Topic 100 of 106: Martha Stewart
Mon, Mar 7, 2005 (08:59) |
Paul Terry Walhus (terry)
Martha Stewart is on the comeback trail after doing her time in Camp Cupcake. Will the experience change her, will she handle it or overdo it?
15 responses total.
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 1 of 15: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Mon, Mar 7, 2005 (08:59) * 40 lines
Has Martha Stewart changed?
NEW YORK (AP) -- Martha Stewart took up the cause of prisoners' rights
during her five months in prison and calls her time behind bars "life
altering and life affirming."
Other white collar criminals have proclaimed themselves equally
transformed after emerging from prison. But are they really?
"If you're changed, then let's see the action," said Fred Shapiro, a
lawyer who served time for bank fraud in Philadelphia in the 1990s, and
went back to prison for a separate episode of white-collar crime 10
years later. "Everyone says they've changed after they've left prison,
but only time will tell."
Stewart, released Friday after five months in prison for lying about a
stock sale, is the latest in a long line of high-profile white-collar
convicts -- from junk bond king Michael Milken to hotel queen Leona
Helmsley -- who have returned to freedom saying they have been renewed.
"I can completely identify with her comments about prison," David
Novak said of Stewart. The flight school owner did time for mail fraud
in 1997 and today acts as a consultant to other white-collar convicts.
"To this day, I look back at that time as probably the greatest
blessing of my life," says Novak, of Salt Lake City. "Not the going to
prison part. But the opportunity to be still and reflect upon a lot of
the poor judgments I made."
His assessment is supported by Ellen Podgor, a professor of law at
Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
A prison term "is mind altering. I don't think it's just for the press
what's being said," said Podgor, an author of two books on
white-collar crime.
More:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/06/martha.stewart.ap/index.html
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 2 of 15: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Mon, Mar 7, 2005 (09:04) * 17 lines
NY Times spin:
Cult of Stewart Bounces Back in the Magazine
By CONSTANCE L. HAYS
Published: March 7, 2005
f there was any question that Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has been eagerly awaiting the return of its founder and namesake, the coming issue of the magazine Martha Stewart Living lays it to rest.
On the cover is a bowl with daffodils, and attached to the binding is a half-cover flap featuring Ms. Stewart, looking cheerful in a pale-blue barn jacket and cradling a chicken. Readers are directed to "her new monthly column" on Page 32. "Welcome home, Martha," the headline says.
This worshipful focus on Ms. Stewart is a departure from the last two years, when the magazine minimized Ms. Stewart's name on the cover and replaced some features that bore her name with more generic columns.
Since Ms. Stewart was convicted last March of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements about the sale of stock, there has been a debate in and outside Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia over whether to expand the company beyond Ms. Stewart's personality or to rebuild around her.
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 3 of 15: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Mon, Mar 7, 2005 (09:05) * 14 lines
And msnbc.com:
Plenty of precedent
Stewart, released Friday after five months in prison for lying about a stock sale, is the latest in a long line of high-profile white-collar convicts — from junk bond king Michael Milken to hotel queen Leona Helmsley — who have returned to freedom proclaiming themselves changed people.
But are they really? What to make of Stewart’s assertion, posted on her company’s web site, that prison “has been life altering and life affirming?” The spotlight and public relations campaign surrounding Stewart, if anything, seems to make those more difficult questions to answer.
“I can completely identify with her comments about prison,” said David Novak, a flight school owner who did time for mail fraud in 1997, and today acts as a sentencing consultant to other white-collar convicts.
“To this day, I look back at that time as probably the greatest blessing of my life,” says Novak, of Salt Lake City. “Not the going to prison part. But the opportunity to be still and reflect upon a lot of the poor judgments I made.”
Ellen Podgor, a professor of law at Georgia State University in Atlanta, agreed.
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 4 of 15: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Mon, Mar 7, 2005 (09:09) * 17 lines
And Tina Brown weighs in in the NY Sun:
For a P.R. Boost, Serve Time, Not Canapes
BY TINA BROWN
March 3, 2005
The Jail Thing is working so well for Martha Stewart it may become the p.r. strategy of choice for other public figures who have run afoul of the image police.
Jennifer Lopez didn't have to go to all the trouble of designing a new fashion line, toiling over a new album, and rebounding into a doleful marriage to Marc Anthony. She should just have stood up in court and said, "Your Honor, I committed the crime of being on the cover of US magazine with Ben Affleck 100 times too often. My lips were too shiny. I made horrible movies. For my penalty I accept five months in Alderson jail in West Virginia."
