July 6, 2017 Page 7 Rite Aid Merger Had Drugstore Customers Sweating Politically Speaking One Man’s Opinion Another Man’s Opinion Unqualified For The Job, Spicer’s Antics No Longer Laughable By Cristian Vasquez White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has brought to the position a different kind of spotlight. From his first press briefing back in January, it was clear that Spicer was going to come out and twist facts in order to make the President happy. To be fair, that has been the job of every press secretary. He’s responsible for delivering good PR on everything coming out of the White House. Spicer hasn’t been the first, nor will he be the last, to have the daunting task of justifying whatever information comes from his boss’ office, regardless of how absurd, outlandish, controversial or nonsensical. For that, Spicer has become the subject of mockery and ridicule by comedians and criticism by media outlets already unfriendly to the administration. Still, none of this is unwarranted. The truth is Spicer has brought a lot of this on to himself and he, or his boss, are only making the situation worse. During the week of June 19, the powers that be decided that Spicer would conduct his press briefings in the absence of cameras. At this point it is easier to ignore the man’s gaffes while at the podium given that he has proven to not be the most qualified for the position. When a difficult question is presented, or when his answers are challenged with pesky facts, Spicer falls apart. He trips all over his words and looks petrified. For the many gaffes committed by Spicer, it’s easy to have sympathy for the man--but to deny cameras access to his briefings is truly pathetic. The job has become too stressful for Spicer, or the administration is growing impatient with his poor performance. Either way, it’s not the cameras that need to go but rather the messenger. The truth is that press briefings are not mandated by law. Rather they are in place based more on a tradition, or practice, that allows access to the President. It is part of our nation’s belief in a free press. For the past 25 years, secretaries from both parties have conducted on-camera press briefings on a regular basis. Is this something that should really change? Despite all of Spicer’s shortcomings, his press briefings are highly rated. When he takes the stage, it is standing room only and everyone listens. Yes, many are just waiting for the man to crash and burn, but it’s surprising to see that Spicer hasn’t demonstrated a significant improvement in his job performance. It has been five months. So, how much does banning recording devices really help the White House? It certainly doesn’t help Spicer, who has already proven a grotesque lack of ability to be in that position. The President could shut down these press briefings and just rely on his comical, fact-deprived tweets at odd hours of the night to inform the nation. However, that’s not transparency and that isn’t access to the person elected to run the nation. Most importantly, it’s not journalism. Either Spicer gets better at his job, or Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders needs to get promoted.• Watergate Redux? Trump and the Phonied-Up Russian Collusion Non-Story By Duane Plank I do appreciate you putting down, momentarily, your iPhone 12--or whatever level they are at--and perusing the paper. That is, unless you are reading this column on your phone. Then, as the great fictional character Emily Litella, played by the brilliant Gilda Radner, used to say on Saturday Night Live way, way before condescending Trump caricatures by Alec Baldwin somewhat returned the left-leaning show to water cooler prominence, “Never mind.” As Dick Nixon famously stated after he was forced out of the office of POTUS for his misreading of what was a two-bit burglary at the Watergate Hotel back in 1972: “It wasn’t about the burglary, it was about the cover-up.” Brilliant! And, if you follow certain media sites, we are amid another epic cover-up. As the elected left-winger politicians, CNN shills and other media elites continue to go full throttle, pushing the Russian collusion theory, some elected officials have recklessly broached the “I’ word. I bet Ms. Maxine Watters has mentioned that option more than a few times today as she continues leading the resistance? Put up, or pipe down, collusionists. Flip a little (any) evidence out there, or move on. Maybe craft a coherent message that can energize your base, other than resist Trump? We are almost a year into the investigation of collusion with the Roo-skies by members of the Trump campaign, with his minions allegedly clandestinely meeting with Russian operatives to derail the Clinton campaign express. With zero substantial evidence on the table. Who amongst you thought that Trump had a snowball’s chance in Hades of trouncing Clinton? Not I. Clinton was boat-raced into back-page oblivion. Don’t posit the fact that Clinton won the popular vote. Newsflash to those of you who may not remember what they learned back in high school civics class. You win the presidency by winning what the founding fathers constitutionalized: the electoral college. She didn’t lose because of the Russians! The score was Trump 304, Clinton 227. Bam! An electoral college landslide. The Dems haven’t rebounded too well with this year’s special elections, have they? I believe they have a clean sheet on the books, proudly going 0-4, even after throwing a reported $24-plus-million Benjamins into the recent congressional election in Georgia. A lot of that money was funneled into the congressional race from California liberal interests, attempting to influence an election thousands of miles away. Maybe if some of the money that was sent out of state was applied to problems that we have locally, it might have been better spent? Dems were so apoplectic after the Jon Ossoff loss (a candidate, by the way, who did not even live in the district he was running in) that they are considering jettisoning the venerable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Speaker of the House. Enough time and money has been wasted considering this absurd conspiracy theory. There is no smoking gun, no Deep Throat. It is time to move forward and work on solving America’s issues in 2017--not look into the past and try to topple another presidency. • By Rob McCarthy The announcement last week that Walgreens has downsized the deal to buy the Rite Aid drugstores nationwide means that South Bay shoppers won’t be saying goodbye any time soon to the small neighborhood retailer. Had Walgreens gone ahead with the original plan to buy all of Rite Aid’s stores, some store closings were very likely and the nostalgic Thrifty ice cream counter with its single, double and triple scoops was in jeopardy. Federal regulators had until July to decide whether to okay the planned merger between the numbers one and three drugstore chains in