see it, I do. 23 Q. And does that ring a bell that perhaps KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 101 1 Mr. Faust had been the person today that 2 told you to call Alabama Power? 3 A. He might have been. 4 Q. There appears to be some handwritten 5 notes at the bottom that says "referred 6 by" and it's difficult to read. Is that 7 your handwriting? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038589 8 A. It is mine, yeah. 9 Q. But you can't -- 10 A. Well 11 Q. Says "Warren?" Is that what it says? 12 A. Could be Warren. Because it seems like 13 there was -- when we got the name, we 14 got Steve Bradley's name from Alabama 15 Power, that we looked for other people 16 -- references, and that may have been 17 that Warren Lightfoot did some checking 18 as well. I don't really know. I don't 19 remember. Lookslike "Samuel" 20 something. 21 Q. Looks like David? 22 A. Looks like it might be "Samuel." It's 23 impossible to tell. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 102 1 Q. There's a fax line at the top that has 2 Kaley's name on it. Do you know why 3 that is? 4 A. No, I don't. 5 Q. Do you recall any conversations with 6 Dr. Kaley regarding the Bradley-Townsend SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038590 7 Public Affairs firm? 8 A. When we were evaluating a possible 9 candidate for that, I'm pretty sure he 10 was involved. 11 Q. Who all was involved in evaluating 12 possible candidates for public -- 13 outside public affairs role? 14 A. I can't recall everybody, but I know the 15 plant manager was involved. 16 Q. Which at that time would have been Blake 17 Hamilton? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. And you believe Dr. Kaley, yourself. 20 Anybody else? 21 A. Alan Faust. Those are the ones I know 22 for sure. 23 Q. Were there other references that you KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 103 1 were given besides the Bradley-Townsend 2 firm for an outside public relations 3 consultant? 4 A. Probably were. I don't recall who they 5 were. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038591 6 Q. Did you interview Mr. Bradley before you 7 hired him? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. Was that in person or on the phone? 10 A. I did it by phone. 11 Q. And do you remember when in time that 12 would have been? This document, which 13 is Exhibit Four, was dated January 7th 14 of '98. Do you know if it was before or 15 after that time that you talked to him 16 on the phone? 17 A. I believe it was before that. 18 Q. Tell me as best you can recall about 19 that conversation, what you said and 20 what he said. 21 A. I know--Boy. I don't know if I can 22 recall that conversation. 23 Q. Just your general recollection is fine. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 104 1 A. I would have talked about that we have 2 three plants in Alabama, that we have a 3 new name and Solutia -- we used to be 4 part of Monsanto. I certainly would SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038592 5 have mentioned that we're getting a lot 6 of media attention over the Anniston 7 plant and that with that attention we 8 were generating media interest. And we 9 wanted to evaluate our community 10 outreach programs across the state, 11 particularly in the communities where we 12 do operate. And we wanted someone who 13 professionally could help us evaluate 14 those programs and make recommendations. 15 Q. When you're talking about media 16 attention pertaining to Anniston, are 17 you talking about media attention on 18 PCBs? 19 A. I would assume that--1 don't remember 20 all what was being generated at the 21 time. I remember there was a lot of it. 22 I'm sure that's part of it. 23 Q. Are you telling the jury that the media KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 105 1 attention was not primarily focused on 2 PCBs? 3 MR. PECK: Object to the form. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038593 4 A. I'm sure there was lots of it. 5 Q. Wasn't that the real issue, Mrs. Rusert, 6 as far as media attention at that time? 7 A. That was the biggest issue out of 8 Anniston, yes. 9 Q. And there was a concern on the part of 10 Solutia that that media attention was 11 generating negative publicityfor the 12 Anniston site, correct? 13 A. For the company. 14 Q. Right. Including their representation 15 in Anniston? 16 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 17 the question. 18 A. Across the state. That's why we were 19 concerned and looked at the whole state. 20 And like I said, it's a big presence for 21 us in that state. 22 Q. (By Ms. Malow) And the main reason you 23 wanted an outside consultant was because KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 106 1 you wanted to try to turn around that 2 negative publicity, correct? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038594 3 A. No. The main reason we wanted a 4 consultant was to evaluate our community 5 outreach programs so we could look and 6 see if we were doing a good job, if we 7 needed to reevaluate and if we're 8 reaching people in developing 9 relationships and that there is a clear 10 understanding of who Solutia is. 11 Q. But with respect to this -- the issue 12 that you said was the biggest issue for 13 Anniston, that is, that there was 14 negative publicity about PCBs, that was 15 something you wanted to turn and put in 16 a positive light? 17 MR. PECK: Object to the form, 18 mischaracterizes her 19 testimony. 20 Q. (By Ms. Maiow) You can answer. 21 A. We were not--by no means was this, the 22 hiring of Steve Bradley, to do -- 23 pertaining to that media interest by the KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 107 1 media. It really had to do with our SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038595 2 community outreach effort and our need 3 to make sure we are approaching that 4 outreach appropriately. It wasn't 5 focused on the media. 6 Q. I understand that community outreach was 7 one of the issues that you addressed 8 with Mr. Bradley, but the truth is, 9 Mrs. Rusert, one of the other issues 10 that you addressed with Mr. Bradley was 11 the fact that there was a large amount 12 of negative publicity that was being 13 generated about the Anniston site 14 regarding PCBs, right? 15 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 16 A. I did talk about we were getting a lot 17 of media attention, yes. 18 Q. (By Ms. Maiow) And that was a concern 19 to the company, as you have already 20 testified? 21 A. Sure. 22 Q. And that was something that the company 23 wanted to fix? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 108 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038596 1 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 2 the question. 3 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Right? 4 A. That we wanted to fix the media 5 attention? 6 Q. Right. 7 A. That's not why we hired Mr. Bradley, 8 which was the context of the 9 conversation. 10 Q. I understand that Mr. Bradley was hired 11 for several reasons, correct? 12 A. The primary one being -- and really the 13 reason that we wanted to find somebody 14 was to evaluate our outreach programs. 15 Q. But at the same time you wanted to 16 evaluate the community outreach, there 17 was negative publicity being generated 18 effectively about the Anniston site that 19 you have already testified impacted the 20 reputation of Solutia in the entire 21 State of Alabama? 22 A. Right. 23 MR. PECK: Okay, guys. I have got KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 109 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038597 1 a clear copy. My copy's 2 clear enough to read it. 3 MS. MALOW: Is it Warren 4 Lightfoot? 5 MR. PECK: Yes. 6 MR. STEWART: Let the record 7 reflect contrary to what I 8 was previously told, Mr. Peck 9 did have a copy. 10 MR. PECK: No. My-I have a 11 copy. My copy is better than 12 your copy. 13 MR. STEWART: That was our point. 14 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Now that Mr. Peck has 15 If you want -- 16 MR. PECK: Let me just say, you 17 can read -- If you can read 18 that, any communication you 19 might have had with Warren 20 Lightfoot or Samuel Franklin 21 would be privilege. But you 22 can tell him what that says. 23 A. You mean say -- KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 110 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038598 1 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Identify what that says. 2 A. Warren Lightfoot and Samuel Franklin. 3 Q. What we're talking about is, so the 4 record is clear, Exhibit Four, page two, 5 which had your handwritten notes that 6 the Bradley-Townsend Public Affairs firm 7 had been referred by Warren Lightfoot 8 and Samuel H. Franklin. Is that 9 accurate? 10 A. That's what it states here. 11 Q. Who is Samuel Franklin? 12 MR. PECK: He's our partner. 13 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Now, you told me before 14 that you did have a recollection that it 15 was an Alabama Power representative that 16 had referred Bradley-Townsend Public 17 Affairs to Solutia? 18 A. Right. 19 Q. Do you know how it is that that 20 information jives with this handwritten 21 note about Mr. Lightfoot and 22 Mr. Franklin referring -- 23 A. I don't remember the details. It would KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038599 Ill 1 be my guess that we also ran the name by 2 Lightfoot, Franklin. 3 Q. At the time Lightfoot, Franklin was 4 representing Solutia in various 5 litigation? 6 A. Yes. 7 MS. MALOW: Let's take a break. 8 [A lunch break was taken.] 