"established procurements practices were not followed."
Of course, you don't have to be part of the Bush administration to benefit from being a crony. Cronies in the private sector making money from this administration probably outnumber the cronies Bush has put on the public payroll.
For example, America's top oil industry executives were openly kowtowed to in embarrassing fashion by Republicans at last week's congressional hearing. Among other special favors, the executives were not required to testify under oath, which turns out to be a blessing for them, since they lied.
The Washington Post found a Secret Service document showing that executives from ExxonMobil, Conoco, Shell and BP America all met with Dick Cheney's energy task force. Last week, the CEOs of ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips said their firms did not participate in the task force. "Not to my knowledge," said the president of Shell. The guy from BP said he didn't know.
"... the cost of ships and ferries deployed for temporary housing - in some circumstances, $13 million for six months; in other circumstances, $70 million. Carnival Cruise Lines was hired to house evacuees and government relief workers on three ships docked in New Orleans at the weekly rate of $1,400 per guest - as opposed to the $499 charged to passengers at sea for a week's tour of the Caribbean."
"Debris-removal contracts for approximately $1 billion awarded to AshBritt, Inc., a Florida corporation happily associated with Haley Barbour, governor of Mississippi and former chairman of the Republican National Committee ... "
"On the night of Aug. 30, and again on the morning of Aug. 31, the Southern Pines Electric Power Association in Taylorsville, Miss., received phone messages from Vice President Dick Cheney's office in Washington that dictated the order of priority for the restoration of the region's electricity - first to a privately owned pipeline, then to public hospitals ..."
This is cache, read story here
