Black People : WHILE BLACK FOLKS SLEEP, WHITE FOLKS CHEAT, CHEAT, AND CHEAT...

Isaiah

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Waste and fraud inevitable in rebuilding, experts say By Seth Borenstein, Knight Ridder Newspapers
Fri Sep 23, 7:15 PM ET



WASHINGTON - As the federal government throws tens of billions of dollars into hurricane relief and reconstruction, the system to make sure taxpayers' money is spent properly is a mess.

The federal purchasing system has been plagued with scandal - its top buyer was arrested Monday. It has too few workers deciding exactly what to buy, and there may not be enough auditors to ensure taxpayers get their money's worth. Even now, rules designed to keep the contracting process fair and honest are being loosened to speed recovery and reconstruction.

"We are looking at billions going out there. It will be certainly hundreds of millions of dollars at risk," said Bunnatine Greenhouse, who was the Army Corps of Engineers chief contracting officer until last month when she was demoted after complaining about no-bid contracting in Iraq.

Already, money is being wasted, experts say.

"There's no doubt, no question, there's going to be fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement - there already has been," Comptroller General David M. Walker told Knight Ridder. He runs the Government Accountability Office, the watchdog arm of Congress.

Whistle-blowers are hiring attorneys, complaining to law professors and calling federal fraud hot lines.

Fraud calls "are just starting to flow in these last two weeks," Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner said Friday. "We're getting a lot of calls. It's increasing daily."

On Thursday, the chief administrative officer for Kenner, La., was accused of malfeasance after police found food, drinks, chain saws and roof tarps - all intended for Hurricane Katrina survivors - at his house.

President Bush, under pressure to rebuild the devastated Gulf Coast quickly, vowed this week to protect the public treasury.

"We'll make sure your money is spent wisely," Bush told an applauding crowd Wednesday. "And we're going to make sure that the money is spent honestly by sending a team of inspector generals down there to review all expenditures."

At the Office of Management and Budget, where procurement policy is set, spokesman Alex Conant said, "We feel that we have the controls in place to prevent abuse and fraud."

But that's not what more than a dozen experts - current and former contracting officers, auditors, contract law professors, whistle-blowers and members of Congress - say.

"The government is fighting this war (on waste) with Civil War weapons, and we're just overwhelmed," said Joshua Schwartz, co-director of the George Washington University Law School's government procurement law program. Schwartz pointed to small staffs, limited budgets and weak oversight.

Even as checks were being written to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, evidence of corruption within the administration surfaced.

On Monday, David Safavian - who was administrator of federal procurement policy in the Office of Management and Budget - was arrested and charged with lying to a government ethics officer as part of a burgeoning scandal involving a Washington lobbyist. Safavian, who had been chief-of-staff of the General Services Administration, also was accused of obstructing an inspector general's investigation of the GSA. He resigned three days before being arrested.

"It has no impact on the Katrina relief effort," OMB spokesman Conant said.

Safavian isn't the first top purchasing official touched by scandal.

Darlene Druyun, who had been the U.S. Air Force's acquisition chief, soon will be released from prison after serving a nine-month sentence for conspiring to help Boeing Co. win a multibillion-dollar airplane contract.

Contracting officials who complain about lax practices - especially at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - have lost their jobs. At least four federal purchasing officials were demoted, fired or resigned under pressure after complaining about no-bid contracts, including some involving Halliburton, the large, politically connected engineering firm once headed by Vice President **** Cheney.

Greenhouse, the Army Corps whistle-blower, said the retaliation caused "a chill" among contracting officials trying to protect taxpayers from no-bid deals and other waste.

For more than seven years, Greenhouse was the top Army Corps official responsible for contracting. After complaining, first in-house, then publicly, about no-bid contracts, Greenhouse was demoted Aug. 28, the day before Katrina stuck New Orleans.

Christy Watts - who spent 12 years as an Army Corps contracting chief in Louisville, Ky.; Charleston, S.C.; and Alaska - was fired last year after complaining about no-bid purchases.

"Clearly our priorities are perverse," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project On Government Oversight, a financial watchdog group in Washington. "Our government punishes the good guys and lets, in some cases, the really bad guys help run the show and set the agendas."

George Washington University's Schwartz said that reform of the federal purchasing system - begun in the Clinton administration - cut jobs and overburdened those remaining.

"The system and the work force has a massive case of indigestion," Schwartz said.

The number of government purchasing agents and contract managers has been cut in half since 1990, but since Sept. 11, 2001, the contract spending they oversee has more than doubled, Schwartz said.

"We have resources to do $200 billion in contracts, but we are spending $400 billion in contracts," Schwartz said.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the reduction in the contracting work force "does make federal programs more vulnerable to waste and outright fraud."

In 2003 and 2004, the GAO put the Department of Homeland Security in its "high risk" category for effectiveness because its "procurement activities had not achieved the level of sophistication and control that we had expected," said Norm Rabkin, managing director of the GAO's Homeland Security auditing team.