9 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Before we broke for 10 lunch, we were talking about Solutia 11 retaining Bradley-Townsend Public 12 Affairs. I want to back up in that 13 area. Okay? 14 A. Okay. 15 Q. You had told me that there was a 16 referral from the Alabama Power Company; 17 you couldn't remember the person. And 18 I'm a little unclear as to why it is 19 that Alabama Power was involved in that 20 referral process. Can you explain that 21 tome? 22 A. We just used them as a resource for 23 possible ideas ofeither firms or SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038600 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 112 1 individuals who -- people that they 2 thought were good for community outreach 3 type activities. 4 Q. And why was it that Alabama Power was 5 tapped for that resource? 6 A. Because I'm assuming someone knew people 7 at Alabama Power and thought they might 8 know for -- I can't recall, but there 9 may have been others we called too. I 10 just know that we were able to get a 11 name from them. I just don't remember. 12 Q. Do you have any people at Alabama Power 13 that you have ever dealt with? 14 A. No. 15 Q. You started to talk about your initial 16 interviewing of Mr. Bradley. You told 17 me that it was on the telephone and that 18 you had explained to him that there were 19 three facilities and the name 20 recognition issue, community outreach, 21 media attention on PCBs. Do you recall 22 approximately how long that initial call 23 lasted? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038601 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 113 1 A. I don't remember. No. 2 Q. After that call, did you provide 3 Mr. Bradley with any sort of documents 4 regarding the Alabama facilities? 5 A. I don't really recall that either, to be 6 honest. 7 Q. Mr. Bradley had testified that he was 8 given some historical information. Do 9 you know who would have provided that to 10 him? 11 A. Probably me. I just don't remember. 12 Q. I may have had -- 13 A. It wouldn't be uncommon for me to give 14 the background. I couldn't tell you 15 what it was or if I in -- 16 Q. If you did something like that, would 17 there be a transmittalletter sending it 18 on to Mr. Bradley under your signature? 19 A. Possibly. 20 Q. Would that be the type of document you 21 would keep a copy of in your file? 22 A. I might. Very likely at the time I SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038602 23 would have. Whether it was retained or KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 114 1 not in those files later on, I couldn't 2 say. 3 Q. What was the next contact that you had 4 with Mr. Bradley after that first phone 5 call? 6 A. I'm not sure what else -- I know I would 7 have talked to him again at some point 8 because I ultimately decided that we 9 should retain him. 10 Q. When in time was it after that first 11 phone call that you decided to retain 12 him? 13 A. Based on what you have there, I would 14 say it was probably in January. 15 Q. Of 1998? 16 A. But I can't remember for sure. 17 Q. Do you think it was a few weeks after 18 that first phone call, or within a 19 month? 20 A. A reasonable amount of time. 21 Q. Did you explain to Mr. Bradley either in SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038603 22 that first phone call or in later 23 discussions what image that you were KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 115 1 seeking for him to help Solutia obtain 2 in the community? 3 A. No. We never talked about image, that I 4 can recall anyway. 5 Q. His correspondence to you regarding his 6 public affairs firm, which we have 7 marked as Exhibit Four, has several 8 different types of services that they 9 offer to their clients, including things 10 like media relation, crisis 11 communication, PR legislative relations, 12 et cetera. What specifically did you 13 ask Mr. Bradley to do as far as services 14 that he was going to provide to Solutia? 15 And if you want to take a look at this 16 list on Exhibit Four? 17 A. Consistent with what I said before, what 18 we would be retaining him for was to 19 help evaluate our outreach in the three 20 different communities where we were SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038604 21 doing business -- operating plants. 22 Q. So would that fall -- under what 23 umbrella would that fall, public KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 116 1 relations or community relations? 2 A. Probably community relations, but I 3 don't really see that as a listing, per 4 se. Because they kind of overlap some 5 -- a number of these areas, depending on 6 different audiences that you decide that 7 you need to reach in any given 8 community. They're not always 9 identical. 10 Q. Did Mr. Bradley discuss with you needing 11 to survey the community before he could 12 make recommendations on what type of 13 community program should be instituted? 14 A. I don't remember if he did or not. 15 Q. While I'm looking for this, will you 16 tell me what further contact you had 17 with Mr. Bradley after you made a 18 decision to retain his firm? 19 A. Well, I would assume if -- it was very SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038605 20 little, because in February I was no 21 longer working on that project. 22 Q. Okay. 23 A. It's the time frame I was off that. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 117 1 Q. Did you ever meet Mr. Bradley in person? 2 A. I did not. So essentially I was 3 instrumental in helping identifying and 4 selecting him. And after that, I was no 5 longer working on that -- with that 6 plan, any of those plans in Alabama. 7 Q. Would Mr. Cahill have then taken on the 8 communications with Mr. Bradley after 9 you stopped having responsibility? 10 A. No. Let me think here. Yes. At that 11 point it would be Kevin that would have 12 taken it on. 13 Q. Do you recall any discussions with 14 Mr. Bradleyregarding a community 15 assessmentfor Solutia that he was going 16 to do? 17 A. I don't recall. 18 Q. And the reason I keep going back to that SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038606 19 is when we took Mr. Bradley's 20 deposition, he had indicated that he had 21 been asked to do a community assessment 22 for Solutia. And he had also indicated 23 that his initial conversations had been KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 118 1 with you. And I'm trying to determine 2 from your perspective if you remember 3 any of that about community assessment? 4 A. I don't really remember the specifics of 5 what we were talking about at that time. 6 You know, I barely can remember going 7 through the process of hiring him. It's 8 been long enough ago. 9 Q. Are you familiar with community 10 assessments? 11 A. I think so. 12 Q. What would that be? 13 A. Well, I'd have to interpret what I 14 think, if we're talking about community 15 survey of -- what is, you know, going on 16 in the community. And I'm not really 17 sure. I guess I can't really say for SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038607 18 sure what a community assessment is in 19 that context because I don't have the 20 context of the rest of the conversation. 21 Q. Well, he testified that the assessment 22 would be talking to community leaders to 23 find out their perception of Solutia. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 119 1 Would that make sense to you as to what 2 a community assessment would entail? 3 A. It's possible. 4 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 5 the question. 6 Q. (By Ms. Malow) We talked about the fact 7 that on Exhibit Four Mr. Lightfoot and 8 Mr. Franklin are listed as referral 9 sources. Did you have any conversations 10 11 MS. MALOW: And before you object, 12 let me get through the whole 13 question so you know what I'm 14 asking. 15 Q. (By Ms. Malow) I don't want to know 16 about anything other than factual SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038608 17 discussions that you had with either 18 Mr. Franklin or Mr. Lightfoot regarding 19 any issue pertaining to PCBs. 20 MR. PECK: I 21 MS. MALOW: I'm not looking to get 22 into anything privileged. 23 But if it was factual KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 120 1 information such as history 2 on the plant, things of that 3 nature, I think that's 4 discoverable. 5 MR. PECK: I don't think it's 6 discoverable. I'll let her 7 tell me whether or not she 8 had one so we don't make a 9 big issue of it. Let me take 10 her out a minute. 11 MS. MALOW: Okay. 12 [Discussion held off the 13 record.] 14 MR. PECK: I disagree with your 15 interpretation of privilege, SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038609 16 but she didn't have any 17 discussions with him. 18 A. I had no discussions, right. 19 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Good. We'll move on. 20 Just so I'm clear, you didn't 21 personally have any conversation with 22 anybody at Alabama Power regarding 23 retaining Mr. Bradley? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 121 1 A. Not that I recall. 2 Q. Have we now covered all the 3 conversations that you have had with 4 Mr. Bradley regarding his retention as 5 an outside PR consultant? 6 A. As best as I can remember, yes. 7 MR. STEWART: Good midwestem 8 statement. 9 THE WITNESS: It's the truth. 10 MR. STEWART: I'm talking about 11 the way of phrasing it. 12 THE WITNESS: That would be 13 accurate. Good assessment. 14 Q. (By Ms. Malow) We talked a little bit SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038610 15 about your trips to the actual Anniston 16 site. I wanted to get back to that 17 issue because my understanding was with 18 Bill Defer -- if I remember correctly, 19 and correct me if I'm wrong -- that was 20 on the phone or was that -- 21 A. No. I believe I just talked with him 22 primarily on the phone. 23 Q. Right. When Mayausky came on board, you KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 122 1 actually did make a trip out to the 2 site? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. How many other visits have you made to 5 the Anniston facility? 6 A. I don't remember. 7 Q. Do you think it's more than ten? 8 A. Probably not. 9 Q. Can you remember any of the other times 10 or purposes that you went out to the 11 site besides that initial one with Jack? 12 A. When Blake Hamilton came on board. 