September 28, 2005
The Bush Administration: A Culture of Cronyism and Corruption
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
Cronyism in the Bush Administration is Systemic: a Look at the Rogue’s Gallery
FEMA
Michael Brown – still working for FEMA. Monday night, CBS reported that
Michael Brown remains on the FEMA payroll. Brown replaced another Bush
crony, former Bush campaign manager Joe Allbaugh, on the job. And,
“CNN’s Ed Henry has learned that Michael Brown, the former FEMA chief
who stepped down after being relieved of his post leading the disaster
effort, continues to receive pay from FEMA so that, according to a
FEMA spokesman, "he can help assess what went wrong" in a
consulting role.” (CNN, Morning Grind, 9/27/05). At least this time
he brings some first-hand experience to the job.
OMB
David Safavian – arrested for lying and obstructing a criminal investigation.
Safavian “didn't have much hands-on experience in government contracting
when the Bush Administration tapped him in 2003 to be its chief procurement
officer. A law-school internship helping the Pentagon buy helicopters
was about the extent of it. Yet as administrator of the Office of Federal
Procurement Policy, Safavian, 38, was placed in charge of the $300
billion the government spends each year on everything from paper clips
to nuclear submarines, as well as the $62 billion already earmarked
for Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. It was his job to ensure that
the government got the most for its money and that competition for
federal contracts--among companies as well as between government workers
and private contractors--was fair. It was his job until he resigned
on Sept. 16 and was subsequently arrested and charged with lying and
obstructing a criminal investigation into Republican lobbyist Jack
Abramoff's dealings with the Federal Government.” (Time, 9/26/05)
The Pentagon
Joseph Schmitz, the Pentagon's former inspector general, has left for
the private sector but remains the target of a Congressional inquiry.
“Schmitz, who worked as an aide to former Reagan Administration Attorney
General Ed Meese and whose father John was a Republican Congressman from
Orange County, Calif., quit his post at the Pentagon following complaints
from Senate Finance Committee chairman Charles Grassley, Republican of
Iowa.” (Time, 9/26/05)
- Schmitz distinguished himself by his fascination with the army’s first inspector general, Baron Friedrich Von Steuben, a Revolutionary War hero. “Shortly after taking office, Schmitz made Von Steuben's legacy a focus. He spent three months personally redesigning the inspector general's seal to include the Von Steuben family motto, ‘Always under the protection of the Almighty.’”(The Nation, 9/25/05)
The FDA
Scott Gottlieb, named deputy commissioner for medical and scientific
affairs, had extensive financial ties to the drug industry. “His official
FDA biography notes that Gottlieb, 33, who got his medical degree at
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, did a previous stint providing policy
advice at the agency, as well as at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services, and was a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a
conservative think tank. What the bio omits is that his most recent
job was as editor of a popular Wall Street newsletter, the Forbes/Gottlieb
Medical Technology Investor, in which he offered such tips as "Three
Biotech Stocks to Buy Now." . . . . .. Jimmy Carter--era FDA Commissioner
Donald Kennedy, a former Stanford University president and now executive
editor-in-chief of the journal Science, [says] Gottlieb breaks the
mold of appointees at that level who are generally career FDA scientists
or experts well known in their field. "The appointment comes out
of nowhere. I've never seen anything like that," says Kennedy.”
(Time, 9/26/05)
Katrina Contracting:
More than 80 percent of the $1.5 billion in contracts signed by FEMA
for Katrina work were awarded without bidding or with limited competition.
(New York Times, 9/26/05)
Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root, and the Shaw Group
have both been represented by Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign
manager and the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
- although Mr. Allbaugh says he does not help any of his clients obtain
federal contracts. Kellogg, Brown & Root is the company that came
up with those $100-per-bag laundry bills for work in Iraq. (New York
Times, 9/27/05)
AshBritt, is a Pompano Beach, Fla., company with ties to Mississippi's
governor, Haley Barbour - the former chairman of the Republican National
Committee. AshBritt has nabbed $568 million in contracts for trash
removal. (New York Times, 9/27/05)
Whistle Blowers Pay the Price in the Bush Administration
Frederick A. Black, veteran prosecutor reassigned after investigating
Jack Abramoff. “The Justice Department's inspector general and the
F.B.I. are looking into the demotion of a veteran federal prosecutor
whose reassignment nearly three years ago shut down a criminal investigation
of the Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, current and former department
officials report.” (New York Times, 9/26/05)
Lawrence Greenfeld, demoted for highlighting racial profiling. “The Bush
administration is replacing the director of a small but critical branch
of the Justice Department, months after he complained that senior political
officials at the department were seeking to play down newly compiled
data on the aggressive police treatment of black and Hispanic drivers.”
(New York Times, 8/24/05)
Bunny Greenhouse, demoted after whistle-blowing. “A top Army contracting official who criticized a large, noncompetitive contract with the Halliburton Company for work in Iraq was demoted Saturday…” [New York Times, 8/29/05 <http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12587> ]
Colleen Rowley, FBI whistle-blower, retried from the FBI in 2004. “Like no other document to emerge from the current firestorm over the mistakes and missed signals that led to Sept. 11, the Rowley memo casts a searing light into the depths of government ineptitude.” (Time, 6/3/02)
General Shinseki, forced into retirement for questioning the war in Iraq. “Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz criticized the Army's chief of staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki, after Shinseki told Congress in February that the occupation could require "several hundred thousand troops." Wolfowitz called Shinseki's estimate ‘wildly off the mark.’” (USA Today, 6/2/03)
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT