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SUSAN FOSTER, KEY FIGURE IN ALAN EAGLESON CASE, WARNED NHLPA AGAINST FIRING OF PAUL KELLY

Susan Foster and the late Carl Brewer published The Power of Two about the Eagleson case in 2006

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AUGUST 31, 2099 -- TORONTO -- Author Susan Foster, whose work with life partner Carl Brewer laid the groundwork for the prosecution of Alan Eagleson, presented the following letter to one of the NHLPA player reps this weekend.  It is not clear whether the letter was presented during the meetings which led to the ouster of union boss Paul Kelly. 

SUSAN FOSTER'S LETTER TO THE NHLPA:

Letter by Susan Foster to a member of NHLPA Executive Board Friday, August 28, 2009

I am going to lay it out for you. I hope you do not find me too intrusive.

There are four insiders at the NHLPA who have continuously and knowingly tried to undercut Paul at every instance since day one. They are Ian Penny, Kim Murdock, Buzz Hargrove, Ron Pink. Of course, Eric (Lindros) was a constant thorn in his side. Eric's resigning changed nothing as he has been working behind the scenes with this group. EVERY ONE IN THIS GROUP IS A WARMONGER. They do not know that you have to choose your battles and that it is unreasonable for Paul to spend all his time going backwards when there is so much that needs to be done.

I ask you - would you trust anyone who would deliberately plant an untrue, fraudulent, libelous and defaming character assassination of Paul Kelly with the media shortly before the June meetings in Vegas? They did so anonymously as cowards one and all. I have Paul's permission to share that letter with you. I will send it under separate cover. It is certain to be the subject of a major lawsuit. These people, as you'll recall, were running things at the PA between Saskin's departure and Paul Kelly's arrival. They got to feel very important and they were running a closed shop for quite a few months. They appear to be gunning to take over from Paul by trying to discredit him. Paul cannot be discredited.

IAN PENNY: When Paul instructed Bob Lindquist to do an internal audit of funds in the NHLPA between Saskin's departure and Paul's arrival, Ian Penny was dead set against it. I wonder what he was trying to hide?

IAN PENNY spent hours, daily, conferring with Eric Lindros, prior to Eric's departure, in Ian's office and their objective was to undermine all of Paul's efforts and good work. Paul understood exactly what they were up to. I know that you heard a lot about this at last year's meetings when Eric tried his best to disgrace and discredit Paul back then.

You must recall that about a year ago, Chris Chelios and others (I'm not sure if you were there or not) paid a surprise visit to the PA office and individually told Ian Penny, Kim Murdock and others that Paul was in charge and that they were to get behind him and support him failing which they would be terminated? What happened there?

IAN PENNY wanted Ian Pulver to be brought back into the PA. The two Ians are good friends. Paul rejected that idea as he felt it would be too many from the old guard. Ian Penny still resents Paul for that.

IAN PENNY: WHY and HOW did he get a five-year extension on his contract without anyone consulting with the Executive Director as required in the constitution? Did you not smell a rat then when they wanted to do this without consultation with Paul? This effort by these back stabbers has been in the works for a very long time and is very calculated and consistent with the plans they have been contriving to implement.

IAN PENNY - was supportive of David Frost when there were numerous media reports of his inappropriate behaviour with young hockey players. (Steve Simmons comments on that in the article I sent you today).

KIM MURDOCK: is certainly part of this and she, too, has been a constant thorn in Paul's side. It was even worse when Sarah was there but Sarah was terminated for good cause. I take exception with Kim having the job she has because she has proven herself to be seriously wanting in the area of pensions and in particular the NHL pension plan. There was a recent victory concerning the NHL pensions brought to Court by Paul Kelly. It resulted in a successful verdict - the NHL owes widows over decades somewhere between $20 and $30 million dollars that they were cheated out of. When Russ Conway, Lorraine Mahoney and I asked Kim about this issue over a year ago, she was adamant that there was no problem and that everyone was getting all they deserved. She was WRONG. Had we listened to her, this grievous wrong would never have been made right. (Paul Kelly listened to us and took the matter to Court on behalf of all former players and widows of these men. It was a hands-down victory!)

