Final Word from Friday, July 18, 2008
There are many eerie tales about the rise and fall of the Chemapol empire, such as the one about how CEO Václav Junek wanted to take control of the golfing greens at Karlštejn. He bought enough memberships in the club to have the members vote to sell the club to, you guessed it, Chemapol. There were objections from long-time members, but statutes are statutes, and they weren't broken. Jump ahead a dozen years and Martin Bursík wants to take firmer control of the political Greens. His people have founded 30 new local chapters and plan to have these card-carrying members vote in early Sept. to "sell" the party's National Council to, you guessed it, Bursík. There will be objections from long-time members, but statutes are statutes, and they won't be broken. But Chemical Martin might want to recall that neither Junek's money nor his Havel connection saved him later from an ignominious end.[Czech Republic Václav Lucerna Marián Čalfa]
Glossary of difficult words
Chemical Martin - an allusion to both Junek of Chemapol and Chemical Ali of Iraq, who used repressive measures against his own people;
eerie - strange and frightening, bone-chilling;
greens - (in this context) part of a golf course;
statutes - the rules of an organization or institution;
card-carrying - registered as a member of a political party;
National Council - the Greens have a dual decision-making structure, with a National Council and Executive Council; Bursík wants to reduce the influence of the National Council;
ignominious - deserving or causing public disgrace or shame (Junek was considered one of the country's top businessmen but fell into disgrace when his empire collapsed).