Conrad Black talks in New York City about his new book.
Michael Falco for The Globe and Mail
Reflections
Conrad Black reflects on prison, lawyers, Kissinger and Barbara's health
In pair of recent interviews, Lord Black cracked jokes, offered raucous tales of prison life and commented on everything from the pointlessness of business schools, to the "sadistic and malicious" law-and-order policies of the federal Conservatives. So is this a new Conrad Black? "Not new," he said with a smile. "But evolved some."
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Conrad Black's legal team didn't live up to his Lordship's expectations.— John Gress/Reuters
– On lawyers and the legal system:
“In general I think there’s an unspoken feeling that anyone who is not a lawyer who stumbles into the morass of the legal system in the United States is sort of like an insect who hits a spiderweb. And you don’t let him out. And it is perfectly acceptable to rack him up and scheme him. And it’s kind of their revenge for the fact that they’re in theory working for other people and they swaddle it all in this bullshit about the society of laws and the rule of law and that justice is blind and your day in court. It’s all just crap, all of it.”
– On money woes, getting down to his last $100,000 and his wife, Barbara Amiel Black, trying to sell jewellery to cover legal bills. At one point he had $20.67 in an account to run his mansion in Palm Beach, Fla.:
“You can’t run the air conditioning in that place for more than half an hour on that. ... If it had gotten any worse, I could have borrowed from some friends, but I didn’t want to do that.”
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Black says his relationship with Henry Kissinger is fine.— Laura Blenkinsop/The Globe and Mail
– On former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger, a former Hollinger director who joined other directors in ousting Lord Black from Hollinger. In his book, Lord Black criticizes Mr. Kissinger for lacking moral courage and said his conduct was a “wound that will never heal.”
“I buried the hatchet with Henry, we’re fine ... I said, look I don’t want to go through all this again, I don’t want to hear your feelings about how I brought this on myself ... I said, look why don’t we just draw a line? The litmus test in this thing is if you actually think that I committed crimes, we are not going to repair our relations. If you can tell me that you do not believe that I committed crimes, then I think we’re fine. He said, I don’t think you committed crimes, and I never did. I said, then I suggest we leave it at that and never speak of it again. And he said, that’s fine.”
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David Radler, Black's former business partner, received a 29-month sentence and a fine of $250,000 (U.S.) in a plea deal that helped convict Black.— Scott Olson/Getty Images
– On David Radler, his long-time business partner who cut a deal and testified against him. In his book, Lord Black describes Mr. Radler as “repulsive:”
“David made all this stuff up and sold it [to prosecutors]. He sort of took advantage of being a Canadian yokel. These Americans don’t know what the hell goes on in Canada, so he sold them all this stuff ... It was objectively sad because he had done well. He had been a very successful guy.... So I don’t know where it went so horribly wrong."
“Every mistake [Mr. Radler] made, he said Crossharbour [Lord Black] strikes again. Everything was my fault. And he was mocking me because I was a member of the House of Lords. Maybe that was just tactical.”
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As his lawyer, Edward Greenspan failed to keep Black out of prison.— M. Spencer Green/The Associated Press
– On Toronto lawyer Edward Greenspan, who headed his legal team. In his book, Lord Black suggests Mr. Greenspan was more concerned about his public image and was past his prime as a lawyer:
“He’s a funny guy. I always knew him as quite a convivial guy and he’s quite a wit. But he is that, I mean he is sort of a lonely guy. They had a dinner, as I gather they do at the end of every case, and he just sat there, he didn’t say anything to anyone, which is odd. But look, I don’t want to dump on Eddie.”
– On his regrets about some of his lawyers’ legal strategy:
“Look, I have much greater regrets that I didn’t, when I was back in funds, that I didn’t make a spirited [effort] to tell Greenspan that for medical reasons he had to withdraw as chief counsel. We’d keep him but we’d bring in somebody else in time to do it ... He said, ‘My whole life is a preparation for this trial and this hour.’ It was really quite emotional. I said look, are you sure can you do this? And I’m not a sentimentalist but I took him at his word. To be fair, he thought he could. But he shouldn’t have been so confident.”
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Barbara Amiel Black is doing just fine, Conrad says.— Tom Sandler for The Globe and Mail
– On Lady Black’s health:
“She’s fine. Look, it’s fatiguing. It’s hard. This has been war. It has not been a tranquilizing experience and she feels these things very intensely. But basically she’s fine. She looks a lot younger than she is and we’re looking forward to living happily ever after.”
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Students at the University of Toronto campus.
– On business schools:
“The whole profusion of business schools is in a large measure a reaction that businessmen feel they are looked down upon as not being a learned profession and they are trying to make what is not essentially an academic subject an academic subject. Commerce isn’t really an academic subject. Aspects of economics or central banking or something that I can see would be … Go work in a business and work your way up…”
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Black was held in the Coleman federal prison in Florida.— Reinhold Matay/The Associated Press
– On inmates at Coleman:
“Everyone of them that I knew had better ethics than anyone I’d seen in the U.S. prosecution service. Of the ones I knew as a group, they were on balance more interesting than the membership of most of the prominent clubs that I am a member of in places like London and New York and Toronto.”
– On the U.S. prison system:
“At some point it’s going to blow up. What is going to happen, I can’t say this publicly because people will think I’m advocating which I wouldn’t do, some of these people who have been just completely screwed by this system are going to say all right they’ve ruined my life and I might take one with me.”
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Lord Black is highly critical of the Prime Minister's crime bills.— Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
– On Prime Minister Stephen Harper adopting some U.S.-style law-and-order policies:
“It’s a terribly retrograde step ... This business of cracking down on visitors and cracking down on reducing programs to actually help these people reintegrate into society, is a terrible, terrible, absolutely evil thing to do. It’s just sadistic and malicious.”
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Black says he has no plans to get back into the newspaper business.— Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
– On whether he would go back into the newspaper industry or buy back the National Post:
“I have no active ambition to get into that business. I think it’s unlikely. I don’t think it’s a great business.”
– On his possible return to the House of Lords:
“When I’m back there I’ll see. When I’m back there I’ll see. It’s not my plan to go marching into the House of Lords as soon as I’m there. But I consider myself perfectly eligible to resume my place.”
– On his future once released from prison:
“I have enough assets around that I will revive my career as an investor. I always was a pretty successful investor and especially now the macro economic managers have made such a horrible mess of things it’s not going to be that hard to make money if you know what you are doing. I have had a modest success as a writer of books and columns. I’ll just go on with that and see where it all leads. It’s been over eight years of this. I wouldn’t want to rush into things without taking a little time to smell the magnolias once this rather tedious episode is out of the way.”
– On returning to Canada next spring after completing his sentence and reclaiming Canadian citizenship:
“All I’m seeking at this point is temporary residence status ... I intend to [seek citizenship] some time, as long as there isn’t going to be controversy. I don’t want any more nonsensical controversy over things like that.”
– On ever returning to the United States:
“After the way I have been treated in this country I’ll be happy to see my American friends in London or Toronto.”