13 Q. Tell me about that. Who went besides SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038611 14 yourself? 15 A. Just me. 16 Q. What was the purpose of that visit? 17 A. He was a new site manager. 18 Q. That's typical protocol to go out and 19 meet the site manager and find out what 20 they're doing in the community, how 21 things are going at the plant? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. Did you do -- Was that just a one day KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 123 1 visit? 2 A. As far as I remember. I don't remember 3 for sure. 4 Q. Do you remember what year that was? 5 A. It was around probably June or July of 6 '97, sometime in '97 when Blake came on. 7 Q. What other visits do you recall to 8 Anniston? 9 A. I know there were other visits. I can't 10 specifically recall the time frames. I 11 do remember a visit with Alan Faust and 12 Blake at some point. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038612 13 Q. What was the purpose of that trip? 14 A. I'm sure it was to discuss issues at the 15 Anniston plant, but I do not remember 16 the specific purpose. 17 Q. Was that dealing with remediation 18 issues? 19 A. It could have been; I just can't recall. 20 Q. What experience -- not experience, but 21 what involvement did you have with 22 respect to remediation issues at the 23 Anniston site? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 124 1 A. All of my involvement would be around 2 the community outreach. 3 Q. Have you ever assisted in preparing any 4 talking points for any of the plant 5 representatives at Anniston? 6 A. No. 7 Q. Have youassisted at the Anniston 8 facility in drafting any letters to the 9 editor? 10 A. I don't recall doing that. 11 Q. Have you assisted in the drafting of any SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038613 12 speeches that have been given by any of 13 the plant personnel at Anniston? 14 A. No. 15 Q. Have you been in attendance at any 16 community activity or function in 17 Anniston? 18 A. I don't think so. 19 Wait; wait. I'm just remembering 20 something that would kind of be a 21 community -- one of their VP started -- 22 I think it was when they were 23 recertified, I believe. I did attend a KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 125 1 function that was at the plant site that 2 had the community -- 3 Q. That was OSHA? ISO? 4 A. No. It was their voluntary protection 5 program, safety program for OSHA. 6 Q. And that was a function held at the site 7 itself? 8 A. Yes. On the plant grounds. 9 Q. Anyone else from St. Louis come for 10 that? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038614 11 A. There were -- 12 Q. A lot of people? 13 A. A lot of people. 14 Q. Have you ever put together any sort of 15 tours of the site for any members of the 16 press? 17 A. No. 18 Q. I asked you earlier about contact with 19 reporters in The Anniston Star. Have 20 you ever had any contact with any 21 reporters with the Birmingham paper? 22 A. I don't remember doing it. 23 Q. How about with any radio or TV personnel KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 126 1 in the Alabama area, in Alabama? 2 A. I don't think so. 3 Q. Have there been any articles that were 4 written that you have been responsible 5 for getting in the paper regarding the 6 Anniston site? 7 A. I don't think so. I don't recall 8 specifically on that, though. 9 Q. Have you been involved at all with SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038615 10 regard to articles that were selected 11 for use in Monsanto's motion to change 12 venues in litigation that's pending? 13 A. You'd have to--I'm not sure what 14 you're even asking either. 15 Q. Are you familiar with the fact that 16 Monsanto or Solutia has tried to move 17 the location of a lawsuit? 18 A. No. 19 Q. So you didn't have assistance in picking 20 articles regarding that issue? 21 A. No. 22 Q. Do you know who would have? 23 A. No, I don't. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 127 1 Q. Are you familiar with the lawsuit 2 involvingthe people that live around 3 the lake? 4 A. A little bit. 5 Q. What is your familiarity with that 6 lawsuit? 7 A. That there are people who live around 8 the lake that are in a class action SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038616 9 suit. 10 Q. Are you familiar with the fact that the 11 case settled? 12 A. A little bit. 13 Q. What have you been told about the terms 14 of that settlement? 15 A. I know nothing about the terms; I just 16 know the case settled. 17 Q. Other than conversations with lawyers 18 about that settlement, have you had any 19 conversation with anyone else at Solutia 20 about the settlement? 21 A. No. 22 Q. Have you had conversations with Diane 23 Herndon regarding the Anniston facility? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 128 1 A. Any time frame? 2 Q. Yeah. 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. When is the last time you and Diane 5 spoke about the Anniston site? 6 A. Probably while I was still working with 7 the plant. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038617 8 Q. Back in '98? 9 A. Yeah. 10 Q. Early '98? 11 A. Sometime in '98. Actually it was more 12 like '97, but perhaps '98. 13 Q. Do you recall what it was that you 14 discussed with her at that time? 15 A. No, I don't. 16 Q. What would be a reason that you and 17 Diane would need to confer about the 18 Anniston site? 19 A. It would just be a matter if I had a 20 question about something she had worked 21 on, some historical thing. 22 Q. Do you recall any specific historical 23 question that you had? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 129 1 A. No, I don't. 2 Q. Are you aware that Kevin Cahill has 3 given his deposition in this case? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. Did you talk with Mr. Cahill about his 6 deposition? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038618 7 A. No, other than just saying that he had 8 gone through his deposition. 9 Q. Did Mr. Cahill let you know any of the 10 types of questions that would be asked 11 of you? 12 A. No, he did not. 13 Q. Have you ever read his deposition? 14 A. No. 15 Q. Other than Mr. Bradley, did you have any 16 contact with anybody else at 17 Bradley-Townsend Public Affairs firm? 18 A. No, not that I remember. 19 Q. Are you familiar with contributions that 20 the Anniston site has made to any 21 charities? 22 A. I had some familiarity when I was 23 working with the plant. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 130 1 Q. What was your familiarity in that 2 regard? 3 A. That we made some contributions to some 4 organizations. For example, I 5 definitely remember wedid do something SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038619 6 with the -- I think it was the Natural 7 Science Museum they have there. 8 Q. Do you remember what the contribution 9 was? 10 A. No. I don't even remember the amount. 11 Q. I believe that Mr. Cahill had testified 12 that the annual budget for philanthropic 13 activities was reviewed by you. Is that 14 accurate? 15 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 16 A. You mean each year? 17 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Yes. 18 A. Yeah. 19 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 20 the question. 21 A. At one point it was. I'm no longer 22 responsible for that plant. 23 Q. (By Ms. Malow) At the time that you had KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 131 1 responsibility for the plant, was one of 2 your functions to review the annual 3 budget? 4 A. Right. And also I should further SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038620 5 explain that we at one point had a 6 regional concept where -- and we still 7 have that; it's just not as in play as 8 it was. And I was responsible for the 9 southeast, which of course included 10 those three Alabama plants. So those 11 plants' would also come to me in 12 addition to Kevin. 13 Q. When you say there was a "regional 14 concept," what do you mean by that? 15 A. Meaning that we had three regions of the 16 United States and Canada and Europe that 17 we broke the three of us into to cover 18 those sites. And all of them were 19 manufacturing sites in those regions. 20 One is the southeast; one was west; and 21 one was northeast. 22 Q. And you had southeastern region? 23 A. Right. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 132 1 Q. What time frame did you have that? 2 A. I really still have it. It's not 3 functioning quite the same way as it SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038621 4 once was. 5 Q. And in that role, and having the 6 southeast region, you would review the 7 annual budget for philanthropic giving? 8 A. Yes. For the plants that were located 9 in the southeast. 10 Q. What were you reviewing the budget for? 11 A. Making sure that the philanthropic 12 activities met the three criteria I 13 mentioned earlier. 14 Q. The themes that we talked about, like 15 environmental stewardship, or 16 education -- 17 A. And science education. 18 Q. And was there a certain percentage of 19 the budget that was supposed to be 20 allocated to each of those themes, or 21 was it each of those three themes were 22 supposed to be met? 23 A. Neither of the above.We looked for KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 133 1 opportunity in the area based on needs 2 in the community and whether or not SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038622 3 there was something that fit that 4 criteria that would be a good match for 5 us. 6 Q. Was there ever a situation with the 7 Anniston facility that you felt that 8 money was being expended that you 9 thought were not meeting those themes? 