Are Tiger's endorsements in danger? Courtney Hazlett and David Dusek of Golf.com talk with Contessa Brewer about how his accident and the controversy surrounding it could endanger his lucrative corporate deals.
Retail Web sites kept amping up the deals Monday, the first day after Thanksgiving weekend's strong online sales, to try to maintain the momentum.
Meanwhile, a research firm that tracks business at stores reported tepid sales and customer traffic for Friday and Saturday that confirmed a so-so start to the season for the bricks-and-mortar world.
Though the Web is only about 10 percent of the holiday shopping pie, it's seen most of the growth so far this year — an encouraging sign after last year's first online sales decline.
Coremetrics, a Web analytics company in San Mateo, Calif., said that as of 1 p.m. Monday, sales for the day that the industry still pitches as "Cyber Monday" were up 19.6 percent over a year ago.
The bright spot offers hope after traditional retail sales came in just above flat for Black Friday, with shoppers packing stores but sticking to their lists, going for deep discounts and practical items.
Investors voted with their dollars, rewarding online sellers. Amazon.com shares rose $4.17, or 3.2 percent, to $135.91 on a day when stocks of most traditional retailers fell as Wall Street analyzed the sea of data and anecdotal reports from the weekend.
ShopperTrak, which is based in Chicago and tracks sales and traffic at more than 50,000 outlets, said late Monday that retail sales for Friday and Saturday edged up 0.9 percent to $16.77 billion, while customer traffic fell 2.7 percent compared with last year. According to ShopperTrak, U.S. traffic slipped 2.5 percent on Friday, compared with an 18 percent drop in the year-ago period. Traffic fell 3.2 percent Saturday, compared with a 17 percent drop a year ago.
ShopperTrak derives its data from crowd-counting sensors in stores, combined with data from the retailers themselves on spending and how it relates to customer traffic.
Practical items popular with shoppers
Deeply discounted electronics such as flat-screen TVs, game systems and netbooks were popular, but more practical items such as appliances and home decor were also big sellers, as consumers took advantage of sales to buy things for themselves.
Many shoppers started looking for online deals ahead of what the industry still pitches as "Cyber Monday," as retailers stretched their online deals over several days.
Target, Walmart, Amazon.com and other retailers started offering the online equivalent of Black Friday specials on Thanksgiving or even earlier.
They stepped it up Monday. Amazon.com was discounting the Apple iPod Touch 8GB for $158, $20 less than Sunday and $40 off the retail price of about $200. Target.com offered a deal Monday for a Garmin GPS system for $186.99, down from $249.99. Free shipping was also prevalent.
New Thanksgiving tradition: Shopping?
Marshall Cohen, chief industry analyst at market research firm NPD Group, said this year saw the "graying of Black Friday," because deals that typically occurred only on the Friday after Thanksgiving have been spread out over two weeks.
"The holiday spread itself out," he said. "On Thanksgiving Day, there's a new tradition, shopping online before you stuff the turkey, putting the turkey in oven and going out shopping."
The Monday after Thanksgiving is usually far from the busiest online shopping day of the year, but it is typically one of the 10 busiest. It was dubbed "Cyber Monday" by the National Retail Federation trade group in 2005 to describe the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday.
The thinking was that shoppers who lacked broadband Internet access at home would wait until returning to work to look online. Now that most homes have broadband, that rationale has faded.
Finding a once-in-a-lifetime deal
Analysts expect Dec. 14, the last day consumers can order goods and have them arrive before Christmas, will be the busiest online shopping day.
Keith Harris, 36, an IT consultant for Hewlett-Packard, went out Friday for in-store sales, but he waited until Monday to buy a Playstation 3 because Walmart.com offered it at the best price on Monday — in a bundle with two games and a movie, for $369.
"You're looking for that once-in-a-lifetime deal," he said.
Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru predicts online holiday sales will rise 8 percent to $44.7 billion. So far, the weekend results are "strong reinforcement of how Web sales continue to outpace store sales," she said. Online sales account for about 7 percent of retailers' total sales, though that increases to about 10 percent during the holidays.
Scott Savitz, CEO of Shoebuy.com, one of the largest online shoe retailers, reported that traffic has been robust since Thanksgiving. He expects that Black Friday, not the Monday after Thanksgiving as it had in past years, will mark the first big surge in sales and traffic for his site.
"There is definitely a behavioral shift," said Savitz. "Clearly, people are seeing that Black Friday will be the start of the holiday season, no matter whether you are online or offline."
Citing injuries caused by his weekend car crash,Tiger Woods withdraws from his own charity golf tournamnet. Plus, his alleged mistress Rachel Uchitel denies she hooked up with Tiger.
Tiger Woods still isn't talking. Now he's not playing, either.
Woods withdrew Monday from his own golf tournament, citing injuries from a car crash near his Florida home. His decision comes as questions continue to mount regarding what exactly happened in the wee hours of the morning last Friday — questions that most certainly would have been asked of him had he played.
The world's No. 1 golfer posted a statement on his Web site saying that unspecified injuries prevented him from playing in the Chevron World Challenge. He had been scheduled to hold a press conference Tuesday for the tournament, which he hosts annually for a small, invited, field.
"I am extremely disappointed that I will not be at my tournament this week," Woods said. "I am certain it will be an outstanding event and I'm very sorry that I can't be there."
Tournament officials said fans who bought advance tickets with the hope of seeing Woods could get refunds beginning next week. Those who keep their tickets will get a 20 percent discount when they buy them next year.
Woods sustained cuts and bruises when he crashed his SUV into a fire hydrant and a tree at 2:25 a.m., outside his home in an exclusive, gated community near Orlando. He was treated and released from a hospital, and has not been seen in public since.
The first tournament of the 2010 PGA Tour is the SBS Championship in Hawaii, an event for winners from the previous year, beginning Jan. 7, but Woods wasn't expected to be there. He's more likely to play at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif., the week of Jan. 25.
Woods released a statement Sunday saying the accident was his fault and asked that it remain "a private matter." But with the Florida Highway Patrol still investigating and the media in full pursuit, Woods may not get his way.
Woods even faced questions from fans who left comments on his Web site. Most voiced support for him, but some said he should address the questions about his own actions and those of his wife, Elin Nordegren, before and after the accident.
Woods hasn't answered questions from Florida troopers, either, turning them down three days in a row when they came to his house.
Four cars were parked in Woods' driveway Monday, but no lights appeared to be on inside. A new fire hydrant had already replaced the one that Woods plowed into. A dirt hole and an orange barricade remained in the old hydrant's place.
Woods, who both hosts and plays in the Chevron World Challenge, was there last year even though he couldn't play because he was recovering from knee surgery. His absence this year will be the first since the tournament — which has only an 18-player field — began in 1999. He was replaced by Graeme McDowell.
Though he cited injuries from the accident in withdrawing, Woods didn't specifically say what those injuries included. The neighbor, who called 911 after Woods ran over the hydrant and hit a tree, said he was unconscious and laying outside his SUV. His wife told Windermere police she used a golf club to smash the back windows to help him out.
"This is a private matter and I want to keep it that way," Woods said in a statement Sunday, his first since the crash. "Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible. ...
"I appreciate all the concern and well wishes that we have received," he said. "But, I would also ask for some understanding that my family and I deserve some privacy no matter how intrusive some people can be."
The reference to "false, unfounded and malicious rumors" may have involved a story published last week in the National Enquirer alleging that Woods had been seeing a New York nightclub hostess, and that they recently were together in Melbourne, where Woods competed in the Australian Masters.
The woman, Rachel Uchitel, denied having an affair with Woods when contacted by The Associated Press. On Sunday, she flew to Los Angeles and was met by high-profile attorney Gloria Allred at the airport.
Still, even the release of the 911 tape and Woods' statement failed to answer several basic questions about the accident:
# Where he was going at that time of the night?
# How did he lose control of his SUV when it wasn't going fast enough to deploy airbags?
# Why were both rear windows of the Cadillac Escalade smashed?
# If it was a careless mistake, why not speak to state troopers trying to wrap the investigation?
Manhunt for alleged cop killer continues. Police are still in pursuit of Maurice Clemmons, a former inmate suspected of gunning down four Washington state police officers Sunday. NBC's George Lewis reports.
WA. Police Chief: "We will all miss them very much". Lakewood Police Chief Bret Farrar, flanked by city officials and numerous police officers, is emotional as he speaks to reporters about the shooting deaths of four of his officers.
Authorities believe the man sought in the slaying of four police officers is still alive and has been aided by a network of friends and family, a police spokesman said Monday night. Officers believe Maurice Clemmons was shot in the abdomen during the attack on the officers at a Parkland coffee shop, and had speculated he might have died.
But Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff, said investigators have questioned several people who had provided assistance to Clemmons since the Sunday morning shootings.
"We think his network of people helping him is running out." Troyer said. "He's probably on his own."
Police are also certain Clemmons, 37, was in a Seattle house on Sunday night, but was able to flee before police could contain the area. Police staked out the house overnight before SWAT team members determined early Monday that Clemmons wasn't there.
Clemmons has had access to handguns, rifles and shotguns, Troyer said.
"It's unfortunate he's been a step or two ahead of us."
Large Reward Offered
Monday morning's realization that the suspect had not been cornered after all prompted police to fan out across the city, looking for any sign of Clemmons. Authorities posted a $125,000 reward for information leading to his arrest in the Sunday morning shooting rampage.
The manhunt came as authorities in two states took heat for the fact that Clemmons was allowed to walk the streets despite a teenage crime spree in Arkansas that landed him an 108-year prison sentence. He was released early after then-Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted his sentence.
"This guy should have never been on the street," said Brian D. Wurts, president of the police union in Lakewood, where all four slain officers worked. "Our elected officials need to find out why these people are out."
Police said they are not sure what prompted Clemmons to assassinate the officers as they worked on their laptop computers at the beginning of their shifts. He was described as increasingly erratic in the past few months and had been arrested earlier this year on charges that he punched a sheriff's deputy in the face.
Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer told the Tacoma News-Tribune that Clemmons indicated the night before the shooting "that he was going to shoot police and watch the news."
Authorities said the gunman singled out the officers and spared employees and other customers at the coffee shop in a suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle. He then fled, but not before he was apparently shot in the torso by one of the dying officers.
Police later learned he may have been holed up at the house in Seattle. After an all-night siege in which they tried to get him out using loudspeakers, explosions and a robot sent into the house, a SWAT team stormed the place and discovered he was not there.
Police spent the rest of the day frantically chasing leads, visiting hundreds of locations as they followed up on tips, at one point cordoning off a park where people thought they saw Clemmons. They also alerted hospitals to be on the lookout for a man seeking treatment for gunshot wounds.
University of Washington officials alerted students by e-mail and text messages to an unconfirmed report that Clemmons might have gotten off a bus on or near the campus.
Investigators also examined the coffee shop for clues. Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Dave McDonald said that authorities found a handgun carried by the killer, along with a pickup truck belonging to the suspect with blood stains inside.
Killed were Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and Officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42.
Clemmons has an extensive violent criminal history from Arkansas.
On Sunday, Huckabee issued this statement on his Web site: "Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington state."
In seeking leniency from Huckabee, Clemmons wrote the parole board that he was a "misguided fool" when he committed the crimes and "learned through the school of hard knocks to appreciate and respect the rights of others."
Huckabee cited Clemmons' youth in granting the request. But Clemmons quickly reverted to his criminal past, violated his parole and was returned to prison. He was released again in 2004.
Clemmons was charged in Washington state earlier this year with assaulting a police officer and raping a child, and investigators in the sex case said he was motivated by visions that he was Jesus Christ and that the world was on the verge of the apocalypse. But he was released from jail after posting bail with the assistance of Jail Sucks Bail Bonds.
The world is going to end soon
Documents related to those charges indicate a volatile personality. In one instance, he is accused of punching a sheriff's deputy in the face. In another, he is accused of gathering his wife and young relatives and forcing them to undress.
"The whole time Clemmons kept saying things like trust him, the world is going to end soon, and that he was Jesus," a Pierce County sheriff's report said.
Neighbors said Clemmons had surveillance cameras installed along the bushes in front of his house, and had mostly kept his blinds shut since he was accused of throwing rocks through the windows of his neighbors' cars and houses earlier this year.
Neighbor Ken Dietiker said he initially thought Clemmons' cameras were there to prevent crime. "But now I'm starting to think he's just paranoid," he said.
Dietiker said he was frustrated to learn about Clemmons' record and releases from custody.
"There were all these indicators. Who didn't see them?" he asked. "That's what I want to know."
Authorities say the man charged with that shooting also firebombed four police vehicles in October as part of a "one-man war" against law enforcement. Christopher Monfort, 41, was arrested after being wounded in a firefight with police days after the Seattle shooting.
President Barack Obama late Monday nominated Charlotte Lawyer Thomas G. Walker to replace U.S. Attorney George Holding, who has spent months overseeing federal probes of two of the state’s most prominent Democrats: two-time presidential candidate John Edwards and former Gov. Mike Easley.
