Monday, November 14, 2005
David Paulison: October's Liar Of The Month
Quick review, who said:"I've never been a fan of no-bid contracts," and . "All of those no-bid contracts, we are going to go back and re-bid. We're in the process of re-bidding them already." at a Senate hearing on Oct. 6th? O.K. I went over that last time. In addition, to the fact that FEMA never re-opened the contracts that Paulison specifically pledged to re-open, it seems that FEMA is still awarding no-bid contracts to politically connected firms. From The Times article:
Provided by a politically connected Alaskan-owned business under a $40 million no-bid contract, the classrooms cost FEMA nearly $90,000 each, including transportation, according to contracting documents. That is double the wholesale price and nearly 60 percent higher than the price offered by two small Mississippi businesses dropped from the deal..
Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, has long pushed for changes in contracting rules that have helped enrich Alaskan companies.
So not only are are no-bid contracts still going to firms that help fund the GOP money machine (more on the money machine here, here, here and here), at least one is going to firm with connection to Ted (my bridge is more important than the Gulf Coast) Stevens. You have admire the chutzpah, but with billions still to be spent, it's no joke.
I don't know if Paulison actually committed perjury, but he certainly misled the senate. Actually he was honest about one thing:when asked about staffing FEMA with political appointees he said:"I fully support the fact that those types of positions should be political appointees, they have to carry out the president's policies and guidelines. However, I do feel that the person has to have the capability of doing the job."
Provided by a politically connected Alaskan-owned business under a $40 million no-bid contract, the classrooms cost FEMA nearly $90,000 each, including transportation, according to contracting documents. That is double the wholesale price and nearly 60 percent higher than the price offered by two small Mississippi businesses dropped from the deal..
Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, has long pushed for changes in contracting rules that have helped enrich Alaskan companies.
So not only are are no-bid contracts still going to firms that help fund the GOP money machine (more on the money machine here, here, here and here), at least one is going to firm with connection to Ted (my bridge is more important than the Gulf Coast) Stevens. You have admire the chutzpah, but with billions still to be spent, it's no joke.
I don't know if Paulison actually committed perjury, but he certainly misled the senate. Actually he was honest about one thing:when asked about staffing FEMA with political appointees he said:"I fully support the fact that those types of positions should be political appointees, they have to carry out the president's policies and guidelines. However, I do feel that the person has to have the capability of doing the job."