10 A. No. 11 Q. I had asked you before about the 12 property purchase program. And I 13 believe you didn't have any involvement 14 in that. How about the door-to-door 15 aspect where Jack Mayausky went out to 16 visit with the neighborhood? Were you 17 involved with that? 18 A. No. 19 Q. When you told me at the very beginning 20 that when you were looking for documents 21 in response to the notice of deposition 22 and document request, that you had found 23 what we have now marked as Exhibit Two, KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 134 1 the Bourne Elliott Associates SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038623 2 information on community assessment, you 3 had told me that there were other -- 4 that there was a file that would have 5 things because CAPs were not unusual. 6 Right? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. Was the file that you found this in 9 empty other than Exhibit Two? 10 A. No. 11 Q. What else was in that file? 12 A. Other information could be articles 13 about community advisory panels. 14 There's other consultants from other 15 parts of the United States in there, who 16 either facilitate or have helped put 17 together community advisory panels. 18 Q. Did you give us all those? 19 MR. PECK: No. Because they don't 20 have anything to do with 21 Anniston or Alabama. This 22 was the only one to do 23 with -- KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 135 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038624 1 MS. MALOW: We would request that 2 those be produced. We can 3 decide later if it's 4 admissible. But it's 5 certainly relevant. 6 MR. PECK: I don't think it was 7 asked for. If it was asked 8 for, it would have been 9 produced. I'll take your 10 request under consideration. 11 I haven't seen the document. 12 MS. MALOW: Okay. 13 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Are you familiar with 14 the fact that other than Bourne Elliott 15 Associates there have been additional 16 consulting firms that have sent 17 information to Solutia regarding CAPs? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. And I'm talking specifically for 20 Anniston. 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. Do you know where those documents were 23 maintained? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 136 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038625 1 A. I'm not sure if I have them in that file 2 or if Kevin has them. I don't remember 3 where they have been transferred. 4 Q. We have been provided by counsel for the 5 defendant with those other documents, 6 which included a company called -- Was 7 it Meridian? Meridian. There was also 8 a Prudential organization that did CAPs. 9 Are you familiar with either of those? 10 A. Prudential I'm familiar with. 11 Q. Have you had contact specifically with 12 Prudential regarding a community 13 advisory panel? 14 MR. PECK: For Anniston. 15 Q. (By Ms. Malow) For Anniston. 16 A. Yes. 17 MR. PECK: For Anniston? 18 THE WITNESS: Yes. 19 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Tell me about that. 20 A. I was looking at whether or not we could 21 do a community advisory panel for a 22 number of plants, Decatur; Anniston; and 23 Augusta, Georgia, specifically. We were KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 137 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038626 1 looking at the possibility of whether we 2 might be able to reduce our costs by 3 having one firm help get three different 4 community advisory panels started up. 5 And I had a couple of different -- maybe 6 three, I think, different firms give us 7 quotes. 8 Q. Yount? 9 A. I don't recall that. 10 Q. The quotes you got from were from 11 Prudential. Who else? 12 A. I'm not sure I remember the others. It 13 might have been Ann Green was one of 14 them. She does -- 15 Q. Does she have her own firm? 16 A. Yes. Ann Green Associates. 17 Q. Where are they based, or is she based? 18 A. I don't remember. If s somewhere on the 19 East Coast. 20 Q. Who was your contact at Prudential? 21 A. John -- I don't remember his last name. 22 I don't remember. 23 Q. I might be able to refresh -- KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038627 138 1 A. I think it was John. 2 Q. We'll look for it. Ann Green and who 3 else? 4 A. Associates. And I don't remember the 5 third. 6 Q. Okay. And did you in fact choose one of 7 those -- 8 A. No. 9 Q. -- entities? 10 A. No. 11 Q. Why not? 12 A. Because we didn't really get enough cost 13 efficiency. And we couldn't really 14 afford with our current budgets to do 15 that approach to a CAP at any of those 16 facilities. 17 Q. We talked about the fact that a CAP was 18 not set up in Anniston. Did you 19 subsequently set up aCAP at Decatur or 20 Augusta? 21 A. I did not, no. 22 Q. Do you know if there was one set up? 23 A. Augusta does not have one. Decatur just SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038628 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 139 1 set one up this year. 2 Q. That's the first time they have had a 3 CAP? 4 A. No, it's not. They had had another CAP 5 previously that had become inactive. 6 Q. What is the general life span of a CAP? 7 A. It depends on how it's managed. 8 Q. Well, the one that existed before 9 Decatur, for how long was that in place? 10 A. It was either '87 or '89 when it was 11 first set up. 12 Q. And when did it go out? 13 A. It fizzled out. When I worked there, it 14 was still in existence, although it was 15 not really active. I don't know if it 16 ever formally disbanded. It just sort 17 of trickled off. 18 Q. Are you familiar with a lawsuit against 19 the Monsanto plant in Triana? 20 A. No. 21 Q. The question I asked you before about 22 the Prudential Community Interaction 23 Consulting bid on the CAP, would that SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038629 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 140 1 have come from -- Well, there's no name 2 on here. Let me get this marked and see 3 if you have seen this before. 4 [Rusert Exhibit Number Five 5 was marked.] 6 A. I don't know if I have seen -- 7 Q. (By Ms. Malow) What's it marked, so we 8 can identify it for the record? 9 A. Five. 10 Q. So Exhibit Five, which is the Prudential 11 Community Interaction Consulting Plan on 12 CAPs, you don't know if you have seen it 13 before? 14 A. I'm not sure if I have seen that 15 document. 16 Q. Okay. There was a document in front of 17 it -- I don't know if it's related to it 18 or not -- but it deals with PCB inquiry 19 referral updates. And you were copied 20 on this. Let's get these marked. 21 [Rusert Exhibit Number Six 22 was marked.] SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038630 23 A. What are you asking me? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 141 1 Q. (By Ms. Malow) I'm asking you did you 2 receive Exhibit Six? 3 A. I'm sure I did, because it has my name 4 on it. 5 Q. Do you know if that has anything 6 whatsoever to do with Exhibit Five? 7 A. No. 8 Q. They may have just been next to each 9 other. 10 A. No. I think they were just community 11 relationships. 12 MR. PECK: I suspect the original 13 was not on both sides of the 14 sheet. I think it was a 15 copying mistake. 16 Q. (By Ms. Malow) It indicates on here 17 that there is a primary contact for all 18 PCB inquiries, which is Dr. Robert 19 Kaley. And there is a secondary contact 20 for press, radio, TV, and media, as 21 being Diane Herndon. And the date of SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038631 22 this memo is April 2nd of'97. And my 23 question for you is have you ever been KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 142 1 the PCB contact for press, radio, TV, 2 and media inquiries? 3 A. When we spun off, I would have been for 4 the Anniston plant. I don't know if we 5 had it designated by topic during the 6 time frame I worked on the Anniston 7 plant. 8 Q. Well, April 2nd of'97 --1 think, 9 according to your testimony, you said 10 around May or June is when you got it 11 back? 12 A. Which is why Diane would still have it 13 here, because she was still working on 14 it. 15 Q. Right. Do you recall after you would 16 have filled in for Diane, receiving any 17 press, radio, TV or media inquiries with 18 respect to any PCB issue? 19 A. I don't recall that. 20 Q. Okay. Let me ask you about some of SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038632 21 these people that were copied on this 22 memo, if you could tell me. Christy 23 Beckmann, I have heard her name before. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 143 1 She's still withSolutia, right? 2 A. Right. 3 Q. Who is S. Bollinger? 4 A. I don't know who that is. 5 Q. L. A. Carroll? 6 A. I don't know thateither. 7 Q. B. W. Eleyis Bruce Eley? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. A. Faust, Alan Faust? 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. Who is K. Fernandez? 12 A. I don't know who he is. I recognize his 13 name, but-- 14 Q. Mike Foresman, we have deposed him. I 15 know who he is. Who is B. J. Gilhousen? 16 Gilhousen? 17 A. Internal attorney. 18 Q. D. Jaffe? 19 A. He is -- He was our medical director. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038633 20 Q. Where is he now? 21 A. Monsanto, as far as I know. 22 Q. How about L. P. Kramer? 23 A. That may have been Laura Kramer, who was KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 144 1 -- I don't know. She is transportation 2 more recently. I don't know what her 3 role was during that time frame. 4 Q. How about K. D. Lowrance? 5 A. I recognize his name; I don't know him. 6 Q. How about L. J. O'Neill? 7 A. Larry O'Neill. 8 Q. Who's Larry O'Neill? 9 A. He was in public affairs. He was 10 actually at the time of that spin, which 11 was that time frame, Larry was my boss 12 and Diane's boss. 13 Q. Where is Larry now? 14 A. Retired from Monsanto. 15 Q. Is he still in the St. Louis area? 16 A. Yeah. Best of my knowledge. 17 Q. And the woman who was your predecessor, 18 the other Beth, is she until in St. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038634 19 Louis, to the best of your knowledge -- 20 A. Best of my knowledge. 