Walker had long been thought to be the front-runner for the job, but it was uncertain whether he would take over the investigations into Edwards and Easley.
Holding, who covers North Carolina’s Eastern District from Raleigh, has been examining the campaign finances of Edwards, a former senator who admitted last year to an extra-marital affair. Holding also has looked into campaign finances and gifts to Easley, who just completed two terms as governor. Holding has called grand juries in both cases, but charges have not been filed against either Easley or Edwards.
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, who put Walker’s name forward as a potential nominee, said late Monday she wants Holding to finish those probes.
“I will continue to impress upon the White House that George Holding should be given the time to complete his investigations into former public officials,” said Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, in a statement.
Still, she praised Obama’s choice of Walker, a partner at the Charlotte office of Alston & Bird and a former Special Counsel to N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper.
Hagan called Walker “extremely qualified and fair-minded.” She added: “I expect the transition process to be undertaken in a mutually respectful manner with an eye toward what is best for the citizens of North Carolina.”
Obama also named U.S. attorney nominees, who must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, to similar posts in Wisconsin, Wyoming and Michigan. “These fine attorneys have a extensive legal experience and a shared commitment to public service,” Obama said in a his prepared statement.
Walker, 45, has worked at Alston & Bird since 2003, and before that worked for Cooper for two years. At Alston & Bird, he concentrates on complex federal and state government investigations and white-collar defense.
He has served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District from 1994 to 2001, and was an assistant district attorney for Mecklenburg County from 1990 to 1994.
Walker gave $1,250 last year to Obama’s presidential campaign and $500 to Hagan’s Senate campaign, according to records.
Last summer, Hagan submitted Walker’s name along with that of Benjamin David, the district attorney for Pender and New Hanover counties; and Hampton Dellinger, a partner in the law firm of Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson.
Burley Mitchell, a former N.C. Supreme Court justice, said Walker stood out as a contender for the position. Mitchell chaired a committee advising Hagan on the judicial nominations.
“He gives every indication of being fair and moderate,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell did note say that the nomination took did take longer than in previous administrations, but that Obama’s attention understandably could have been elsewhere.
“He has one or two things on his mind in addition to who will be U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of North Carolina,” he said.
Mitchell said he doesn’t expect Thomas’ nomination to derail the ongoing Easley and Edwards investigations.
Hagan told the White House that she wanted Holding to finish that work.
“As I have previously discussed with the Office of the White House Counsel, it is my belief that the current U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, George Holding, should be allowed to complete the ongoing investigations of public officials in the state,” Hagan wrote in July.
She continued: “During my conversations with the Office of the White House Counsel, there was an interest expressed by the Counsel’s office to potentially appoint a separate individual to begin handling other matters not related to these investigations. Should you decide to do so, the following names are provided for your consideration.”
But in its spare news release Monday, the White House made no mention of whether Holding could stay on at all. Efforts to reach him were unsuccessful U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, was not immediately available for comment late Monday.
Internal e-mails reveal new allegations of misspending at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services, raising more unanswered questions about what happened to money intended to help needy children.
Some of the more than 1,000 e-mails the Charlotte Observer obtained through a Public Records Request provide the most detailed account to date about the agency's accounting fiasco.
E-mails show:
Officials suspected an employee wrote $80,000 in checks to herself from donations.
An administrator questioned why other donations were used to buy $340 diamond earrings, leather coats and a $300 DVD player.
A top executive complained that a senior fiscal administrator frustrated co-workers with her "inability to explain the simplest concepts of revenue and expenses."
After nearly a year, officials have never said who was at fault for $162,000 that disappeared or whether anyone was disciplined.
No one has been charged in an ongoing police investigation and a county report says officials cannot be certain where the money went.
Meanwhile, donors are left to wonder whether their generosity ever helped buy Christmas gifts for those in need.
In one e-mail, a woman describes calling the county in 2007 to give $900 for single mothers at Christmas. The person who answered the phone told her to make a check payable to the worker's sister.
The donor said she grew suspicious and made the check out to the county, but the idea that it may still have been misused is "like a kick in the stomach."
In another e-mail, a founder of Second String Santa said he was concerned whether kids received the more than 50,000 toys his group had donated since 1989.
Will Miller said he believes some of the toys reached children, but he's not sure about the rest.
"Will we ever know? Probably not," he said.
Two Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Commissioners said they have asked County Administrators for a full accounting of what went wrong at DSS but have yet to receive answers. County officials have never explained who was responsible, they said.
"To fix it, you have to admit all the stuff that is messed up," Commissioner Bill James said. "They don't want to do too much digging."
County administrators declined interview requests. Instead, a county spokesman released a prepared statement saying appropriate fiscal controls have been installed in response to an outside audit and an internal investigation.
"Our review of the e-mails we provided and your follow up questions did not reveal any new information that would suggest any change in the audit findings or in management's response to those findings," the statement said.
Some commissioners said they have been told that the employees involved have either left county government or been placed in new positions. Unusual spending patterns
DSS spends $176 million annually and employs 1,200 workers to assist Mecklenburg's poor and neglected. The agency administers everything from food stamps to foster care and child protection services.
Last spring, DSS Director Mary Wilson ordered financial audits following reports of suspicious spending.
Auditors looked at multiple spending programs and financial practices in the agency. They found a $10,000 check made out to an employee, missing and altered receipts and money for kids spent on office supplies.
County leaders responded by suspending the programs, putting DSS finance under direct county control, training workers on accounting procedures and ordering a review of financial procedures in each county agency.
The Observer reviewed e-mails dating from December 2008 to July 2009 for seven current and former county administrators, including Wilson, County Manager Harry Jones, County Finance Director Dena Diorio and Internal Auditor Cornita Spears.
E-mails show county officials noticed unusual spending patterns as early as last December but did not disclose problems to the public until March.
On New Year's Eve, Wilson told staff she had suspended a voucher program the agency used to purchase clothes and other items for clients at local stores. She wrote that officials were worried about a lack of oversight and a spike in spending.
One monthly retail bill leapt from between $5,000 and $6,000 to more than $20,000 in October 2008, the e-mail says. Employees turned in receipts only 30 to 35 percent of the time, she wrote.
At one time or another, workers possessed or had access to numerous credit cards and gift cards, including some to Bath & Body Works, Bass Pro Shops, Macy's, the Cheesecake Factory and Outback Steakhouse.
