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"Some 80 percent of the remaining old-growth coastal redwoods are already permanently preserved in more than 350,000 acres of public parkland," he points out. "How much more do you want to preserve?"

The debt-for-nature proposal has sparked a flurry of letters between the idea's backers and White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, California Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, virtually the entire California Democratic congressional delegation and Vice President Al Gore. All of those letters express support for the concept of debt-for-nature, but many suggest the mechanics of conducting such a swap would be difficult. But the mere existence of these communiques allows Maxxam to mutter darkly about being the target of political harassment.

However, Maxxam and Hurwitz haven't been reluctant to exercise their own muscle in the political arena. Late last year, Hurwitz fired off a series of letters to key members of Congress, attempting to get the endangered species protection lifted from the marbled murrelet -- an obscure seabird that nests almost exclusively in Pacific Lumber's old- growth forests -- and in 1992 he personally hosted Bob Dole's private reception during the Republican National Convention in Houston. He also has met with Gore to discuss Headwaters, in addition to Pacific Lumber's playing a large role in Riggs' campaign and the drafting of his Headwaters bill.

"I know Pacific Lumber had a big hand in writing the Riggs Bill because they told me they did," says Dana DuBose, an aide to Congressman George Brown, a California Democrat and one of the most knowledgeable people on Capitol Hill regarding the debt-for- nature issue. "The federal government can't require Hurwitz to offer up Headwaters, but we do want to reach a negotiated settlement that lets him win as well."

Despite opposition to virtually every move he makes, Hurwitz continues to cast himself in the role of civic benefactor. He tried it most recently in 1994, when he offered to bring casino gambling to downtown Houston. And he tried it a few years earlier when he offered to rescue faltering Continental Airlines with a deal that would've netted him $3 billion in assets for roughly $25 million of his own money.

"It would be funny if it weren't so tragic -- the chutzpah Hurwitz demonstrates trying to say he's good for the community when he's so bad for the community over the long-term," says Bill Bertain, another Northern California attorney who has been suing Hurwitz on a variety of matters for most of the past decade.

Newsweek columnist Sloan -- who has lambasted Hurwitz for years as a "junkmeister" and, jokingly, "Mr. Altruism" -- says Hurwitz's failed Continental Airlines and casino deals are typical of his style: "You can't blame Hurwitz for making these offers. Why not? If it works, he makes a fortune. If it doesn't, he doesn't lose. That's a Hurwitz kind of deal."

One thing Hurwitz is undeniably guilty of is having an enormous blind spot when it comes to public perception. The way Hurwitz has portrayed himself, he looks at things from a strictly business perspective, dispassionately reducing a scenario to unemotional spreadsheets and risk analysis profiles. After careful study, he makes a calculated -- if sometimes enormously risky -- gamble, using the funds of a corporation where, as the largest shareholder, he has more to lose than anybody else.

But Hurwitz seems to be consistently amazed when, in spite of his careful analysis and superior business judgment, all hell blows up after he makes a move. To call his confidence legendary is to understate it.

Witness Maxxam subsidiary Kaiser Aluminum's recently rebuffed $2.5 billion attempt to take over Alumax, a larger rival in the aluminum trade, which had previously passed on the chance to buy Kaiser for itself. Alumax insiders say the company turned the offer down in part because of management's concerns about Hurwitz's character and private agenda.

Or take the stock reclassification plan the Kaiser subsidiary unveiled several months ago, outraging some shareholders so severely that they went to court to stop it. The plan would've created a special class of super-voting stock, allowing Maxxam to sell two-thirds of its majority stake in Kaiser while maintaining absolute voting control. A Delaware Chancery Court issued a preliminary injunction against the reclassification two weeks ago.

Hurwitz seldom chooses to face his critics head-on. And who can blame him after that disastrous run-in he had with environmentalists in Austin six years ago? But there are signs that he may be wearying of the chase. After years of depositions, motions and other legal foot-dragging, Maxxam and its various entities are starting to break the logjams in courtrooms scattered from California to Delaware.

In California, for instance, Pacific Lumber and Maxxam agreed in December to settle a long-running collection of suits brought by attorney Bertain on behalf of the original Pacific Lumber shareholders, who felt the original Pacific Lumber board had sold them out for a ridiculously low price in Hurwitz's takeover. The angry shareholders had been seeking more than $1.5 billion in damages but accepted a settlement of $150 million, with about $33 million of that coming from Maxxam's pocket.

Meanwhile, Pacific Lumber, Maxxam and Hurwitz are in the final stages of an equally long-running fight with the U.S. Labor Department over whether Pacific Lumber illegally raided its employees' pension fund. After the takeover, Pacific liquidated the $60 million cash surplus in its pension fund and replaced the whole thing with annuities bought from Executive Life Insurance Co. -- another member of Milken's junk bond club -- which later went bust. Although Pacific Lumber has made up its workers' losses on the worthless annuities, the Labor Department is investigating possible violations of federal pension laws and illegal quid pro quo dealings.

In a January filing with the SEC, Maxxam revealed it has agreed in principle to settle the case, although it has yet to actually do so. But one of the federal attorneys working on the case hints that negotiations are particularly sensitive at the moment, meaning a settlement agreement is probably near.

Closer to home, United Savings' parent company -- UFG -- agreed in December to settle federal thrift regulators' claims related to its role in the violations of United Savings' net worth maintenance agreement and certain tax-sharing obligations. The OTS sopped up $9.45 million of the scant $12 million UFG had left in the bank. But, interestingly, neither the feds nor Maxxam will read any larger meaning into UFG's decision to settle rather than fight the federal case alongside Hurwitz. "It means UFG isn't a respondent; that's all," the OTS' Stearns says carefully.

Even Harold Simmons recently got his day in court, when his five-year-old suit against Hurwitz went into closing arguments in late February. No verdict had been returned at press time, "because you can't rush a Delaware court," Simmons says with a sigh.

"Hurwitz seems to be going through a settle-all-these-lawsuits-for-me phase," Martel suggests. "The issues are still alive, but the lawsuits are disappearing."

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