Here's the ABC story:
Questionable Purchases in Katrina's Wake
July 19, 2006 10:27 AM
Tom Shine Reports:
The Government Accountability Office has listed numerous questionable purchases by government workers using their purchase cards in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Like credit cards, purchase cards allow government employees to buy approved purchases of a certain amount. They are supposed to be a quick, efficient way for government employees to buy needed items. Sometimes retailers even give users a discount, and taxpayer dollars always foot the bills.
A FEMA employee bought over 2,000 sets of canine booties at a cost exceeding $68,000. The booties were designed to protect the paws of dogs helping investigators go through rubble and debris left by Hurricane Katrina.
But there was one problem. Dogs in the gulf region were "not accustomed to wearing booties" so the supply of dog clothes went unused, and GAO says the booties now sit in FEMA storage facilities.
Among other wasted funds, a Coast Guard employee abused his purchase card when he bought a beer brewing kit for $230 and spent another $800 on ingredients to "brew 532 bottles of beer, or 12 batches."
The employee told the GAO it took two hours to brew, bottle and label each of the 12 batches, and the GAO estimates that at a "conservative approximate hourly labor rate of $15, it would cost over $13 to buy a six-pack of Coast Guard beer."
But the guard told the government investigators that the beer with "Coast Guard-themed" labels functioned as an "ice-breaker" for discussion at official parties. There is no indication that any of those suffering from the misery of Katrina ever enjoyed a nice cold bottle of taxpayer-funded Coast Guard-themed beer.
FEMA paid a vendor $208,000, or twice the retail price, to deliver 20 flat bottom boats with motors and trailers for operational needs in New Orleans following Katrina.
The GAO says the vendor did not own any boats himself and had to get them from another source. He charged FEMA for all 20 of them, even though he failed to pay his source for 11 of the 20.
There are many more examples, including questionable purchases by the Secret Service totaling $7,000 worth of iPods and iPod Shuffles and a FEMA purchase of an $8000 SAMSUNG 63-inch plasma TV.
July 19, 2006 |
Of course, as ABC notes in this better-late-than-never story, the contractors were Republican donors.
The report lists three major contracts as "spending binges" by the Bush administration, including $19 billion on "massive but ill-conceived" homeland security contracts.The report describes "problem contracts" worth $38 billion in homeland security, Iraq reconstruction and Katrina/Rita-related programs.
Katrina profiteers include the Tom Davis donors at Dewberry.
The NYT has the story here.
It looks lie the GAO has the audit summary here
DEWBERRY, SIDNEY O. MR. THE DEWBERRY COMPANIES/CHAIRMAN, FAIRFAX VA 22031
11/08/2005 2100.00 26990138477
He's all the Virginia Dewberry execs I could find on a lunch break. Almost $10K:
DEWBERRY, BARRY K FAIRFAX VA 22039 02/25/1999 500.00 DEWBERRY & DAVISDEWBERRY, REVA A FAIRFAX VA 22207 12/17/1999 1000.00 HOMEMAKER
DEWBERRY, SIDNEY O FAIRFAX VA 22031 04/29/1997 1000.00 DEWBERRY & DAVIS
DEWBERRY, SIDNEY O FAIRFAX VA 22207 12/17/1999 1000.00 DEWBERRY & DAVIS
DEWBERRY, SIDNEY O FAIRFAX VA 22031 07/05/2000 1000.00 THE DEWBERRY COMPANIES
DEWBERRY, SIDNEY O FAIRFAX VA 22031 02/19/1998 1000.00 DEWBERRY & DAVIS
DEWBERRY, SIDNEY O. MR. FAIRFAX VA 22031 11/08/2005 2100.00 THE DEWBERRY COMPANIES/CHAIRMAN
DEWBERRY, SIDNEY O. MR. FAIRFAX VA 22031 04/21/2003 2000.00 THE DEWBERRY COMPANIES/CHAIRMAN
It would be interesting to get a hold of the various reports on Katrina waste (Waxman? GAO?) and check to see if biggies at those firms were heavy contributors.
But aren't you glad Davis cleaned up the mess of steroids in baseball?
I work for and with Federal agencies - the FDA - that are ruled by corrupt officials that he has declined to investigate. The Data Quality Act has been used to keep the government from implementing safety regulations, without investigation. I depend on those agencies to execute laws to keep my friends and family safe.
I have family in the military asked to fight in an Iraq war that has escaped scrutiny of his reform committee. I have paid toward $600 billion in taxes toward Katrina, whose inept contractors have likewise escaped accountability by the reform committee. My own Representative, Chris Van Hollen, said his amendment to toughen the lobbying reform bill that passed this committee was mysteriously removed when the bill was passed on to the rules committee. Davis, the chair, refused to put it back in.
I am as close to his district as he is to DC, and he's meddled in DC for years. Furthermore, I'm a lot closer than Terri Schiavo in Florida, and Davis signed the Subpeona for Schaivo that he announced with Tom DeLay. And I'm closer than Utah, which he's determined to give an "extra" undeserved Republican vote to.