Outside auditors verified for county administrators that DSS workers possessed county-issued credit cards, including 10 credit cards for Sam's Club, three for Harris Teeter and an online charge account with Amazon.com
In February, county officials asked internal auditors to look into questionable spending, including purchases of diamond earrings, leather coats and a DVD player.
An e-mail to one of the auditors from a human resources consultant said the purchases raise "many questions and concerns."
According to the county's statement, most gifts were typical children's items such as toys, clothes and books. More expensive items such as diamond earrings and leather coats were approved purchases for foster children who reached special milestones like high school graduation, the statement says.
"Receiving a gift of some significant value was viewed as an incentive for other children who were in foster care to set goals and accomplish them," the statement said.
Commissioner Harold Cogdell said he spent part of his early childhood in foster care and believes the gifts are a good idea.
"It makes sense to me to show the kids some love," Cogdell said.
A new Accountant
DSS has endured multiple management shakeups in recent years. The latest came when Wilson reorganized the agency after she was hired in July 2008.
She laid out the reasons to hire a new finance director in a February e-mail.
Wilson wrote that the senior fiscal administrator who managed DSS finances failed to provide reports about oversight, alienated staff and lacked the ability to conduct productive discussions with senior county executives. The e-mail does not name the senior fiscal administrator.
DSS later hired accountant Angela Hurlburt to oversee its finances.
James, the commissioner, said he has asked for the names and background information on Hurlburt's predecessors. He wants them to answer questions from the Board of Commissioners' Audit Review Committee, which investigated accounting lapses at DSS.
He said administrators have failed to respond to his requests and complained that officials "keep us in the dark."
Other Charlotte-Mecklenburg Commissioners disagreed.
Chairman Jennifer Roberts and Commissioner Dumont Clarke said county leaders have already put in place reforms that will protect taxpayer and donor money.
"The highest priority" is implementing new financial controls, Clarke said.
Shifting the Finances
Auditors from Cherry, Bekaert & Holland reviewed DSS and found that Mecklenburg officials responded appropriately. The county's Audit Review Committee came to the same conclusion.
But DSS Director Wilson bristled at one of the major reforms.
Leaders put DSS finance under the direct control of the county's main finance department after allegations of misspending surfaced.
In April, Wilson sent an e-mail to County General Manager Michelle Lancaster to complain. Calling the decision "premature" and "shortsighted," Wilson said there are emergencies when DSS workers must write checks immediately, including occasions when the agency takes children in custody who need clothes, toiletries and school supplies.
"I understand the urgency at the time, but there was a reason DSS had check writing capability and I think we threw the baby out with the bathwater instead of fixing the underlying issue, which is documentation and accountability," Wilson wrote.
Donors left with questions
Past supporters of the DSS Christmas charity include Young Lawyers, employees of Wachovia and Bank of America, and Project Joy, the holiday fund drive initiated by Observer columnist Tommy Tomlinson. The Christmas charity, known as the Giving Tree, is now run by the Salvation Army.
The donor who gave $900 e-mailed the county in July after learning about accounting failures from news accounts. She attached a picture of the check copy she made around Christmas in 2007.
She wrote that she did not remember the name of the woman she spoke with on the phone.
The donor said she and her family all pitched in to raise the money so she could assist women like her who had struggled as single mothers.
When she heard there were allegations of misspending in a DSS charity program, "It's like your stomach just drops."
Charlotte Mayor-elect Anthony Foxx says the new City Council should discuss whether it should award bonuses next year to the city manager and city attorney, though Foxx declined to say his position on the issue.
In the last month, council members have voted to give Charlotte City Manager Curt Walton and Charlotte City Attorney Mac McCarley bonuses for work done in the past year, decisions made after Walton cut merit-based bonuses and raises for city employees due to the recession.Walton's decision affected bonus payments and raises for the current fiscal year, which started July 1.
Some council members have said Walton and McCarley are exempt from that decision because the bonuses they received were for work done in fiscal year 2008-09, which ended June 30. Their formal evaluations - which took place in the last month - were done several months late.
But a number of council members are undecided on whether Walton and McCarley should receive bonuses next year, or share the financial pain felt by other employees.
"I don't know yet," said Republican council member Warren Cooksey, who voted to give bonuses to Walton and McCarley. He said the council should decide quickly whether it will award bonuses next year.
Both Walton and McCarley did good work for the city, council members said.
Walton will receive a base salary of $200,312 in the current year, plus the $16,000 bonus for last fiscal year. McCarley will receive a salary of $175,781 for the current year and a $15,000 bonus for last fiscal year. Their total pay - salary and bonus - for 2008-09 was the same as it was for the previous fiscal year..
Foxx, a Democrat and currently a council member, will be sworn in as mayor Dec. 7. Democrat Patrick Cannon will also become a council member that day, replacing Republican John Lassiter.
Walton and McCarley have said it's too early to speculate on whether they would accept a bonus for 2009-2010.
The city's Human Resources director, Tim Mayes, for the fiscal year ending June 30 received a $14,955 bonus in addition to his salary of $149,555. He won't be receiving a raise or a bonus this year .
He said in an e-mail last week to the Observer that council members and the city manager and city attorney have had an informal agreement that the bonus payments are a "standard part" of their compensation package. Cutting the payments would be "inappropriate," he said.
Republican Mayor Pat McCrory and Democrat Michael Barnes voted against both packages. Democrats Foxx, James Mitchell and Warren Turner voted against McCarley's package Monday.
Turner was absent for the vote on Walton's compensation.
Foxx said he voted against McCarley's compensation package not because he objected in principle to awarding the bonus. He said instead he didn't feel McCarley had done as good of a job as Walton.
"It's my expectation that we will have some early dialogue with our management about bonuses," Foxx said. "I understand the perception issues and realities of the revenue issues."
Republican Edwin Peacock said he doesn't like that the council has made it appear as though the city manager and city attorney will almost automatically receive a bonus. Any bonus should be more discretionary, he said.
Peacock said he voted for the bonuses because "you can't give a guy high marks and take it away. What signal does that send?" When asked about other employees who likely received high marks but won't receive a bonus, Peacock said that was a difficult situation.
Cannon said the new council should talk soon about its pay plans for the city manager and city attorney for 2009-2010. He said the city "should be conscious that people are treated equally across the board."
Last year, about 2 percent of the city's 6,700 employees received one-time payments in addition to their salaries.
After debate, Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones received a $38,400 bonus from county commissioners Nov. 4. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Supt. Peter Gorman turned down a pay raise this year due to the economy.
Charlotte City Manager Curt Walton this summer cut pay raises and merit-based bonuses for city employees due to the recession.
On Monday night, the Charlotte City Council awarded Walton a $16,000 bonus, and the city manager accepted.
