One of the first contracts handed out for Katrina reconstruction? Halliburton. No Surprise there. Even with $1 billion in questionable charges and and over $400 million in, well, pretty much straight out fraud, Halliburton has landed some more lucrative government contracts.
How? Well, it turns out that Bush's former campaign manager is now a lobbyists. Go figure.
Firms with Bush ties snag Katrina deals
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.
Bechtel National Inc., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel's CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
(Full Story)
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Seems there is more than enough to go around. See this
http://theanchoressonline.com/2005/09/12/profiting-from-katrina/
"The Shaw Group, a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate, is headed by Jim Bernhard, the current chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party. Bernhard worked tirelessly for Democrat Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s runoff campaign and served as co-chair of her transition team. Another Shaw executive was Blanco’s campaign manager. Bernhard is back-scratching chums with Blanco, whom he has lent/offered the Shaw Group’s corporate jets to on numerous occasions."
"UPI failed to note that the CEO of the Shaw Group also happens to be the Louisiana Democratic Party chairman and beleaguered La. Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s most influential crony. So did the London Observer. And Reuters/MSNBC. And the CBC. And the NYTimes (reprinted in the Minnesota Star Tribune, the Houston Chronicle, the Scotsman, and scores of media outlets around the world)."
I am not saying this is not pan-party. The article makes it clear that both parties do it. I am just talking about how the no-bid, no-question contracts keep on coming.
Welcome to the Federal Government.
Established and in business since 1776.
Halliburton did very well indeed under Clinton.
I hate to say this, but all the big firms spend a lot of money greasing palms in Washington and it matters nothing who is in power. It matters how much money they hand out.
This might be a special case, though. One of the problems is that there are only a few firms around who are capable of doing certain jobs. Dutra, for instance, handles an awful lot of emergency dam/levee work. The Army Corp of Engineers really contracts almost everything out.
I think people need to realize that privatization is not a sure cure for waste, etc.
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