21 Q. Mike Pierle we know. Who is D. K. 22 Rector? 23 A. Oh. That's Denise, I would bet. She's KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 145 1 his secretary. 2 Q. Is that Michael Pierle's secretary? 3 A. No. It's Bob Kaley's secretary. Or she 4 was. 5 Q. How about P. D. Richardson? 6 A. I recognize the name. I'm not sure who 7 that is. 8 Q. Of course, you're B. L.Rusert? 9 A. Right. 10 Q. The last one is L. W. Wassell? 11 A. Loren Wassell. We talked about her. 12 MR. PECK: Him. 13 MS. MALOW: I'm going to get that 14 right before the end of the 15 day. 16 Q. (By Ms. Maiow) And there is actually 17 one other one this memo was directed to. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038635 18 I know who Tom Biltline is. Who is A. 19 L. Engelberg? 20 A. Engelberg was over the whole public 21 affairs organization for Monsanto. 22 Q. Is he still with the company? 23 A. He's with Monsanto. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 146 1 Q. Okay. Moving right along, have you had 2 any familiarity or responsibility for 3 the Sauget facility? 4 A. No. 5 Q. In reviewing what we have marked before 6 as Exhibit Three, Fund Budgets by 7 Location, it appears that the Decatur 8 facility had the exact same budget for 9 1994, 1995, and 1996 of 115,000. During 10 that same time frame the Anniston 11 facility jumped from $24,800 to 54,575. 12 Then it jumped again to 72,400. Can you 13 explain to me why it is that the Decatur 14 fund remained the same during that three 15 year time frame and the Anniston number 16 -- well, I guess it more than tripled? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038636 17 A. Let me see the numbers real quick. 18 MR. PECK: '94 through'97 or 19 MS. MALOW: '94 through'96. 20 A. I can't explain the whole time frame 21 because I wasn't working on it the whole 22 time frame. 23 Q. (By Ms. Malow) How about the time frame KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 147 1 that you would have been working on it? 2 A. One time frame -- one jump that I knew 3 had been made that I referenced earlier 4 was during my first stint working with 5 the Anniston plant. The reason it did 6 increase is we did a project with that 7 museum I referenced. And there was an 8 opportunity because the museum was 9 expanding, and we wanted to be able to 10 make that contribution to science 11 education to the Anniston community. 12 Q. So it was requested that additional 13 funds be provided to the Anniston site 14 for that contribution to be made? 15 A. Exactly. And I believe that actually SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038637 16 was like a multi-year commitment, if I 17 recall correctly. 18 Q. We were also provided by Mr. Peck with 19 the Public and Government Affairs/Market 20 Services 1999 budget. 21 MS. MALOW: Go ahead and get this 22 one marked. 23 [Rusert Exhibit Number Seven KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 148 1 was marked.] 2 Q. (By Ms. Malow) What is that? Exhibit 3 Seven? 4 A. Seven. 5 Q. So Seven, just to identify for the 6 record, is the Solutia public affairs 7 budget; is that right? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. On there, there were a couple of items I 10 was going to ask you what would fall 11 within the title of it. For example, it 12 has "consulting." Do you know what 13 would becovered under the "consulting" 14 heading? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038638 15 A. No. 16 Q. How about "outside services"? 17 A. No. 18 Q. Who would be the person that would be 19 able to answer that question for me? 20 A. Christy Beckman. 21 Q. How about under "legal expenses"? Do 22 you know what would fall within that? 23 A. No. Other than legal expenses. I don't KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 149 1 know specifically. 2 Q. Right. How about media? Do you know 3 what that encompasses? 4 A. No. 5 Q. The documents that you found for 6 Mr. Peck in that file from Bourne 7 Elliott Associates, which we have marked 8 as Exhibit Two, do you know where the 9 work product is that was generated by 10 the Bourne Elliott group? 11 A. No. 12 Q. Do you know if any work product was 13 generated by them? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038639 14 A. No. 15 MR. PECK: Well, I was going to 16 tell you, there is a second 17 copy of this that has 18 something else attached to 19 it. 20 MS. MALOW: Where is that one? 21 MR. PECK: -- which is in the 22 other documents that were 23 produced today. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 150 1 MS. MALOW: Really? 2 MR. PECK: That copy -- 3 MS. MALOW: Do you have that one? 4 MR. PECK: I'm telling you, the 5 only thing that I recall 6 seeing attached to that that 7 wasn't attached to this is a 8 list of contact people. But 9 that's the only thing I know 10 that ever came out of that. 11 I think it got shut down. 12 That was not under Beth's SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038640 13 watch. 14 MS. MALOW: That was Diane? We'll 15 talk about that later. We'll 16 cover it with Diane. 17 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Do you know, though, 18 just from your experience with community 19 assessment what a stakeholder interview 20 is? 21 A. I mean, I don't know -- 22 Q. Who would be a stakeholder? Would that 23 be a resident of the community? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 151 1 A. It could be a resident of the community. 2 It could be community leaders. It could 3 be employees. All those are considered 4 stakeholders. 5 Q. What are they a stakeholder in? 6 A. I'm not sure. It's just a term that's 7 used. I don't know -- Maybe it's not 8 the best one, but it's a term that's 9 used. It's really members of the 10 audience, people that you interact with. 11 Q. You may not have the answers to these SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038641 12 questions. I'm just going to run 13 through them real quick. Do you know 14 who Bourne Elliott Associates 15 interviewed? 16 A. No. 17 Q. Do you know on what topics people were 18 interviewed? 19 A. No. 20 Q. Do you know why the program was stopped? 21 A. No. 22 Q. There's a note from Michael Elliott, the 23 principle, to Ms. Herndon that says, "As KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 152 1 we discussed on February 21, we will not 2 proceed with formation of the Community 3 Advisory Panel until such time as the 4 issues associated with PCBs can be 5 addressed within the context of a panel 6 or until such issues become less 7 relevant to the functioning of a panel." 8 Do you understand what that 9 statement means? 10 MR. PECK: Objection to the form. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038642 11 A. I could draw my conclusions, but I don't 12 know if it's appropriate, because I 13 don't really know- 14 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Why don't you take a 15 look- 16 A. -- the situation. 17 Q. -- at it and tell me what conclusions 18 you would draw just based on your 19 experience in community relations, 20 Mrs. Rusert. 21 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 22 the question. No foundation. 23 A. My conclusions would be from that is KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 153 1 that meaning the community members who 2 would have potentially be involved in a 3 panel, we weren't able to talk to them 4 because they were suing us, or there was 5 litigation involved. So it wouldn't be 6 appropriate to establish a panel when 7 many of the folks you would normally 8 participate in a panel would be 9 inaccessible to us. Or if they were, SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038643 10 one of the things they would want to ask 11 questions about wouldn't be able to be 12 addressed because of the litigation. 13 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Okay. Do you know who 14 referred Bourne Elliott to Solutia? 15 A. No. 16 Q. I had asked you about a conversation 17 that you had with Kevin regarding the 18 fact that he had been deposed. Have you 19 and Kevin had any discussions regarding 20 any issues pertaining to PCBs? 21 A. Not that I recall. One thing, though, I 22 should say is when we first transferred 23 the file, naturally we had a KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 154 1 conversation about the plant. So I'm 2 sure there were conversations then about 3 PCBs. But since then we have had no 4 reason to talk about it. 5 Q. Right. And I think that triggers for me 6 some of the testimony he gave, which was 7 that when he did take over, he and you 8 visited the Anniston site. Can you SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038644 9 recall what you guys discussed at that 10 time? 11 A. I don't remember the specifics, but any 12 time you transfer files, you try to get 13 people up to speed on what the current 14 events are that are happening. 15 Q. So specifically with respect to the PCB 16 issue, do you remember any of the 17 discussions that you had with him to get 18 him up to speed on what the issues were 19 at that time? 20 A. I really don't recall the specific 21 conversations. 22 Q. Do you have any recollection of the 23 general conversation about that issue? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 155 1 A. Just that we would have talked about 2 that we were working on community 3 outreach in the Anniston community and 4 some of the activities that Blake 5 Hamilton and I would have discussed. 6 Q. How about the topic that you had 7 mentioned to me earlier that you had SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038645 8 discussed with Mr. Bradley, that is, 9 that there had been negative publicity 10 about the Anniston facility regarding 11 PCB issues? 