It has been apparent to me for sometime that Kim, and Ian see me as a friend of Paul's and have been barely cordial to me when our paths have crossed.

BUZZ HARGROVE: Indeed Buzz, who ran the Canadian Auto Workers' Union into the ground in Canada, and who has a very high opinion of himself, has tried to seize the reins of this Organization. In fact, Buzz is a serious detriment to the NHLPA - corporations, sponsors, reportedly run the other way when he is involved in anything. You can see that he'd like to have an opportunity to get more and more control here. Buzz is NOT the man you need for CBA negotiations. Some, myself included, suspect he is with Lindros - both have Oshawa connections.

RON PINK - Advisory Board Chairman - applied for the job as Executive Director and Paul was chosen. Pink apparently still desperately wants the job and even recent media reports confirm that. However, small problem, he wasn't chosen for this job. He was strongly endorsed for the role with the advisory board by IAN PENNY and KIM MURDOCK, both of whom knew that he had applied for Paul's job but did not disclose this to Paul. (This set up has been a long time in the works).

NOW FOR PAUL.

Paul Kelly does not believe in warmongering. The anonymous memo accuses him of not being a good negotiator.  In fact, Paul is a well respected, successful negotiator and he has negotiated numerous benefits for the players and their families already. The general climate out there is one of loss, especially, financial loss for thousands and thousands of people. 80 banks in the U.S. have been shut down. The general public unfortunately sees hockey players as greedy. If you guys fire Paul Kelly - fraudulently, it will have very negative public relations repercussions and Bettman and Daly will be the happiest winners of all! Paul, unlike the group of detractors, has ETHICS. He is always above board, and he is the essence of integrity. He is an honourable man. Paul is an intellectual who has made a career out of successful negotiating, He broke the Charlestown Code of Silence Case; he was dedicated to the R. Alan Eagleson case and is single-handedly responsible for prosecuting him and putting him in jail. The Canadian authorities tried to protect him and get the U.S. to drop all their criminal charges against 'one of the old boys'.

Paul Kelly cares about the game, the business of hockey, and the players and their families - including the former players. He has recently negotiated a good deal for you with the NHL for International Hockey participation. Previously, the players played for no compensation, paid for their own insurance and were told that all the profits went to ;'enhance' their pensions. The work that Carl and I did proved definitely that not a dime went to improve the pensions - the money went into the owners' pockets. That will not happen under Paul. Thanks to Paul, all players participating in the Olympic camp are fully insured - by Hockey Canada.

Paul is accused repeatedly by the detractors, starting at the outset with Eric, of loving the media. Paul is sought out by the media because he is intelligent, articulate, he has interesting ideas and he is forthcoming and honest. In fact, Paul has brought respect to the NHLPA in the media that surpasses anything it has ever known in its history.

With Paul Kelly, the players are taking giant steps forward. If you choose the dissident group that wants to have a closed shop you will set the players back decades to the Eagleson era. It will affect not only some 700 hockey players of today but more likely 2,000 hockey players. It will take at least seven to ten years to recover from such a set back. Also, former players will be let down terribly. Paul, to his credit, has shown how much he cares about the older men who laid the groundwork for so many of the benefits you fellows enjoy today.

HOWEVER, for Paul to be able to effect more and more positive changes and benefits, it is going to be imperative that those who have developed this underhanded, malicious campaign against him be terminated immediately with cause. Probably, there ought to have been a thorough house cleaning at the outset of Paul's taking over. He simply cannot be expected to work with a group of people that he simply cannot trust.

I am praying and I have faith that you will all choose wisely. Many, many lives depend upon it.

Related:

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