Eric Umansky

I did not have contact with that man, Mr. Abramoff

AP has taken a look at Jack Abramoff's lobbying  records and has successfully FOIA'd documents on  Abramoff doing the Lord's Work  for the Northern "We love sweatshops!"  Marianas.  Among the findings, surprise, surprise:

In President Bush's first year in the White House, the administration had roughly 200 contacts with Republican fundraiser Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team as they sought to influence Bush's hires and pressed him to keep the Northern Mariana Islands free from the minimum wage law, documents show.

Abramoff raised $100,000-plus  for Bush; all in a hard day's work:

His firm boasted that its lobbying team helped revised a section of the Republican Party's 2000 platform to make it favorable to its island client.

In addition, two of Abramoff's lobbying colleagues on the Marianas won political appointments to federal agencies: Patrick Pizzella, named an assistant secretary of labor by Bush, and David Safavian, chosen by Bush to oversee federal procurement policy in the Office of Management and Budget.

My favorite part:

The records from Abramoff's firm chronicle Abramoff's cultivation of relations with Bush's political team as far back as 199. In that year, Abramoff charged the Marianas for getting then-Texas Gov. Bush to write a letter expressing support for the Pacific territory's school choice proposal, his billing records show.

"I hope you will keep my office informed on the progress of this initiative," Bush wrote in a July 18, 1997, letter praising the islands' school plan and copying in an Abramoff deputy.

White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said Thursday that Bush didn't consider Abramoff a friend. "They may have met on occasion, but the president does not know him," she said.

Glimpse into how D.C. really works

From the WSJ's Washington Wire:

K Street denizens join Republican right at tribute titled, "The Conservative Movement Salutes Tom DeLay." Hosts of next week's American Conservative Union event pay $10,000; individual tickets cost $250.

Among invitees: former DeLay aide Tony Rudy, part of probe into whether lobbyist Jack Abramoff financed the embattled House leader's overseas golf trips. Not invited: Abramoff. Hastert faces slim pickings after recusal of two Ethics Committee members who had given to DeLay's defense, since only three dozen House Republicans haven't given or received funds from him.

 

Another freedom in Iraq

Last year, I noted that the  CPA identity was more ambigious than... [insert transgender joke here] . Congressional researchers couldn't figure whether it was an international entity or a federal agency, meaning just coincidentally, it got to bypass all sorts of accountability rules.

The issue was mostly hypothetical when I wrote about it. Not anymore.

Newsweek looks at how two whistleblowers are suing one contractor under the  anti-fraud False Claims Act. The law allows government to join in the suit if it agrees that there's been fleecing going on. In the case of the contractor, Custer Battles, there's little doubt about the fleecing. The Air Force wanted the company banished from Iraq after it "created sham companies, whereby [it] fraudulently increased profits by inflating its claimed costs." The Army's inspector general and told his superiors,  "What we saw horrified us."

But turns out the administration has decided that none of that matters, since, of course,  the CPA wasn't really a part of the U.S. government. 

There are only a few small problems with that fine logic. For one thing, the CPA, was, ahem, fully funded by the U.S. It was refered to in legislation as a "U.S. entity." And contracts with Custer Battles refer to the buyer as  "the United States of America."

This is more than a one-off case. As Newsweek puts it:

Even an administration ally, Sen. Charles Grassley, demanded to know in a Feb. 17 letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales why the government wasn't backing up the lawsuit. Because this is a "seminal" case—the first to be unsealed against an Iraq contractor—"billions of taxpayer dollars are at stake" based on the precedent it could set, the Iowa Republican said.

Finally, Newsweek's kicker:

The administration's seemingly detached approach to these cases could have other implications. NEWSWEEK has learned that federal prosecutors plan to indict several U.S. contractors in Iraq on criminal charges but that these could be undercut if the court rules in the Custer Battles case that the CPA was not a U.S. government arm. "If you make the CPA a U.S. entity, you open the door to all sorts of liability claims. But if it's not a U.S. entity, then you can't parade these people through the court," says Jim Mitchell of the CPA inspector general's office. And that could mean Custer Battles and other companies will ultimately answer to no one.

Paging the GAO

Considering the .gov url, isn't this site kinda um, fucking illegal?

It's a living

How are some fine former congressmen giving back  since they left or were booted out of office?  By whoring for the dictators, and calling it a step for democracy.

Fancy new contracting panel (Orwell edition)

The watchdog folks at POGO  notice that the White House has chosen members of a new advisory group for federal acquisitions. Makes sense, since there have been a number of smelly contracts recently, particularly in the Pentagon. (See previous post.)  So who will be on this new fleece-fighting panel? "Contractor advocates – both inside and outside government – who have embraced Representative Tom Davis’ (R-VA) agenda of gutting taxpayer protections,” says POGO's director.  There have been a growing number of critics of trends in government contracting including Inspectors Generals and the Government Accountability Office but none of them are represented."

Some  appointees (POGO has the full list):

Allan V. Burman, President, Jefferson Solutions and Senior VP
BIO: http://www.jeffersonconsulting.com/bios.htm?id=2
HIGHLIGHTS: Provides training and consulting to contractors and government. Clients include Accenture, Dyncorp, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Since 2000, has contributed $3,000 to Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA). Source:  www.opensecrets.org

Marshall J. Doke, Jr., Partner, Gardere
BIO: http://www.gardere.com/Attorneys/Attorney_Bio/?id=634
HIGHLIGHTS: Lawyer representing contractors. 

David A. Drabkin, Deputy Associate Administrator for Acquisition Policy, General Services Administration
BIO: http://www.sba.gov/50/David-Drabkin.pdf
HIGHLIGHTS:  Has been a cheerleader for financially-questionable contracting vehicles such as share-in-savings contracting. Since 2000, has made campaign contributions of $1,500 to Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA). Source: www.opensecrets.org

CHAIR: Marcia G. Madsen, Partner Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw
BIO: http://www.mayerbrownrowe.com/lawyers/profile.asp?hubbardid=M968105495&lawyer_name=Madsen%2C+Marcia+G%2E
HIGHLIGHTS: Lawyer representing contractors.

Roger Waldron, Director, Acquisition Management Center, Federal Supply Service BIO: http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/about/Procurement2004/bios/WaldronRogerBio.pdf
HIGHLIGHTS: Head of procurement policy for an agency that has taken a lead in promoting interagency contracts which were recently added to the Government Accountability Office’s High Risk series because of waste, fraud, and abuse exposed by the GAO and Inspectors General.

Three makes a trend piece

1) As the NYT reported Saturday, $300 million cash from Iraqi gov't coffers has gone AWOL. Iraqi officials say was shipped to Lebanon as  payment for old tanks and such from  arms dealers.  (That should make you feel better.)

2) A U.S. contractor, and his Iraqi translator, were killed after the contractor complained about corruption in the Iraqi defense ministry.

3) As the Financial Times reported last month, the Iraqi gov't transfered $400 million of the food-ration budget to Lebanese banks, which happen to have  generous secrecy provisions. 

4) (bonus example):  The current gas shortage crisis.

Last spring, the radio program did an excellent series on corruption in Iraq.  Perhaps somebody would like to do a big followup?