America, but Walgreens pulled the plug on the originally proposed deal first announced in 2015. Rite Aid said in a press release on June 27 that Walgreens had reworked its offer because of doubts the Federal Trade Commission would approve a merger of the former numbers one and three drugstore chains in America. The new deal calls for Walgreens to buy 2,186 Rite Aid stores for $5.175 billion. While the original deal included Rite Aid properties in California and throughout the West, those stores will continue to be owned and operated by Rite Aid, the company said. Rite Aid’s chairman thanked store employees for enduring a two-year wait to see what would become of their stores and jobs. ”I would like to thank our entire Rite Aid team for their extraordinary efforts during this process and their tremendous focus on taking great care of our customers and patients,” said Rite Aid Chairman and CEO John Standley. Rite Aid bought the Thrifty Drugstore chain in 1996 and rebranded all of its stores in Southern California. Much of the delight of ice cream lovers, Rite Aid preserved the ice cream counters in the retail drugstores it bought from the Thrifty PayLess Corporation. When Walgreens and Rite Aid announced two years ago the chains would merge, Thrifty Ice Cream’s future again was in doubt. The iconic ice cream brand, founded in Southern California, is remembered by longtime South Bay locals for serving single scoops for a nickel and triple-scoop cones for 15 cents. Today, cone prices start at $.1.99 for a single scoop and come in popular flavors called Chocolate Malted Krunch, Butter Pecan, Medieval Madness, and Circus Animal Cookies, made with real Mother’s Cookies. The 2,186 stores included in the agreement are primarily located in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States. For now, it appears the South Bay Rite Aid stores in El Segundo, Inglewood, Torrance, Redondo Beach and Rolling Hills Estates will get a reprieve. The company said it will use the proceeds from the Walgreens deal to strengthen its finances and to pay down existing debt. Because Walgreen backed out of the original merger deal, it agreed to pay Rite Aid a $325 million termination fee, the company said. “While we believe that pursuing the merger with [Walgreens] was the right thing to do for our investors and customers, this new agreement provides a clear path forward and positions Rite Aid as a strong, independent, multi-regional drugstore chain and pharmacy benefits manager with a compelling footprint in key markets,” Standley added. Rite Aid said it expects the scaled-back merger to be approved by federal regulators, and that the deal should close by year’s end. Financial analysts said in the days leading up to the Walgreens-Rite Aid announcement that online retail giant Amazon is interested in entering the retail pharmacy business, and that Rite Aid’s remaining 2,100 stores could be an acquisition target for Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who just purchased the Whole Foods grocer. Walgreens is among the top-five largest U.S. drugstore chain in prescription drug sales and has more than 8,000 stores nationwide. CVS has 9,600 stores nationwide and is pushing Walgreens, which until last year was the top-grossing U.S. retail pharmacy. Rite Aid, which had ranked next in retail pharmacy sales through its 5,200 stores, dropped last year to fourth place behind Wal Mart, according to 2016 industry data. Rite Aid’s presence in the South Bay is much smaller than Walgreens or CVS. However, the former Thrifty Drugstore chain and its iconic ice cream brand have a long history in the Los Angeles area. Brothers Harry and Robert Borun in 1929 opened their first Thrifty Cut Rate store in downtown Los Angeles. The original Thrifty’s was located across the street from the original B Thrifty Cut Rate. The brothers opened five more downtown-area stores, and then expanded beyond the city center to the Mid-Wilshire district in 1931. By the early 1940s, Thrifty Drug Stores operated 58 stores, and the Southern California-based chain opened its 100th store in 1950. Thrifty stores dotted cities between Santa Rosa and San Diego and ran a radio commercial that was a staple on L.A. stations for a decade. “Save a nickel, save a dime. Save at Thrifty every time,” the jingle said. The Rite Aid chain started as the Thrif D Discount Center in 1962 and within three years added 21 retail stores. The 22nd store added a pharmacy, changing its name to Rite Aid, and the entire company officially adopted that name in 1968. Two years ago, it ranked as the largest drugstore chain on the East Coast, and the third-largest nationwide, with 4,600 stores in 31 states, according to Investopedia. So, what’s likely to happen to your friendly neighborhood Rite Aid store now that it won’t be swallowed up as planned by the much-larger Walgreens? One financial analyst writing for The Motley Fool thinks Walgreens’ decision to call off the mega-merger hurts Rite Aid’s prospects of hanging on in the competitive retail-pharmacy landscape. “There’s a lot of bad news for Rite Aid. The most obvious is that its stock took a shellacking, with shares plunging nearly 30 percent after the announcement that the acquisition wouldn’t happen. Rite Aid stock is now trading at its lowest level since the middle of 2013,” analyst and contributor Keith Speights wrote on June 30. Because Rite Aid will emerge from the latest agreement as a much smaller company, it will have significantly less revenue and cash flow. Speights says that shoppers might feel the pinch on drug pricing and elsewhere in the chain’s remaining stores. “The worst thing about its size being pared down is that Rite Aid must still compete against big pharmacy retailers like Walgreens,” he wrote. “Lower volume from fewer stores could put Rite Aid at a disadvantage in negotiating for prices. The company could also have less money to fund new initiatives to remain competitive with larger rivals.” Standley, the Rite Aid chairman, in a statement about the restructured deal, sought to assure customers that it would be business as usual in all of the stores, including those properties changing ownership in the next six months. “We have an outstanding team of associates and, with their continued support, we will work together to deliver a great customer experience, improve our business and deliver value to all of our stakeholders,” he said. Wall Street reacted negatively to the news of a slimmed-down Rite Aid chain. Its shares fell 30 percent to a near four-year low after last week’s announcement. One retail analyst said it was his opinion that Rite Aid has a long climb ahead to remain “relevant” in the retail pharmacy sector once the deal closes. Rite Aid’s pharmacy business has reported declining profits recently, and being smaller will make it tough to negotiate lower drug prices with wholesalers, most analysts believe. •
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