Just days after Katrina hit, Congress and the Bush administration increased the limits for purchase on government credit cards - from $2,500 to $250,000.

That change was "an open invitation to waste, fraud and abuse," said Collins, whose committee Thursday voted to repeal the new $250,000 limit.

OMB spokesman Conant said there are some restraints. Purchases over $50,000 need authorization from another official, for example.

To date, $63 billion has been approved for Katrina relief and reconstruction. Of that, $15 million will be used to hire more auditors to review spending. Homeland Security's inspector general corps will have 150 auditors and investigators looking at hurricane spending.

Homeland Security is one of 13 different departments and agencies to have inspectors general auditing hurricane contracts.

But that approach may be too diffuse, allowing some waste to fall through the cracks, Collins said.

She proposes using the highly successful Iraq model of having a single inspector general to oversee spending along the Gulf of Mexico.

Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said: "We will learn months after the money was wasted or stolen that it was wasted and stolen."

Knight Ridder correspondents Chris Adams and Ron Hutcheson contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/krwashburea...3bE_8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
 
WHILE WE ARE SLEEPING...

THE REAL THUGS!

Auditors pledge to investigate Katrina contracts
No-bid pacts will undergo scrutiny, House panel to be told

Wednesday, September 28, 2005; Posted: 4:38 a.m. EDT (08:38 GMT)

What Is This? WASHINGTON (AP) -- A day after castigating the federal government's ousted disaster chief, a House panel will hear pledges from government auditors that they will closely examine millions of dollars in contracts the Bush administration awarded to politically connected companies for Hurricane Katrina relief.

The inspectors general from half a dozen agencies, as well as officials from the Government Accountability Office, on Wednesday were addressing a House subcommittee on the Katrina cleanup and announcing several new audits to combat waste and fraud.

They are pledging strong oversight that includes a review of no-bid contracts and close scrutiny of federal employees who now enjoy a $250,000 -- rather than a $2,500 -- purchase limit for Katrina-related expenses on their government-issued credit cards.

"When so much money is available, it draws people of less than perfect character," H. Walker Feaster, inspector general of the Federal Communications Commission, said. "It underscores the need for internal controls of the money going out."

The joint appearance of government auditors comes amid a flurry of legislation pending in Congress that would create additional layers of oversight to the Katrina contracting and award process.

It also comes amid growing charges of favoritism that critics say led to government missteps in the wake of the Katrina disaster. (Watch video on accusations of "cronyism" -- 3:18)

In a House hearing Tuesday, both Republicans and Democrats assailed former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, who critics say lacked proper experience for the job, for his performance in handling emergency aid.

"The Bush administration's culture of cronyism comes at the expense of public safety," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said. "It is unconscionable and must stop immediately."

In a combative appearance Tuesday, Brown admitted making some mistakes but placed the brunt of the blame on the Louisiana governor, the New Orleans mayor and even the Bush White House that appointed him. (Full story)

"My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday (two days before Katrina struck) that Louisiana was dysfunctional," Brown told a special panel set up by House Republican leaders to investigate the catastrophe, which killed more than 1,000 people across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Brown also said he warned Bush, White House chief of staff Andrew Card and deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin that "this is going to be a bad one" in e-mails and phone conversations leading up to the storm.

Lawmakers strongly disagreed. "I'm happy you left," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Connecticut. "Because that kind of, you know, look in the lights like a deer tells me that you weren't capable to do the job."

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Mississippi, told Brown: "You get an F-minus in my book."

Big-money contracts
On Wednesday, lawmakers turn their attention to the lucrative Katrina contracts.

In the weeks after the Aug. 29 storm, more than 80 percent of the $1.5 billion in contracts awarded by FEMA for Katrina work were handed out with little or no competition or had open-ended or vague terms that previous audits have cited as being highly prone to abuse.

They included contracts such as a $16 million deal involving Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root Services Inc. of Arlington, Virginia, that has been cited for overcharging the government for work in Iraq; and San-Francisco-based Bechtel Corp. Both companies have strong ties to the Bush administration.

Primary oversight falls to the agency IGs and the GAO, the auditing arm of Congress, but critics have said that isn't enough. The various proposals, including ones from Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, call for a specially appointed IG who would oversee all the various agencies' work.

But in their testimony Wednesday, the inspectors general are expected to say additional review is unnecessary. The GAO and Homeland Security Department IG Richard Skinner have said they would look closely at the no-bid contracts that may have been unfairly awarded based on political connections.

Pentagon auditors also announced a broad-scale review of their defense contracts. The measures include sending teams of auditors to the Gulf Coast to monitor reconstruction efforts.

Investigators also will carefully examine whether federal employees have been abusing government-issued credit cards since their purchase limits were hastily raised to $250,000 to help pay for hurricane-related expenses.