Council members said they were pleased with how Walton has navigated the city through the economic downturn. But Democrat Michael Barnes and Republican Mayor Pat McCrory voted against the pay package because of the bonus.
"I thought he did a very good job - I told him that," said Barnes. "But I didn't think it was right to pay out bonuses. My concern is that there are a lot of people struggling. It would be beneficial for us to show restraint."
McCrory, who is allowed to vote in personnel matters, said Walton did a good job.
"But I was opposed to the bonus because of the economic circumstances in the public and private sector," McCrory said.
Walton, whose evaluation was approved Monday for work in the previous 12 months, will see his total pay remain the same as a year ago. He will receive a salary of $200,312 and the $16,000 bonus, based on his 2008-09 performance.
But a number of city employees whose evaluations also came after July are seeing their pay decrease. The city awarded 314 bonuses, or merit payments, between July 2008 and May 2009 for a total of nearly $400,000. As the financial crisis deepened last year, the city froze positions and cut back on travel and other expenses. The city decided against stopping merit bonus payments in the middle of the fiscal year to avoid punishing employees who had later review dates.
Typically, most city employees can receive up to 8 percent of their salary as a merit-based raise, a bonus, or a combination of the two. When the new fiscal year began in July, Walton said he would recommend stopping the bonuses due to the downturn.
Human Resources Director Tim Mayes, for instance, was paid a salary of $149,555 for 2008-09 as well as a merit bonus of $14,955. For this fiscal year, Mayes will receive only his base salary.
He said Walton was given a bonus by council members because of an "understanding" that's been in place for five years.
"(Council members and the city manager) liken the one-time payment as the first cousin to base pay," Mayes said. "It's not contractually based, but there is a good faith understanding between them."
Mayes said in an e-mail that cutting the bonus would reduce the manager's pay, which would be "inappropriate."
Walton was out of town Tuesday and couldn't be reached for comment. A city spokesperson, Kim McMillan, said Walton declined to talk about his evaluation because state law allows those discussions to take place in private.
In a June Observer story, Walton said he wanted to cut all the city's bonuses temporarily except for a program that allows employees to share in savings when their department or division is a low bidder on a contract. The story didn't address whether Walton planned to not accept any bonus council members might approve.
City attorney Mac McCarley is also paid by the council and is eligible for a bonus.
Mayor-elect Anthony Foxx, a Democrat, voted for Walton's pay package.
"There was a lot of discussion about that issue," Foxx said. "The decision was that as part of the package that the city manager has, if certain targets are met, that's part of the compensation. It wasn't done without debate."
Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones accepted a $38,400 bonus earlier this month. His total compensation of $254,055 remains the same as last year.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman turned down his bonus this summer, and eliminated bonuses for principals and teachers. CMS said the reductions saved $1million.
Council member Patsy Kinsey, a Democrat who voted for Walton's bonus, said she believes Walton received it because it was based on his performance for fiscal year 2008-09 - making it unrelated, she believed, to one-time payments that have been "frozen" for the fiscal year 2009-2010.
That isn't correct, according to the timeline outlined by Mayes. All city employees whose evaluations fell after July 1 of this year are ineligible for pay increases except Walton and McCarley.
Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones will receive a $38,400 performance bonus, but his total compensation remains the same as last year, under a deal unanimously approved Wednesday by county commissioners.
Commissioners praised Jones for, among other things, leading the county during a difficult economic time.
The "pay-at-risk" money - which commissioners have in previous years called a performance bonus - is part of an overall $302,854 compensation package. It also includes $215,655 in base salary.
The pay plan keeps Jones' compensation the same as in 2008-09, though a board committee determined he actually would have been due more money this year, said commissioner Dumont Clarke.
Jones, however, asked that his pay be kept level. "That was his request," said commissioners' Chairman Jennifer Roberts. He "wants to be treated like all the other county employees." The county didn't award any merit raises this year.
Jones' evaluation has been in the works for weeks, with talks largely being kept private initially as allowed by state law.
But some commissioners acknowledged last month that paying the money could raise questions in light of steep budget cuts across the county. Two other local public officials - Charlotte City Manager Curt Walton and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman - declined merit raises or bonuses for themselves and staff to help save money.
Jones is eligible for a higher bonus than Gorman or Walton, up to 30 percent of his base salary.
Commissioners Chair Jennifer Roberts said the board had a "difficult conversation" about the pay plan because of the economic conditions.
Still, commissioners also have said they wanted to reward Jones for meeting goals previously outlined by the board.
Clarke said Jones told commissioners earlier Tuesday evening that 2008-09 was both his most challenging and best year as manager.
Roberts said Jones "has done a very, very good job, an excellent job as manager in a very difficult year." She cited Jones' work addressing budget cuts because of falling tax revenues and his work on the Critical Needs Task Force to help address social services needs in the community.
But the county also faced questions about inadequate accounting at the Department of Social Services, including an investigation into possible misused money in a charity program for foster children. The county announced steps to help shore up practices within DSS, including putting its finances under control of the main county finance department.
Mecklenburg has offered bonuses to the manager for years, but decided five years ago to restructure the pay system to reflect a CEO-style package of a base salary with another piece of pay tied to performance.
Under the plan, Jones is eligible for a bonus of up to 30 percent of his annual salary based on a series of criteria, including how well the county performs on annual goals and a management plan approved by commissioners. Based on his current salary, he could have received a bonus up to about $65,000 this year.
Jones has not received the full bonus since commissioners approved the new pay structure in 2004.
Clarke said Jones' performance in the past year earned him more money. He said he's being paid about 10 percent less than what his performance score called for.
Cuts in Mental Health
Also on Tuesday, commissioners approved about $2.76million worth of service cuts to the county's Area Mental Health department because of reduced money from the state. The state cuts were actually larger, but county staff has promised $3.7 million to help make up the gap.
Jones said he hasn't yet identified where the money would come from.
Over the years I’ve defended County Manager Harry Jones in public and private as a competent manager who seems to have the right goals and standards in place for Mecklenburg County. But his handling of the DSS mess is a firing offense, specifically his move to quiet a critic of DSS by calling the man’s employer to silence him.
Jones has not said why he contacted Bank of America after a local BAC employee complained that he felt “duped” by giving money to DSS’ charitable efforts for kids. That is no doubt because the tone of the email exchange is unmistakable — and chilling.
“There seems to be a need for a wholesale cleanup of many county agencies, and I think that starts from the top down,” BofA employee Harry Lomax wrote to county officials. A week later, Jones sent the email on to a BofA VP with an ominous “Do you know Harry Lomax” addition.