Ditto Bernard Kerik. Why hang around waiting for some fresh embarrassment to surface? Just tell it to a judge: "Your Honor, I milked the 9/11 aura once too often. I shilled for President Bush on cable shows past the point where I was bearable. I refused to admit that Homeland Security tsar was where my overreach had hit the ceiling. As penance, I will be a stand-up guy and do my 90 days in the image clink
more at
http://www.nysun.com/article/10055
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 5 of 15: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Mon, Mar 7, 2005 (16:51) * 55 lines
From Denver Post business columnist Al Lewis:
Stewart landed a leading role in a spinoff of "The Apprentice," by
reality TV wizard Mark Burnett, who also created "Survivor." This
ensures Stewart's hyperbole will continue for years to come - much as
it has for Donald Trump - but it also addressed a more pressing matter.
"Her re-entry into society should be stage-managed to the nth degree,"
said Morris Reid of Westin Rinehart, a branding and crisis management
firm in New York. "Who better to stage-manage this than the man who
spawned reality TV?"
Reid predicts Burnett will be able to shape Stewart's heroine
qualities and curb her unbridled arrogance. He'll likely keep her from
saying some of the stupid things she has said in the past, such as
referring to her legal troubles as a "small, personal matter" and
comparing her plight to Nelson Mandela's.
Stewart was released this morning from a federal prison in West
Virginia nicknamed "Camp Cupcake," where she served five months.
Mandela, by contrast, did 27 years in apartheid South Africa. Stewart
now faces a five-month home detention on her 153-acre estate 40 miles
north of Manhattan. She'll be permitted to leave for 48 hours a week to
work, but she'll have to find heels to match her ankle bracelet.
"She has to handle this correctly," Reid said. "The next 12 to 18
months are critical, but I believe she has the right people around her
to make sure that she doesn't screw up."
Stewart also maintains the adoration of her fans, who say her prison
sentence makes her seem more human.
"She was a scapegoat for all the other corporate scandals that were
going on," List said. "A lot of people did what she was accused of
doing, but she was one of the easier people to target."
Easy to target because she was GUILTY, I say. But, no matter one's
view, Stewart has done her time and earned back at least some respect.
List has been a Stewart fan for years. And she should be. Stewart's
magazines and TV shows have frequently featured Hammond's Candies. And
that has helped Hammond's grow sales from about $350,000 when List and
her husband bought the business in 1997 to nearly $4 million today.
"Martha Stewart seeks out small, quality companies to work with," said
List, "and she always give you credit. ... She's definitely given us
national exposure."
Unfortunately, reality hasn't caught up to all the goodwill from fans
and free publicity from the media. Right now, Martha Stewart Living
Omnimedia stock is trading high on well-wishers, not fundamentals.>
Source:
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~130~2743569,00.html
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 6 of 15: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Mon, Mar 7, 2005 (16:59) * 49 lines
A billion for being in prison. That's living!
By Brett Arends
Jail has been good to Martha Stewart. The domestic diva emerges this
week from ``Camp Cupcake'' with something she didn't have when she went
in.
A billion dollars.
That's right. Stewart, 63, has literally become a billionaire in the
clink.
It has happened suddenly. According to her company's latest regulatory
filings, she owns 29.1 million shares in Martha Stewart Living
Omnimedia.
A year ago it traded around $10. Last spring, when Stewart was
convicted, the price sank as low as $8.70. With the company's franchise
figure being measured for handcuffs and prison stripes, many wrote the
enterprise off.
Fast forward to today, and the stock is flying high. Stewart hype, and
anticipation of her release this week, is generating wild excitement.
At $35.35 the stock has quadrupled since early July. And it values
Stewart's stake at a cool $1.03 billion.
That's even after she cashed in nearly $13 million worth last year -
petty cash, really, to take care of incidentals.
If she'd waited she could have made an extra $15 million: She dumped a
pile of shares at the lows. But who's counting?
Regardless of what the future holds, these are good times at Martha
Stewart Living Omnimedia. In total, company disclosures suggest
executives and staff have made an estimated $67 million on share
options alone since the company's founder went off to camp.
It says something peculiar about U.S. society that Martha can make so
much money apparently for being sent to jail. Stock in Stewart's
company drifted along at $10 for years when she was a free woman. Even
before her stock-trading scandal erupted, in early 2002, it was only
around $20.