12 A. I would have shared all news clips with 13 Kevin. So he would have seen that. And 14 I would have also related to him the 15 conversations I had had with Mr. Bradley 16 as well. 17 Q. Did you have some involvement with a 18 company called the Adams Research -- 19 Adams Research, Inc.? 20 A. I have had involvement with them, yes. 21 Q. Tell me about that involvement. 22 A. They have historically done community 23 surveys for us at all of our sites in KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 156 1 the United States. About every three to 2 five years we have a community survey 3 done, give or take that time frame, at 4 our different facilities to assess 5 community knowledge about our company 6 and awareness. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038646 7 Q. And did you work with them in connection 8 with the survey that they did or any 9 survey that they did for the Anniston 10 site? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. How many times? Was it just one survey 13 that you worked with them on? 14 A. One survey. 15 Q. Do you remember the year of that one? 16 A. I think that -- 17 Q. Was it'95? 18 A. Yeah. End of'94 or'95 time frame. 19 MS. MALOW: Go ahead and mark this 20 big thick thing. 21 [Rusert Exhibit Number Eight 22 was marked.] 23 Q. (By Ms. Malow) You have now in front of KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 157 1 you what's been marked as Exhibit Eight, 2 which is an Adams Research community 3 survey dated January of 1995. Have you 4 seen that document before? 5 A. Yes. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038647 6 Q. Is that the work product of Adams 7 Research that you had requested them to 8 perform on Anniston? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Who was your contact at Adams Research 11 for this survey? 12 A. Bill Adams. 13 Q. Have you had Mr. Adams perform a survey 14 at another facility before in the past? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. Which facility had Mr. Adams done work 17 for you on before? 18 A. A number of them. I'll do my best to 19 recall some that he has done. Decatur. 20 Pensacola. I believe I have had him do 21 the Bayou. 22 Q. Chocolate Bayou? 23 A. Chocolate Bayou. Sorry. Augusta. I KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 158 1 also think I may have had him do 2 Delaware River. And Greenwood. 3 Q. I read -- Believe it or not, I actually 4 read that document. And it indicates SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038648 5 that there had been a previous survey 6 done in 1989. And you had just told me 7 that it's sort of the company practice 8 to try and get a survey at least three 9 to five years. Do you know whether or 10 not there were any surveys done between 11 '89 and'95? 12 A. I don't know if there were. Some plants 13 have had more than others, for no other 14 reason that I can tell you why other 15 than whoever was running it at the time 16 decided whether or not it was time for a 17 survey. 18 Q. Do you know what entity performed a 19 survey prior to the one done by Adams 20 Research in '89 on the Anniston site? 21 A. I don't know. 22 Q. Had you previously seen -- Strike that. 23 Had you seen the '89 survey KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 159 1 results? 2 A. I don't recall. I think they're 3 referenced tosome degree, or whatever SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038649 4 the most recent survey was -- 5 Q. They were compared. Right. 6 As we sit here now -- Let me ask 7 you this: When was the last time you 8 saw Exhibit Eight until I just handed it 9 to you before today? 10 A. I think I saw it at a glance yesterday, 11 but I didn't look at -- 12 Q. And I had thought I asked you earlier to 13 tell me every document that you looked 14 at to get ready. I know you can't 15 remember everything. But I really would 16 like to get your best recollection of 17 everything that you have looked at. 18 Does that j og for you any other things 19 that you looked at to get ready? 20 A. No. Until we see them again, it's hard 21 to recall. But I didn't open this 22 document. It was just a matter that it 23 was there along with other things. I KRJEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 160 1 didn't see, see. 2 Q. You didn't actually read or review -- SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038650 3 A. No. 4 Q. -- Exhibit Eight? 5 A. I did not, no. 6 Q. So before yesterday when you were just 7 shown the cover page to it, when is the 8 last time you read Exhibit Eight? Would 9 it have been back in '95? 10 A. Very likely in '95, yes. 11 Q. As we sit here now, without reading it 12 in its entirety, do you remember what 13 the general findings were of that 14 survey? 15 A. Not too much about it, no. 16 Q. Do you remember whether or not it 17 indicated that there were some negative 18 aspects to the community's perception of 19 Solutia, or that the community had a 20 negative perception of Solutia? 21 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 22 A. Yes. I do remember that there was 23 concern about odor, which has been a KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 161 1 historical concern, based on what the SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038651 2 plant used to make. 3 Q. (By Ms. Malow) And which product did 4 the plant used to manufacture generated 5 that odor? 6 A. You said it. 7 Q. Parathion? 8 A. That's the one I recall that they said 9 had the odor. 10 Q. And even as late as '95 the community 11 survey that was performed by Adams 12 Research indicated that there was some 13 concern amongst the residents of the 14 community that there was still an odor 15 problem? 16 A. Memories are long on things like that, 17 yes. 18 Q. I recall also that there were some 19 concerns listed in his survey about 20 pollution issues. Do you remember that 21 as well? 22 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 23 A. I don't remember the specifics. That's KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 162 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038652 1 a normal question for community surveys. 2 Q. (By Ms. Malow) When you initially 3 started working with the Adams Research 4 group, did they formulate the surveys, 5 or was that something that you prepared, 6 or was it a j oint effort? 7 A. You're talking about my own experience? 8 Q. Yes, ma'am. 9 A. They really formulated the questions. 10 And then they do run them by me to make 11 sure there's nothing missing that we 12 want to ask about. 13 Q. Were there any specific questions that 14 you requested be asked of the community 15 members with respect to the Anniston 16 facility for this '95 survey? 17 A. Not that I recall. 18 Q. Do you think that the survey that was 19 conducted in '95 was a fairly standard 20 survey that had been done at some of the 21 other sites? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. Based on the findings that were provided KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 163 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038653 1 to you by Adams Research group, what was 2 done by Solutia? 3 A. I don't know specifically, because then 4 from that point forward it wasn't my 5 responsibility. 6 Q. That's when you went to shared services? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. Sol have to ask Diane that? 9 A. You have to ask Diane. 10 Q. So your involvement would be limited to 11 you called Bill and you told him you 12 needed a community survey; he did it; 13 you got the findings. And then you 14 don't have any more information? 15 A. Exactly. 16 MS. MALOW: I'm going to have to 17 take another little break. 18 [A break was taken.] 19 Q. (By Ms. Malow) We talked before about 20 this benzene spill that happened at the 21 Anniston site in 1992 and that there was 22 some EPA fine that was issued as a 23 result of that later. Right? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 164 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038654 1 A. Right. 2 Q. Do you remember that? Are you familiar 3 with any other violations or enforcement 4 actions or other regulatory problems 5 that the Anniston site has had other 6 than that benzene spill? 7 A. No. 8 Q. Are you familiar with Environmental 9 Guidance Corporation, David Roberson? 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. Tell me what interaction you have had 12 with Environmental Guidance. 13 A. I hired him as the lobbyist for us for 14 the State of Alabama. 15 Q. When did you -- Is it Roberson or 16 Roberson? 17 A. Roberson. 18 Q. When did you hire Mr. Roberson? 19 A. Between my second tenure working with 20 the Anniston plant. So sometime in '97. 21 I think late '97. 22 Q. This would have been sometime after the 23 spin-off? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038655 165 1 A. Yes. At the end of the year '97. 2 Q. And why is it that his company 3 Environmental -- is it Environmental 4 Guidance -- 5 A. Corporation. I think it is. 6 Q. Why was Environmental Guidance hired? 7 A. Because he had an excellent track record 8 as a lobbyist and knowledgeable of a lot 9 of folks in Alabama. 10 Q. Why is it that Solutia retains lobbyists 11 to assist them? 12 A. Any number of business reasons. It 13 could be tax issues; it could be 14 environmental issues; it could be any of 15 the factors that we might want someone 16 to help watch the legislation that's 17 coming through. It might not even be -- 18 "issues" perhaps is the wrong word. 19 It's legislation that is coming through 20 the pipeline that might be of concern to 21 how we can do business in any given 22 state where we have somebody. 23 Q. Is Mr. Roberson someone you felt was SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038656 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 166 1 well connected that could help to 2 establish whatever position was in the 3 best business interests of Solutia? 4 A. We felt he was knowledgeable and knew 5 the players well enough that he would be 6 able to represent our position well, 7 yes. 8 Q. Who referred you to Mr. Roberson? 