The response was immediate from BofA government liaison Betty Turner. Lomax’s email was deemed “embarassing” and Jones was assured that BofA execs were on to Lomax: “I am tracking it down. I don’t know him – I have alerted charles. Will be back to you.” Question: Who the hell is “charles?” The Uptown paper of record account leaves this out.
Anyone with even a glancing understanding of Charlotte’s history is probably flashing back to the time when uppity mill hands who questioned local leaders were met with, “What’s your name again? I know your pastor.” The threat was clear — shut up and know your place.
Harry Jones clearly has no problem pulling the same power levers as boss men of years past. And no doubt Jones has done this sort of thing before to be so comfortable as to put such a smoking gun in email form, and on such a high profile matter as DSS’s continued money and management woes. For that reason, the “isolated incident” defense we are sure to get this week does not wash.
Harry Jones has proven he does not have the temperament required of highly compensated public employees, particularly at a time when revenues are tight and citizens are concerned about spending. Criticism from engaged citizens — Harry Lomax was concerned that a county Christmas charity was misusing funds — must be welcomed and encouraged, not kick off corporate retaliation efforts among the lock-step Uptown crowd.
A unanimous vote by the Mecklenburg County commission to remove Jones from his position is the only thing which can restore confidence in the notion that local government works for local citizens rather than actively conspires against them.
Update: Betty Turner is a registered lobbyist for BAC in both North Carolina and Virginia.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones has faced intense criticism from some residents on a variety of issues this year, including reported accounting problems in the Department of Social Services and a $38,400 performance bonus given to him earlier this month. Some have even called for his job.
Jones addressed the issues in an interview Thursday on "Charlotte's Morning News with Al Gardner & Stacey Simms" on WBT-AM.
Here are some snippets from the interview:
Q. Have you thought about resigning?
Jones: "No, I have not given any thought to that Al. This has been a good year. You know along the way you are going to make some mistakes. I did make a mistake in forwarding an email. Harry Lomax and I have subsequently talked and I'm taking his position that it was blown way out of proportion. He and I have had lunch together with each other. No, I have not given any thought to it. But I will say, Al, it's been a tough year. It's been a really tough year. But I think it's also been my best year and I told the board of county commissioners that and I'm going to continue to stay where I am unless they decide they don't want me any longer."
Q. As Al was mentioning, though, other county employees didn't get bonuses at all. And it seems to me that with the email as you said you’ve apologized, you've had lunch with the gentleman, but (it was) big blow to public trust there, and with the DSS situation being what it is, why not say, well, I'll accept the bonus if such and so bears out, an ethics investigation, something like that? Because I think a lot of people would question whether this was the best year for county government.
Jones: "I’m going to say this: I earned that bonus. I think the other issues "My board of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Commissioners" factored all of those things in when they considered my compensation. And the position that I will take is that, yes, the email does raise some questions about people's confidence in government. But Al and Stacey, I will say to you that there was no malicious intent, as I have indicated publicly, on my forwarding that particular email. And in that there was no malicious intent, for those people who want to call for my scalp on that one particular action, (they) don’t know Harry Jones and don't know what Harry Jones has done through his career to try to open up government, to encourage more participation. If you want to judge me on this one action, then I would say you're judging me contrary to the real Harry Jones."
Internal e-mails reveal new allegations of misspending at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services, raising more unanswered questions about what happened to money intended to help needy children.
Some of the more than 1,000 e-mails the Charlotte Observer obtained through a Public Records Request provide the most detailed account to date about the agency's accounting fiasco.
E-mails show:
Officials suspected an employee wrote $80,000 in checks to herself from donations.
An administrator questioned why other donations were used to buy $340 diamond earrings, leather coats and a $300 DVD player.
A top executive complained that a senior fiscal administrator frustrated co-workers with her "inability to explain the simplest concepts of revenue and expenses."
After nearly a year, officials have never said who was at fault for $162,000 that disappeared or whether anyone was disciplined.
No one has been charged in an ongoing police investigation and a county report says officials cannot be certain where the money went.
Meanwhile, donors are left to wonder whether their generosity ever helped buy Christmas gifts for those in need.
In one e-mail, a woman describes calling the county in 2007 to give $900 for single mothers at Christmas. The person who answered the phone told her to make a check payable to the worker's sister.
The donor said she grew suspicious and made the check out to the county, but the idea that it may still have been misused is "like a kick in the stomach."
In another e-mail, a founder of Second String Santa said he was concerned whether kids received the more than 50,000 toys his group had donated since 1989.
Will Miller said he believes some of the toys reached children, but he's not sure about the rest.
"Will we ever know? Probably not," he said.
Two Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Commissioners said they have asked County Administrators for a full accounting of what went wrong at DSS but have yet to receive answers. County officials have never explained who was responsible, they said.
"To fix it, you have to admit all the stuff that is messed up," Commissioner Bill James said. "They don't want to do too much digging."
County administrators declined interview requests. Instead, a county spokesman released a prepared statement saying appropriate fiscal controls have been installed in response to an outside audit and an internal investigation.
"Our review of the e-mails we provided and your follow up questions did not reveal any new information that would suggest any change in the audit findings or in management's response to those findings," the statement said.
Some commissioners said they have been told that the employees involved have either left county government or been placed in new positions. Unusual spending patterns
DSS spends $176 million annually and employs 1,200 workers to assist Mecklenburg's poor and neglected. The agency administers everything from food stamps to foster care and child protection services.
Last spring, DSS Director Mary Wilson ordered financial audits following reports of suspicious spending.
Auditors looked at multiple spending programs and financial practices in the agency. They found a $10,000 check made out to an employee, missing and altered receipts and money for kids spent on office supplies.
County leaders responded by suspending the programs, putting DSS finance under direct county control, training workers on accounting procedures and ordering a review of financial procedures in each county agency.
The Observer reviewed e-mails dating from December 2008 to July 2009 for seven current and former county administrators, including Wilson, County Manager Harry Jones, County Finance Director Dena Diorio and Internal Auditor Cornita Spears.
E-mails show county officials noticed unusual spending patterns as early as last December but did not disclose problems to the public until March.
On New Year's Eve, Wilson told staff she had suspended a voucher program the agency used to purchase clothes and other items for clients at local stores. She wrote that officials were worried about a lack of oversight and a spike in spending.
One monthly retail bill leapt from between $5,000 and $6,000 to more than $20,000 in October 2008, the e-mail says. Employees turned in receipts only 30 to 35 percent of the time, she wrote.