Previous government audits have shown that the credit cards, which typically have a purchase limit of $2,500, were improperly used to pay for prostitutes, gambling activity and even breast implants. About 250,000 federal employees have the government credit cards.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/28/congress.katrina.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

iSAIAH
 
Isaiah said:
THE REAL THUGS!

Auditors pledge to investigate Katrina contracts
No-bid pacts will undergo scrutiny, House panel to be told

Wednesday, September 28, 2005; Posted: 4:38 a.m. EDT (08:38 GMT)

What Is This? WASHINGTON (AP) -- A day after castigating the federal government's ousted disaster chief, a House panel will hear pledges from government auditors that they will closely examine millions of dollars in contracts the Bush administration awarded to politically connected companies for Hurricane Katrina relief.

The inspectors general from half a dozen agencies, as well as officials from the Government Accountability Office, on Wednesday were addressing a House subcommittee on the Katrina cleanup and announcing several new audits to combat waste and fraud.

They are pledging strong oversight that includes a review of no-bid contracts and close scrutiny of federal employees who now enjoy a $250,000 -- rather than a $2,500 -- purchase limit for Katrina-related expenses on their government-issued credit cards.

"When so much money is available, it draws people of less than perfect character," H. Walker Feaster, inspector general of the Federal Communications Commission, said. "It underscores the need for internal controls of the money going out."

The joint appearance of government auditors comes amid a flurry of legislation pending in Congress that would create additional layers of oversight to the Katrina contracting and award process.

It also comes amid growing charges of favoritism that critics say led to government missteps in the wake of the Katrina disaster. (Watch video on accusations of "cronyism" -- 3:18)

In a House hearing Tuesday, both Republicans and Democrats assailed former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, who critics say lacked proper experience for the job, for his performance in handling emergency aid.

"The Bush administration's culture of cronyism comes at the expense of public safety," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said. "It is unconscionable and must stop immediately."

In a combative appearance Tuesday, Brown admitted making some mistakes but placed the brunt of the blame on the Louisiana governor, the New Orleans mayor and even the Bush White House that appointed him. (Full story)

"My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday (two days before Katrina struck) that Louisiana was dysfunctional," Brown told a special panel set up by House Republican leaders to investigate the catastrophe, which killed more than 1,000 people across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Brown also said he warned Bush, White House chief of staff Andrew Card and deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin that "this is going to be a bad one" in e-mails and phone conversations leading up to the storm.

Lawmakers strongly disagreed. "I'm happy you left," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Connecticut. "Because that kind of, you know, look in the lights like a deer tells me that you weren't capable to do the job."

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Mississippi, told Brown: "You get an F-minus in my book."

Big-money contracts
On Wednesday, lawmakers turn their attention to the lucrative Katrina contracts.

In the weeks after the Aug. 29 storm, more than 80 percent of the $1.5 billion in contracts awarded by FEMA for Katrina work were handed out with little or no competition or had open-ended or vague terms that previous audits have cited as being highly prone to abuse.

They included contracts such as a $16 million deal involving Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root Services Inc. of Arlington, Virginia, that has been cited for overcharging the government for work in Iraq; and San-Francisco-based Bechtel Corp. Both companies have strong ties to the Bush administration.

Primary oversight falls to the agency IGs and the GAO, the auditing arm of Congress, but critics have said that isn't enough. The various proposals, including ones from Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, call for a specially appointed IG who would oversee all the various agencies' work.

But in their testimony Wednesday, the inspectors general are expected to say additional review is unnecessary. The GAO and Homeland Security Department IG Richard Skinner have said they would look closely at the no-bid contracts that may have been unfairly awarded based on political connections.

Pentagon auditors also announced a broad-scale review of their defense contracts. The measures include sending teams of auditors to the Gulf Coast to monitor reconstruction efforts.

Investigators also will carefully examine whether federal employees have been abusing government-issued credit cards since their purchase limits were hastily raised to $250,000 to help pay for hurricane-related expenses.

Previous government audits have shown that the credit cards, which typically have a purchase limit of $2,500, were improperly used to pay for prostitutes, gambling activity and even breast implants. About 250,000 federal employees have the government credit cards.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/28/congress.katrina.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

iSAIAH

Great article brotha,

A criminal is a criminal, we can call thug, gangster whatever. but some criminals have real clout, that's why it's called ORGANIZED crime.
 
Yes, brother, and we wont seen none of these white folks puttin one another on blast about their larceny and greed... Not one of them got the balls to say that WHITE PEOPLE STEAL MORE THAN ALL OIF THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD COMBINED - and all of the peoples of the world combined outnumber white folks by how many billions???

They love crime committed by themselves... They glorify crimes committed by themselves... They even feel it is their birthright to steal... That is why they are always watching us to see if we gone outsteal them... No, that's just not going to be tolerated(smile!)

Peace!
Isaiah
 

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