9 A. Actually, as I recall, it was the 10 gentleman who was directing Alachem who 11 recommended him. We also had someone at 12 the Decatur plant who had interacted 13 with him, whose name is Bob Lawyer. 14 Q. Bob who? 15 A. Lawyer. 16 Q. Lawyer? 17 A. Yeah. Lawyer was actually his last 18 name. He was very active in Alachem at 19 that time. I believe that some of the 20 folks at the Anniston plant had 21 interacted with him. He just was known 22 by several people and came highly 23 recommended. I can't name off every SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038657 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 167 1 one. I had a number of recommendations 2 for him. 3 Q. You mentioned that the gentleman 4 directing Alachem -- who was that at 5 that time? 6 A. I'm not sure. For some reason I think 7 it might be Mike Fowler, is his name. 8 But I'm not sure I have got that right. 9 Q. We won't hold you to it. 10 A. It would be hard to check it. But I 11 don't remember for sure. 12 Q. And the people at the Anniston plant 13 that had familiarity with Roberson, who 14 were those people? 15 A. I don't remember who it was at the 16 plant. I remember in Anniston there was 17 at least one person that had interacted 18 with him. 19 Q. Are you the one that actually signed the 20 contract with David Roberson? 21 A. I believe so. 22 Q. Do you still in your role today have any SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038658 23 contact with Environmental Guidance? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 168 1 A. Actually, I do now. 2 Q. Okay. While you were -- while you had 3 responsibility for Alabama, tell me what 4 legislation Environmental Guidance 5 worked on for you guys? 6 A. When I retained him, it was near the end 7 of the year, so session was not in place 8 then. And it came -- session started 9 about the same time I rolled off the 10 Anniston plant. So you'd really have to 11 ask Kevin that. 12 Q. So you cannot recall any specific issues 13 that he worked on? 14 A. No. Because at that time there was no 15 legislation being -- that was active at 16 that moment. Because it was a pretty 17 short period of time we worked together 18 then. 19 MS. MALOW: Let's go ahead and get 20 marked as number Nine the 21 contract. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038659 22 [Rusert Exhibit Number Nine 23 was marked.] KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 169 1 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Exhibit Nine has been 2 marked, which is -- looks like a couple 3 of different contracts between Solutia 4 and Environmental Guidance Corporation. 5 I believe the first one is the one that 6 has your signature. Can you confirm 7 that? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. And that one covered what time frame, 10 Mrs. Rusert? 11 A. That would have been January 1999 12 through -- usually it goes through 13 December 31st. 1999. Well, 1998. I 14 take that back. January 1998 through 15 December 31st, 1998. 16 Q. And that would make sense because you 17 gave it up in February '98? 18 A. Right. They did that for the'99 19 contract. That got scratched out. 20 Q. And is the next one executed by SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038660 21 Mr. Cahill? 22 A. Actually, the next one is signed by 23 Glenn Ruskin, who is our vice president KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 170 1 of governmental affairs. 2 MR. PECK: It's not really signed 3 by him. 4 A. It's not signed by anyone, according to 5 this. It's just got a - 6 Q. (By Ms. Malow) It's got a blank for him 7 to sign, but he didn't sign it. 8 A. Apparently not. Actually -- You know 9 what? This is not -- This isn't even 10 the next one. This is a sample contract 11 for the North Carolina lobbyist that I 12 retained, although Glenn's on the 13 signature. 14 Q. Why is that? 15 A. Because we were updating -- The first 16 year we used whatever contracts we had 17 been using and by -- because we were 18 just getting off the ground as a 19 company. So in'98 we started--we SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038661 20 worked with our attorneys and developed 21 Solutia lobbyist agreements. And I had 22 retained more lobbyists than others from 23 other projects I was on. So they used KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 171 1 one of my contracts. 2 Q. Okay. 3 A. So actually, you don't even have the 4 updated one. 5 Q. Probably because Kevin didn't bring it 6 to his depo. That's another issue. 7 A. He may not have it in his file. 8 MR. PECK: You have the entire 9 Kevin file. 10 MR. STEWART: We've got the other 11 documents. It's over here. 12 A. Because Glenn's the signature on that, 13 and he is now the signature on all the 14 contracts. 15 MR. STEWART: But it doesn't have 16 Mrs. Rusert's name on it, and 17 it doesn't apply to the time 18 she was there. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038662 19 MS. MALOW: Right. 20 A. Right. 21 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Let me ask you this: On 22 the one you did sign there is a section 23 7, which is called "Indemnification and KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 172 1 Insurance" that talks about the fact 2 that Environmental Guidance agrees to 3 indemnify and hold Solutia harmless. Do 4 you know why that language is in there? 5 A. I have no idea. You have to ask one of 6 our attorneys. 7 Q. I doubt they would talk to me. 8 A. I don't understand those contracts, all 9 that legal stuff. 10 Q. How about the confidentiality provision? 11 Do you know why it is you needed a 12 confidentiality provision with 13 Environmental Guidance Corporation? 14 A. I can't answer specifically what is the 15 intention of the contract. 16 Q. I'm not asking for intent; I'm asking in 17 terms of your role as being a government SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038663 18 affairs specialist for Solutia, why is 19 it that you would want to keep 20 confidential the work that was being 21 done by a lobbyist group? 22 A. Well 23 MR. PECK: Object to the form of KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 173 1 the question. Go ahead. Object to the 2 form of the question. 3 A. I can give you an example now of 4 something that would be an example that 5 would be relevant for me. I work on -- 6 most lobbyists I retain are for 7 particular business. And if they don't 8 maintain confidentiality, we have a 9 problem with our competition and 10 competitiveness. 11 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Did you actually meet 12 Mr. Roberson? 13 A. Yes. I have met him. 14 Q. How many times have you met him? 15 A. Two or three. 16 Q. Do you remember any of the specifics? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038664 17 A. One of them, I met him at an Alachem 18 meeting. 19 Q. Do you regularly attend Alachem? 20 A. No. That was an annual meeting, big 21 meeting that a few of us went. 22 Q. Why did you attend that annual meeting? 23 A. Because I wanted to -- one, I wanted to KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 174 1 meet David. And also because I thought 2 it was an opportunity to better 3 understand the subjects that Alachem was 4 working on in the State of Alabama. 5 Q. What subjects were addressed at the 6 Alachem meeting? 7 A. I don't remember. 8 Q. What subjects do you recall them working 9 on during that time frame? 10 A. Nothing comes to my mind as sticking 11 out. I don't have any reference to 12 recall for you. 13 Q. Somewhere in this stack of documents 14 there was something I referenced earlier 15 that came to you from Alachem regarding SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038665 16 ADEM. Do you remember any of that as 17 being a proj ect that they were working 18 on? 19 A. No, not really. 20 Q. Let me show it to you and perhaps it 21 will refresh your recollection. 22 [Rusert Exhibit Number Ten 23 was marked.] KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 175 1 Q. (By Ms. Malow) We have now marked as 2 Exhibit Ten a fax that looks like it was 3 sent to you by a lady, Cindi Brock with 4 Alachem, regarding some information on 5 the new head of the Alabama Department 6 of Environmental Management. Does any 7 of that ring a bell with you? 8 A. You're going to have to ask me the 9 question again. 10 Q. What I'm trying to figure out is whether 11 Exhibit Ten, which is some information 12 that was sent to you by Cindi Brock at 13 Alachem regarding ADEM, was one of the 14 issues that was important to you that SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038666 15 Alachem was working on? 16 A. I can't recall that it was. I don't 17 know that a new director is even an 18 issue; it's just a point of interest. 19 Q. Why is it a point of interest as to who 20 the new director is for ADEM? 21 A. Any time -- We always work closely in 22 all the states that have manufacturing 23 facilities with environmental KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 176 1 organizations of the state. So it's 2 perfectly logical to be interested in a 3 new director of one of the environmental 4 organizations for Alabama. 5 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Right. And Solutia -- 6 and before it was Solutia, Monsanto had 7 a very long-standing, close relationship 8 with ADEM. Isn't that your 9 understanding? 10 MR. PECK: Object to the form. 11 A. I can't really answer that because I 12 didn't have the relationship. 13 Q. Right. But you have learned through SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038667 14 your work at Monsanto and Solutia that 15 there is a relationship that existed 16 both when it was Monsanto and Solutia at 17 the Anniston site with ADEM? 18 A. They interact, naturally, like any 19 business in the State of Alabama that's 20 regulated by ADEM. Beyond that I don't 21 know that -- I don't know what the 22 relationship is like. 23 Q. And Monsanto or Solutia has an interest KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 177 1 in knowing who's in charge of that 2 regulatory body? 3 A. In any given case, yes, in the state we 4 would want to know -- we would be 5 interested in who's running the 6 environmental regulatory organization. 