In the next few weeks, she'll get the kind of free publicity that
apparently only a scandal can buy.
More:
http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=70912
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 7 of 15: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Mon, Mar 7, 2005 (18:02) * 17 lines
Friday, March 04, 2005
Martha's Stock Continues to Climb
CNN offers a brilliant timeline that compares milestones in the Stewart Saga against MSLO stock price.
You can see clearly see how things are already ramping up for MSLO.
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has already announced plans to have Stewart write a column for the company's flagship Martha Stewart Living magazine. Also filling up her schedule: She's scheduled to star in two television shows next fall and there is talk of plans to launch a clothing line.
And all while wearing an ankle bracelet, folks!
My next Martha prediction:
SOMEONE from Camp Cupcake has probably snagged some of Martha's personal prison items and they will show up on E-Bay within the next week.
fropm
http://marthastewart.blogspot.com/
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 8 of 15: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Tue, Mar 8, 2005 (08:09) * 4 lines
Bernie Ebers of Worldcom went on trial today for an $11 billion dollar fraud and the helicopters are circling over Martha Stewarts house. The media and the public are riveted on Martha Stewart.
She got weepy yesterday when she was addressing her employees. Kind of touching isn't it?
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 9 of 15: Conf admin (cfadm) * Tue, Mar 8, 2005 (10:38) * 5 lines
Nice shot of homegirl and her new ceo, Susan Lyne.
Kind of looks like a younger version of Martha, doesn't it?
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 10 of 15: Conf admin (cfadm) * Tue, Mar 8, 2005 (10:42) * 3 lines
There's even a Martha Stewart victory song
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 11 of 15: Conf admin (cfadm) * Thu, Mar 10, 2005 (10:06) * 37 lines
And the NY Daily News is telling us . . .
Knit-wits crave Martha poncho
Coming soon to a knitting klatsch near you: a pattern for Martha Stewart's infamous prison-break poncho.
The nation's top yarn company will introduce a free "Welcome Home" poncho pattern, satisfying crocheters and knitters who took one look at the domestic diva's garment and were hooked.
"There's so much demand for that pattern," said Debbie Stoller, author of the popular "Stitch 'n Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook."
"Everyone wants to make it."
Soon after Stewart boarded a plane to New York wearing the handmade garment, Lion Brand Yarn fielded hundreds of E-mails and calls - the most requests it has ever gotten for a pattern.
"People are saying, 'You read our minds,'" said Alana Rabinowitz, director of consumer marketing for Lion Brand.
The free pattern will be ready Tuesday or Wednesday on the yarn company's Web site (www.lionbrand.com). But for those who need a quicker fix, a knockoff poncho on eBay is going for $152.50.
"There's been so much buzz," said Barbara Hillery, founder of the New York City crochet guild. "Everyone is wondering how to make it."
Last Friday, do-it-yourselfers across the country logged onto Internet message boards and began pondering the poncho's design. Chatter over the pattern landed crochet near the top of the Yahoo! Buzz Index on Tuesday, with searches on the topic jumping 8% the day after Stewart shared the poncho's origins at her New York offices.
It was a going-away present, she told her staff, from a fellow inmate who crochets 12 hours a day with yarn from the prison commissary.
"The night before I left, she handed it to me and said, 'Wear it in good health,'" Stewart recalled.
Staying true to the original design of Stewart's blue-and-tan cape, Lion Brand's first pattern will be crochet. In a few weeks, it will introduce a knit version.
Carrie Melago
Originally published on March 10, 2005
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 12 of 15: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Thu, Mar 10, 2005 (10:48) * 2 lines
Martha's Argument in pdf file format shows that she did get treated unfairly and didn't get the right to a Fair Trial.
You have to do some digging in this document, but it's there.
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 13 of 15: Wolf (wolf) * Sat, Apr 23, 2005 (15:44) * 1 lines
my friend sent a copy of the pattern for martha's poncho *laugh*
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 14 of 15: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sat, Apr 23, 2005 (23:36) * 1 lines
She's going to have her own satellite radio station. That and the reality show.
Topic 100 of 106 [news]: Martha Stewart
Response 15 of 15: Wolf (wolf) * Thu, Aug 18, 2005 (23:19) * 1 lines
you know, martha is the butt of so many jokes....but you gotta hand it to her, like her or not, she's a shrewd business woman. she's going to be with stern on sirius? *laugh*
news conference 
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