[News] Speaking of looters ...

Mon Sep 12 11:29:53 EDT 2005

Firms with White House ties get Katrina contracts
FEMA taps Halliburton subsidiary, Shaw Group, Bechtel for cleanup

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/10/katrina.contracts.reut/index.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- 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. and the other is Halliburton Co. 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.
Watchdog groups take notice

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.
Bush appointees at Halliburton

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
-- which he denies.

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

Van Tine registered as a lobbyist for Halliburton six months after 
resigning as deputy
transportation secretary, a position he held from December 2003 to December 
2004.

On Friday, Kellogg Brown & Root received $29.8 million in Pentagon 
contracts to begin
rebuilding Navy bases in Louisiana and Mississippi. Norcross said the work 
was covered under a
contract that the company negotiated before Allbaugh was hired.
Cheney's relationship with Halliburton

Halliburton continues to be a source of income for Cheney, who served as 
its chief executive
officer from 1995 until 2000 when he joined the Republican ticket for the 
White House.
According to tax filings released in April, Cheney's income included 
$194,852 in deferred pay
from the company, which has also won billion-dollar government contracts in 
Iraq.

Cheney's office said the amount of deferred compensation is fixed and is 
not affected by
Halliburton's current economic performance or earnings.

Allbaugh's other major client, Baton Rouge-based Shaw Group, has updated 
its Web site to say:
"Hurricane Recovery Projects -- Apply Here!"

Shaw said on Thursday it has received a $100 million emergency FEMA 
contract for housing
management and construction. Shaw also clinched a $100 million order on 
Friday from the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers.

Shaw Group spokesman Chris Sammons said Allbaugh was providing the company 
with "general
consulting on business matters," and would not say whether he played a 
direct role in any of
the Katrina deals. "We don't comment on specific consulting activities," he 
said.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
"George Bush doesn't care about Black people."
(c) 2005 Kanye West

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20050912/5e6ae9fd/attachment.htm>