7 Q. There was also a document that indicated 8 that David Roberson had been informed of 9 the lake settlement. Are you familiar 10 with that? 11 A. No. 12 Q. Did you relay anything to him regarding SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038668 13 the lake settlement? 14 A. No. 15 Q. Do you know what involvement if any he 16 had with respect to the lake settlement? 17 A. I have no idea. 18 Q. Who would have had that contact with 19 him? Would that be Kevin now? 20 A. Yes. 21 MS. MALOW: And, Adam, just for 22 the record, the document I'm 23 talking about was a fax. And KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 178 1 apparently it was a two-page 2 fax, and we were not provided 3 with page two of that fax. 4 A. There -- 5 MR. PECK: There is no page two. 6 I saw that. It's just not in 7 the file. 8 MR. STEWART: Just missing? 9 MR. PECK: I think it's a mistake 10 in the fax. I had the file, 11 and it wasn't there. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038669 12 MS. MALOW: Well, again, I would 13 just ask that the fax be 14 searched for. 15 MR. PECK: It was searched for, 16 and it doesn't exist. 17 MR. STEWART: Maybe you'll find it 18 in those Illinois documents. 19 MS. MALOW: You never know. 20 MR. PECK: The document is 21 self-contained. It looks 22 like -- I know what document 23 you're talking about, because KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 179 1 I went through the same 2 concern you had. Thought 3 there could be a second page. 4 But there isn't one in the 5 file, and the document is 6 self-contained, so. 7 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Are you familiar with 8 the surgeon general, David Satcher? 9 A. No. 10 Q. There were some documents that were SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038670 11 provided to us that had been gathered on 12 Dr. David Satcher, surgeon general. Do 13 you know why those articles were pulled? 14 A. No. I don't think so. I don't recall 15 what reason. 16 Q. Do you know of any contact that -- Well, 17 some of these were actually directed to 18 you from someone named Bryan Young at 19 Monsanto. Who is Mr. Young? 20 A. I don't even remember who that is. 21 Q. It's Bryan S. Young, MIO, are the 22 initials that follow. It says, "Beth, I 23 got this bio at CDC WWW site on David KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 180 1 Satcher." Does that ring a bell? 2 A. Yeah. Iflcanseeit. 3 Q. Sure. 4 [Rusert Exhibit Number Eleven 5 was marked.] 6 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Just for the record, we 7 have handed you now Exhibit Eleven, 8 which looks like it's an e-mail. Looks 9 like it's -- SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038671 10 A. Right. Regarding David A. Satcher. 11 Q. Do you know Mr. Young? 12 A. Apparently I did. But I don't know who 13 that is any longer. I don't have any 14 recollection of who he is. 15 Q. Why don't you take a few minutes and 16 thumb through that and see if any of it 17 starts to jog your memory. 18 [Discussion held off the 19 record.] 20 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Mrs. Rusert, have you 21 now had a chance to look through briefly 22 Exhibit Eleven? 23 A. Yes. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 181 1 Q. Does it jog any memory bells? 2 A. I remember seeing it. I remember 3 receiving this material. 4 Q. Why is it that you were being provided 5 with information on David Satcher? 6 A. Well, based on the note in here, he was 7 in the -- and the information, he was a 8 candidate for surgeon general, and he's SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038672 9 from Alabama, Anniston, Alabama. 10 Q. So the mere fact that he had formerly 11 resided in Anniston made it of interest 12 to you? 13 A. Apparently so. 14 Q. Is there any other interest that you had 15 about Mr. Satcher beingconsidered for 16 that position? 17 A. Not that I can recall. 18 Q. Do you know whether Mr. Roberson or any 19 other lobbyist has had any contact with 20 David Satcher regarding any of the PCB 21 issues? 22 A. I'm not aware of it. 23 Q. Are you aware of any contact of any KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 182 1 lobbyist with David Satcher? 2 A. I'm not aware of that. 3 Q. How about by Dr. Kaley? Has he had any 4 contacts with David Satcher? 5 A. You'll have to ask Dr. Kaley. 6 Q. You're not aware of any? 7 A. I'm not aware of it. SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038673 8 MS. MALOW: One more of these 9 things. 10 [Rusert Exhibit Number Twelve 11 was marked.] 12 MR. STEWART: While she's looking 13 at that, Adam, we had a 14 document that you had 15 provided to us that is 16 clearly not legible. That's 17 what I had reference to in 18 the telephone call this 19 morning. If you have got the 20 original of that document, 21 we'd like to see it. 22 MR. PECK: I don't remember this 23 document at all. KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 183 1 MR. STEWART: We certainly don't 2 want to give up the one we've 3 got. But it came from the 4 documents you provided to -- 5 MR. PECK: Was it stuff this 6 morning or last night? SWIFT 07-07- 1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038674 7 MS. MALOW: That was this morning. 8 MR. PECK: I'll see if I can find 9 it in my pile, and we can 10 mark it. 11 MR. STEWART: If your copy is 12 legible, we'd just like to 13 have copy of it. 14 MR. PECK: My copy may be more 15 legible than your copy. 16 MS. MALOW: Off the record. 17 [Discussion held off the 18 record.] 19 Q. (By Ms. Malow) Have you now looked at 20 -- Have you seen Exhibit Twelve before? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. Can you identify for the record what 23 Exhibit Twelve is? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 184 1 A. It's a proposal for Solutia from 2 Bradley-Townsend Public Affairs. 3 Q. When was that document provided to you? 4 A. I don't have the exact time frame. 5 Q. Would it have been after your initial SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038675 6 call with Steve Bradley? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. Would it have been before you actually 9 retained him? 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. Can I take a look at it? I don't have 12 another copy. 13 In Exhibit Twelve the proposal 14 discusses several phases or parts of a 15 project that are anticipated, including 16 research assessment of data, recommended 17 courses of action, media relations. 18 Strategy development. Do you know 19 whether or not this proposal was put in 20 motion? 21 A. No, I don't. 22 Q. In the media relations section do you 23 know what media contacts were made by KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 185 1 Mr. Bradley? 2 A. No. 3 Q. Did you personally make any media 4 contact in connection with this SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038676 5 proposal? 6 A. No. 7 Q. Would Kevin Cahill have been one that 8 would have been handling that aspect? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Would Diane Herndon have any role in 11 that regard? 12 A. No. Because if you look at the timing, 13 Kevin was the one who was working with 14 them when he was retained. 15 Q. It has a part here about does Solutia 16 have a plan to place positive media 17 stories. At the time that you retained 18 Mr. Bradley wasthere such a plan in 19 place by Solutia to place positive media 20 stories? 21 A. No. 22 Q. Do you know what plan was put in motion 23 to place positivemedia stories? KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 186 1 A. No. 2 Q. Do you know what key reporters were 3 identified? SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038677 4 A. No. 5 Q. We talked earlier about the fact that 6 you had recently seen the Renee 7 Kimbrough study that was funded by GE. 8 Did you have any involvement at all with 9 having that story covered in the press? 10 A. No. 11 Q. Who did? 12 MR. PECK: Object to the form of 13 the question. 14 A. I don't know. 15 MS. MALOW: Let's go ahead and 16 break here. We're going to 17 reconvene based on the 18 discussions we had previously 19 with the court. 20 21 (DEPOSITION CONTINUED.) 22 23 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO 187 1 NOTARIAL CERTIFICATE 2 SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038678 3 I, SHEILA L. FORD, a Registered Professional Reporter and duly commissioned 4 Notary Public within and for the State of Missouri, do hereby certify that there came 5 before me at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 100 Carondelet Plaza, St. Louis, MO 63105, 6 BETH RUSERT, 7 who was by me first duly sworn to testify to 8 the truth and nothing but the truth of all knowledge touching and concerning the matters 9 in controversy in this cause; that the witness was thereupon examined under oath and said 10 examination was reduced to writing by me; and that the signature of the witness was waived 11 by agreement of witness and all parties, and that this deposition is a true and correct 12 record of the testimony given by the witness. 13 I further certify that I am neither attorney nor counsel for nor related nor 14 employed by any of the parties to the action in which this deposition is taken; further, 15 that I am not a relative or employee of any attorney or counsel employed by the parties 16 hereto or financially interested in this action. 17 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set 18 my hand and seal this the 20th of July 1999. 19 My commission expires: March 13, 2002 20 21 Sheila L. Ford Notary Public 22 23 KRIEGSHAUSER REPORTING & VIDEO SWIFT 07-07-1999 Rusert, Beth.txt[8/22/2017 4:35:49 PM] HARTOLDMON0038679