At one time or another, workers possessed or had access to numerous credit cards and gift cards, including some to Bath & Body Works, Bass Pro Shops, Macy's, the Cheesecake Factory and Outback Steakhouse.
Outside auditors verified for county administrators that DSS workers possessed county-issued credit cards, including 10 credit cards for Sam's Club, three for Harris Teeter and an online charge account with Amazon.com
In February, county officials asked internal auditors to look into questionable spending, including purchases of diamond earrings, leather coats and a DVD player.
An e-mail to one of the auditors from a human resources consultant said the purchases raise "many questions and concerns."
According to the county's statement, most gifts were typical children's items such as toys, clothes and books. More expensive items such as diamond earrings and leather coats were approved purchases for foster children who reached special milestones like high school graduation, the statement says.
"Receiving a gift of some significant value was viewed as an incentive for other children who were in foster care to set goals and accomplish them," the statement said.
Commissioner Harold Cogdell said he spent part of his early childhood in foster care and believes the gifts are a good idea.
"It makes sense to me to show the kids some love," Cogdell said.
A new Accountant
DSS has endured multiple management shakeups in recent years. The latest came when Wilson reorganized the agency after she was hired in July 2008.
She laid out the reasons to hire a new finance director in a February e-mail.
Wilson wrote that the senior fiscal administrator who managed DSS finances failed to provide reports about oversight, alienated staff and lacked the ability to conduct productive discussions with senior county executives. The e-mail does not name the senior fiscal administrator.
DSS later hired accountant Angela Hurlburt to oversee its finances.
James, the commissioner, said he has asked for the names and background information on Hurlburt's predecessors. He wants them to answer questions from the Board of Commissioners' Audit Review Committee, which investigated accounting lapses at DSS.
He said administrators have failed to respond to his requests and complained that officials "keep us in the dark."
Other Charlotte-Mecklenburg Commissioners disagreed.
Chairman Jennifer Roberts and Commissioner Dumont Clarke said county leaders have already put in place reforms that will protect taxpayer and donor money.
"The highest priority" is implementing new financial controls, Clarke said.
Shifting the Finances
Auditors from Cherry, Bekaert & Holland reviewed DSS and found that Mecklenburg officials responded appropriately. The county's Audit Review Committee came to the same conclusion.
But DSS Director Wilson bristled at one of the major reforms.
Leaders put DSS finance under the direct control of the county's main finance department after allegations of misspending surfaced.
In April, Wilson sent an e-mail to County General Manager Michelle Lancaster to complain. Calling the decision "premature" and "shortsighted," Wilson said there are emergencies when DSS workers must write checks immediately, including occasions when the agency takes children in custody who need clothes, toiletries and school supplies.
"I understand the urgency at the time, but there was a reason DSS had check writing capability and I think we threw the baby out with the bathwater instead of fixing the underlying issue, which is documentation and accountability," Wilson wrote.
Donors left with questions
Past supporters of the DSS Christmas charity include Young Lawyers, employees of Wachovia and Bank of America, and Project Joy, the holiday fund drive initiated by Observer columnist Tommy Tomlinson. The Christmas charity, known as the Giving Tree, is now run by the Salvation Army.
The donor who gave $900 e-mailed the county in July after learning about accounting failures from news accounts. She attached a picture of the check copy she made around Christmas in 2007.
She wrote that she did not remember the name of the woman she spoke with on the phone.
The donor said she and her family all pitched in to raise the money so she could assist women like her who had struggled as single mothers.
When she heard there were allegations of misspending in a DSS charity program, "It's like your stomach just drops."
As Tiger Wreck Watch 2009 lurches into its fourth day with little new information, fans and media are combing over every element of this case like symbologists in a Dan Brown thriller. There's brick wall after brick wall in this story, but one of the largest and most well-fortified is this: just who is Elin Nordegren Woods, anyway?
If you were to design the perfect wife for a privacy-hungry superstar like Tiger Woods, she'd look a whole lot like Elin -- low-key, accustomed to celebrity, and, from all appearances on the golf course, totally devoted to her husband's career.
Which is what makes the current questions about her recent behavior -- why did she smash a window in Tiger's Escalade? Is she responsible for his injuries? Why did she change her story to police? -- so challenging. We'd like to think the best of her, but we simply don't know much about her.
As the Daily Beast notes today in a story entitled "The Mysterious Mrs. Woods," there's only been one major story written about Elin Nordegren Woods -- a 2004 Sports Illustrated profile -- and even that story centered on how little anyone outside of her inner circle knows about her.
The facts:
She grew up in Stockholm, and while she did some modeling in her teens, the idea that she was a "Swedish supermodel" is one of those urban legends that grows in the retelling. "She wasn't a high-profile model," as the Beast quotes a source from a New York modeling agency, and, to be fair, she didn't seem to be particularly interested in modeling as a career.
But she was around the world of golf long before she met Woods, serving as the Nanny to golfer Jesper Parnevik. She met Tiger at the 2001 British Open, and it wasn't exactly a romantic introduction for the ages.
According to SI, Tiger was so nervous about asking her out that he had a friend do it for him. Initially, she declined. But Woods persisted, she relented, and they married in a lavish $1.5 million ceremony in Barbados. That wedding was the stuff of tabloid heaven, with Hootie and the Blowfish as the house band and Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley in attendance.
Being married to the world's richest athlete apparently has done little to change Elin's public persona. We don't see her doing reality shows, we don't see her on the covers of magazines every month, and aside from releasing some photos, she doesn't parade around her children – two-year-old Sam and nine-month-old Charlie – seeking publicity. It's refreshing, really, to see someone in the limelight who's so apparently unconcerned with the fame-hungry world of modern celebrity.
And this brings up the question of obligation. Is Elin Woods obligated to share anything about herself with the world just because of the man she married? Of course not. Their private life is just that: private. Anything that goes on behind closed doors is their business, and theirs alone ... as long as no crimes have been committed. Without speculating on the Woods case, any time there is a reasonable suspicion of domestic violence, it does indeed become a public matter.
What's definitive is that some of the events of recent days haven't been behind closed doors, they've taken place on public streets. And because Tiger Woods is a worldwide celebrity, anything he does in public, from hitting a golf ball to hitting a fire hydrant, draws worldwide notice. Combine the events of Friday morning with the allegations published last Wednesday that Woods had been pursuing an affair with another woman, and you've got a case that police simply cannot ignore.
In the world of celebrity culture, curiosity fills in the gaps in a vacuum of information. Was it the wisest idea for Elin Woods to share absolutely nothing about herself for all these years? Perhaps, perhaps not; that's a decision everyone watching this case has to make for themselves.
