NOT NECESSARILY NEWS February 2006

The Next Tom Clancy?

Kenin Spivak isnt your typical CEO. The head of wireless software company Telemac Corp., has brought pharmaceutical intrigue to life in the new thriller The Karasik Conspiracy.

The books creation is tinged with a bit of intrigue of its own. Spivak, a lawyer and former Hollywood executive, claims the pharmaceutical lobbying group PhRMA tried to buy his and co-writer Julie Chrystyns silence for $100,000, once it found out the book PhRMA had commissioned was not the one the writers penned. Spivak contends PhRMA wanted to make the U.S. prescription drug industry look good with a narrative about terrorists poisoning the Canadian drug supply. Instead, Spivak and Chrystyn authored a thriller with a drug company as the villain.

E-mail exchanges about the $100,000, the proposed book contract and PhRMAs take on The Karasik Conspiracy are included in the books afterword. Ken Johnson, senior vice president of communications for PhRMA, has read the addenda. The facts are so distorted that the foreword and the afterword are almost as fictional as the book itself, he says, calling the whole issue yesterdays news.

Spivak is at work on a sequel, The Lasman Effect, which takes place mostly in Europe and involves the telecommunications and media industries.

Not Too Savv-y

Telecom guys might be known for their partying ways, but former SAVVIS Inc. CEO probably wishes he had toned it down a little.

Robert McCormick resigned from the provider of hosted managed network and computer services after American Express sued the company for McCormicks $241,000, one-night spree at Scores, a topless club in Manhattan.

McCormick said he only spent $20,000 and blamed the rest on fraud, according to CNN. American Express, however, got receipts from Scores with McCormicks John Hancock.

Maybe he can reimburse American Express with the bonus SAVVIS paid him when he resigned. The company agreed to pay 75 percent of his $450,000 base salary, prorated for the time he worked there, and said he will receive more bonus money if SAVVIS surpasses its financial targets, the St. Louis Business Journal reported. Not a shabby deal for a night out on the corporate card.

OVERHEARD…

Its a glaring national embarrassment, and we need to fix it and fix it now.

FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps, referring to the extreme digital divide on Indian tribal lands, rural areas and inner cities, during his reconfirmation hearings before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in December.

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