Big Suprise: Bush Allies Reap Big Benefits From Katrina

[MegaRock]

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 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. (Research) and the other is Halliburton Co. (Research) 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.

Experts say it has been common practice in both Republican and Democratic administrations for policy makers to take lobbying jobs once they leave office, and many of the same companies seeking contracts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have already received billions of dollars for work in Iraq.

Halliburton alone has earned more than $9 billion. Pentagon audits released by Democrats in June showed $1.03 billion in "questioned" costs and $422 million in "unsupported" costs for Halliburton's work in Iraq.

But the web of Bush administration connections is attracting renewed attention from watchdog groups in the post-Katrina reconstruction rush. Congress has already appropriated more than $60 billion in emergency funding as a down payment on recovery efforts projected to cost well over $100 billion.

"The government has got to stop stacking senior positions with people who are repeatedly cashing in on the public trust in order to further private commercial interests," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight.
Halliburton ties

Allbaugh formally registered as a lobbyist for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root in February.

In lobbying disclosure forms filed with the Senate, Allbaugh said his goal was to "educate the congressional and executive branch on defense, disaster relief and homeland security issues affecting Kellogg Brown and Root."

Melissa Norcross, a Halliburton spokeswoman, said Allbaugh has not, since he was hired, "consulted on any specific contracts that the company is considering pursuing, nor has he been tasked by the company with any lobbying responsibilities."

Allbaugh is also a friend of Michael Brown, director of FEMA who was removed as head of Katrina disaster relief and sent back to Washington amid allegations he had padded his resume.

A few months after Allbaugh was hired by Halliburton, the company retained another high-level Bush appointee, Kirk Van Tine.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/12/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

[Omega X]

Kellogg Brown and Root reminds me a LOT of Wolfram & Hart from "Angel". Slowly trying to take over...

[MegaRock]

Well, we have wondered for some time where the Root of all evil lies. I think we're getting close to an answer.

[rockouthippie]

What are you gonna do?. Halliburton and Bechtel are probably the only people that have enough resources to do anything about anything.

They bring us jails, hospitals, and most of the office buildings that we use.

When Bechtel screwed our freeway up and the state of oregon threatened to sue. They just said "who else is gonna build your road"?. And they were right. We ended up giving them more money to fix the botched job.

Anti-trust laws are dead. Just a fact of life. Look at the lower left of your computer screen now. "start" tells a tale all it's own.

[MegaRock]

Ever realize that stopping it is a simple act?

I've proposed this before and many have thought it a good idea.

First make the Presidential Election Fund contribution mandatory. One dollar per American. Not much if you ask me.

This money is seperated between the candidates and is their campaign fund. Government covers the expense of them traveling from state to state as well.

In return all campaign contributions - corporate as well as personal are made illegal. No more 'get me the vote and I'll donate to you'. Also make it illegal for these same entities to throw big inagural parties. That's just another influence. They can't use their own money either since it would empower the very wealthy.

If you take away the influences you take away their power. I'd be more than willing to shell out a few bucks at tax time to make that happen.

Personally I think you'd see a whole new kind of candidate then and it wouldn't be an oil rich asshole like Bush or a complete tool like Kerry.

[Wildrose-Wally]

You got to be kidding, forced political contributions?

[rockouthippie]

Originally posted by MegaRock

Personally I think you'd see a whole new kind of candidate then and it wouldn't be an oil rich asshole like Bush or a complete tool like Kerry.

I agree with most of what you said, except that Kerry is far richer than Bush. Remember he married the "Katsup Queen", Teresa Heinz.

Oil or katsup, it's all the same.

Rich jerkoffs deciding your miserable fate.

[Mattress]

Megarock, which corporations would you approve of to win contracts to rebuild New Orleans?

[CaboWaboAddict]

Bush staged the hurricane just so he could help out Halliburton! Hahahahahahahaha!


Please make him stop before I soil myself!

[MegaRock]

Originally posted by Mattress
Megarock, which corporations would you approve of to win contracts to rebuild New Orleans?