What's certain is that the Woods camp would love a mulligan on many elements of this case, and the image that's been created -- or, more accurately, not created -- of Elin up until Nov. 27 may very well be at the top of that list.
Even more perplexing than Tiger Woods’ strange behavior early Friday morning is that of his elegant and discreet wife, Elin Nordegren. Jacob Bernstein on the couple’s once seemingly perfect relationship.
If the news of Tiger Woods’ alleged marital spat early Friday morning was surprising, it wasn’t just because the man involved in the car crash is perhaps the best behaved athlete the Western world has ever seen.
Since she turned up on his arm in early 2002, Woods’ wife, Elin Nordegren, has been not just a cipher but a consummate match for her husband—classy and elusive, and from a smart, well-to-do Swedish family.
From the start of their relationship, she’s shown as little interest in publicizing her high-profile relationship as her husband, despite tabloid interest that’s followed her over the course of their eight-year relationship.
As Sports Illustrated noted when it profiled her in 2004, the year she married Woods: “Even in the insular world of the PGA Tour, [Nordegren] is a shadowy figure, talked about by everyone but close to very few.” One golf-world source told the magazine at the time, “She’s become like Greta Garbo. When she started dating Tiger, it was like there was an unwritten agreement she wouldn’t say anything to anyone. She’s still nice, but when you talk to her, you don’t get anything out of her.”
Amazingly, in this tabloid age, that article is practically the only substantial piece of journalism to appear about her for half a decade.
That might be why one golf-industry acquaintance describes her as such a good match for her husband, at least until last week. And it’s part of why this person and others are so confounded by reports that Nordegren may have “gone ghetto” on Woods after allegedly hearing that he was having an affair. Leaving the house in the middle of the night, Woods crashed his car into a tree, sustaining minor injuries. Over the course of the weekend, more details emerged, but little was clear, even after the golf star put out a statement Sunday taking the blame for what happened and insisting that his wife tried to help him.
If this was true, why had a neighbor, and not his wife, called the police? What was she doing with that golf club that smashed the back window of the car? Was she trying to free him from the vehicle? How on earth did this happen?
“You could point to a thousand candidates for a professional athlete to choose from for a wife and she was maybe No. 1,” one golf-industry acquaintance tells The Daily Beast.
The person goes on to describe Nordegren as “lovely and intelligent,” an “omnipresent” attendee at her husband’s matches—at least until the birth of the couple’s first child, in 2007—who was always there but “never stepped into the spotlight or did anything wacky.”
Nordegren didn’t even complain publicly when she suffered complications during that pregnancy. She wound up giving birth in the hospital on her own via Caesarean section, while Woods remained on the golf course competing in the U.S. Open.
Says the source: “I can only speak from their public appearances and very few private ones, but they seemed not to have any kind of conflict. What we think happened probably did, but there was no evidence of it. This wasn’t like Dennis Rodman, who lived out his hostile relationships in the press.”
So who is Nordegren, 29, and what is her story?
She spent her first years in a small town 50 miles north of Stockholm, where she was the older, by 10 minutes, of identical twins. Her father, Thomas, is a successful journalist who has served as the Washington bureau chief for Swedish Broadcasting media. Her mother, Barbro Holmberg, is a prominent figure in Swedish Democratic circles who became the country’s migration and asylum minister. Thomas and Barbro split when Elin and her sister Josefine were 6 years old, though it didn’t have any apparent effect on their daughters, both of whom seemed, until this week at least, to be those rare people around celebrities without any discernible serotonin deficiencies.
Although Nordegren modeled briefly in her teens, and has been referred to repeatedly in press clippings as a “former model,” she didn’t exactly make a career of it. “She wasn’t a high-profile model,” says one New York-based modeling source from a well-known agency.
Partly, this is because she didn’t seem to care about it. Bingo Rimer, the photographer who discovered Nordegren, told SI: “Elin doesn’t care about modeling. She never has. Even the few things I got her to do, I had to drag her into the studio. Being famous, the whole celebrity thing, she really and truly does not care about that.”
Nordegren did some commercial work, posing in swimsuits and whatnot, but she went to college anyway, at the prestigious Lund University, and took a job in a Stockholm clothing store called Champagne, where she met Mia Parnevik, wife of Swedish golf sensation Jesper Parnevik, who hired Nordegren as the nanny to their children.
The Parneviks were sort of like the Posh and Becks of Swedish golf; he was known as much for his disco-inspired trousers and strange hats as for his playing acumen. His wife is something of a shopaholic. (Hence the fortuitous meeting with Nordegren.) In 2001, at the British Open, Nordegren met Woods, whose penchant for blondes was well-documented.
At first, Nordegren was reportedly uninterested in Woods. As Mia Parnevik later noted, her thoroughly competent nanny displayed no interest whatsoever in the sport. She also had hopes of becoming a child psychiatrist and was concerned about appearing to be a “gold-digger.”
Further, the famously awkward Woods did not make a smooth approach. According to a close friend of the Parneviks who spoke to SI, Woods was so nervous about asking her out, he had a friend do it for him. “Her reaction was, ‘What the hell was that?’” the magazine quotes a close source as saying. “She thought it was so weird and pathetic. Of course she said no.”
But Woods persisted, flooding the Parneviks with calls, and she relented.
It turned out they had much in common. Like Woods, the golf-industry source notes, Nordegren was sporty. She’d played soccer and knew a lot about golf from her time with the Parneviks. “She was also conservative by nature, like him,” the person says.
Months after the romance blossomed, she returned to Sweden for Christmas, told Rimer of the relationship, and—displaying a press savvy befitting a future high-profile wife—worked out a deal so that only photographs she approved would be released. (Later on, nude photos of a woman looking like Nordegren surfaced, but they were apparently fakes. She sued for libel and won.)
A year later, the happy couple went on safari in South Africa, where they disappeared for 20 minutes, worrying ranger Nhlanhla Khumalo, who thought they might have been eaten by tigers. When they reemerged, Khumalo later told People magazine, Nordegren was wearing a giant engagement ring. “The diamond was half as big as my finger,” he said.
The 2004 wedding that followed was fit for a king. Held in Barbados, it reportedly cost $1.5 million. Hootie and the Blowfish played (well, everyone says they shared a certain squareness) and fireworks lit up the sky. Guests included Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley. The afterparty was held on—you guessed it—a golf course. The couple spent their wedding night aboard Woods’ $20 million yacht, which he christened “Privacy.”
It’s something the couple is no doubt missing as the tabloid feeding frenzy continues.
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