Well consider this - a very large amount of government work has been handed to the same few companies since Bush walked into office. These contracts are no-bid contracts which means no one else has a chance at all to get them. In addition to that not taking bids means the company taking the work can essentially charge whatever they like and not have to worry about someone offering to do the work cheaper.

So to answer the question the corporations I would approve of would be any that aren't directly connected to the Bush family and their friends. Or in the very least take bids for the work and let the best offer win.

Since it will be taxpayer money that will be used to rebuild it would seem logical that we should be getting the most bang for our buck instead of just handing all the work to two corporations directly linked to Bush and his cohorts without giving anyone else the chance to beat the price.

[rockouthippie]

Originally posted by MegaRock
Well consider this - a very large amount of government work has been handed to the same few companies since Bush walked into office.

And it was these same companies when Clinton was in office too. Smell a rat?. Sure, but don't try to find any partisanship about it.

Just more of the same rat.

Then we can go shopping at Walmart. I guess we can blame that on republicans too.

[MegaRock]

You do realize that Halliburton had to bid and win the bid on those contracts?

This came off of a conservative's website:

As journalist Byron York has reported, it's not really true that the company got its work without competitive bidding. In the 1990s, the military looked for ways to get outside help handling the logistics associated with foreign interventions. It came up with the U.S. Army Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, or LOGCAP. The program is a multiyear contract for a corporation to be on call to provide whatever services might be needed quickly.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/r...20030918.shtml
Another tidbit

The first LOGCAP was awarded in 1992, as the first Bush administration (including then-Secretary of Defense Cheney) was leaving office. Four companies competed, and the winner was Brown & Root, as it was known at the time (Halliburton changed the name to Kellogg Brown & Root after an acquisition in 1998). The multi-year contract was in effect during much of the Clinton administration.

So yes, they did get work during Clintons administration - because they were already contracted and paid to do the work.

...The Clinton administration made the same calculation in its own dealings with Halliburton. The company had won the LOGCAP in 1992, then lost it in 1997. The Clinton administration nonetheless awarded a no-bid contract to Halliburton to continue its work in the Balkans supporting the U.S. peacekeeping mission there because it made little sense to change midstream. According to Byron York, Al Gore's reinventing-government panel even singled out Halliburton for praise for its military logistics work...

Notice that one clincher - 'made little sense to change midstream'.

Other Tidbits
Halliburton's top foreign customers in the 1990s were Iran, Iraq & Libya.

Halliburton used fraudulent accounting to gain $210 million of phony profits in 1998. The SEC fined them $7.5 million. Lesson: Crime Does Pay.

Cheney faces criminal investigation for bribery to win a Nigerian drilling contract in 1999.

Halliburton sold nuclear detonators to Libya, and KBR used loopholes to buy Libyan oil.

Meanwhile, Rumsfeld's company (ABB) sold nuclear reactors to North Korea.

Bechtel wanted to build an oil pipeline for Saddam. Twenty years later, they finally have a contract.

Let's not stop there:

George W Bush Jr, President: Harken Energy Board of Directors, Spectrum 7 (a partner of Enron) fnord Chairman

Dick Cheney, Vice President: Halliburton CEO

Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor: Chevron Board of Directors
(first Cabinet-level official with their own personal oil tanker)

Donald Rumsfeld, Defence Secretary: Asea Brown Boveri Board of Directors, et al.

Donald Evans, Commerce Secretary: TMBR / Sharp Drilling CEO

Gale Norton, Interior Secretary: BP Amoco lobbyist

Andrew Card, Chief of Staff: General Motors Vice President

Karl Rove, Campaign Manager: Enron investor (got out just before the crash, isn't he "lucky"?)

Thomas White, Secretary of the Army: Enron Vice Chairman

Robert Zoellick, US Trade Representative: Enron Advisory Board

Lawrence Lindsey, Economic Advisor: Enron Board of Directors

[rocksteady]

Should this still come as a surprise to us?

[papadoc]

......"Halliburton Bad...Beer Good"

[MegaRock]

Is Lars wearing a skirt?