Joe Scott 3: The Body Politic

Halliburton: U.S. Contract Funds Missing?

31 January 2006 |permalink | email article

Another good reason for public anger about the Bush administrationís fiscal mismanagement of the war in Iraq is a rebuilding scandal involving billions of U.S. contracting money, which may have gone missing. 

The Wall Street Journal (1/17) reported that more than 18 months after the Pentagon disbanded the Coalition Provisional Authority that ran Iraq, neither the Justice Department nor a special inspector general has moved to recover large sums suspected of disappearing through fraud and price gouging in reconstruction. One unit of Halliburton Co., which Dick Cheney ran for five years, is under scrutiny.

The Pentagonís inadequate preparation for war, ranging from insufficient vehicle armor to substandard body armor, each resulting in the deaths of countless Americans, is well known. But less understood is the lack of pursuit to trace what happened to the money or make recipients pay back ill gotten gains. The inspector generalís office said it doesnít plan to ask the Justice Department to file lawsuits or to conduct widespread audits of individual contracts to look for fraud.

The Journal said one question facing the government is whether to seek recovery of funds paid to the largest contractor, Halliburtonís KBR unit, which was awarded multibillion-dollar no-bid contracts beginning shortly before the U.S. invaded Iraq to rebuild oil fields and provide logistical support for the U.S. military.

The Pentagonís audit-contracting arm found expenses of $1.4 billion unsupported by documentation on KBRís two largest contracts, valued at a total of $9.5 billion. The audit agency recently passed its findings on to the Justice Department, to consider whether a criminal complaint is warranted. But the agencyís calls to withhold Halliburton payments have been resisted by Pentagon units that awarded the contracts.

Cheney, U.S. News & World Report reported, has long believed in privatization of some government operations. So itís not surpassing that Halliburton, where he made $40 million, would be the major beneficiary of outsourcing.

Last Friday, increasingly profitable Halliburton said it would offer minority shares in its also profitable KBR unit, even amid criticism of its contracts in Iraq. Former employees have said that the company exposed American troops and civilians at a military base in that country to contaminated water.

With the U.S. deficit rising to $8.2 trillion, the scandal should make good campaign fodder in the mid-term elections. Are Democrats capable of making it a serious corruption issue?

L.A. Politics: Arriba Villaraigosa

30 January 2006 |permalink | email article

As L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa begins his eighth month in office the speed of his initial ascent into national politics astonishes. Heís already spoken to mayors at Harvardís JFK School and in Washington, D.C. He gives the Spanish-language Democratic response to the Presidentís State of the Union speech on Tuesday.

I view Villaraigosa, who rose rapidly to become Assembly Speaker in Sacramento only to lose in 2000 for mayor to James K. Hahn before crushing him last year, as a charismatic, if restless, Latino political star in a hurry to move upward.

The City News Service budget since last summer is a barometer of his daily appearances across the city, dwarfing outreach by any previous mayor. With multi-faceted goals including homelessness, transit and education, such visibility leads some media critics to question whether he has enough time to govern. 

At Harvard, Villaraigosa outlined his political vision, passionately calling himself a ìproud progressive.î He described cities as ìone place where progressive leaders hold power,î citing mayors that have represented both political parties over the past decade.

He described reforming public schools as the ìcentral public policy issue of our time,î and while never seriously raising the subject until midway through the 2005 campaign, praised mayors Richard Daley in Chicago and Michael Bloomberg in New York City for ìreinventing urban education.î

Reprising much of his Harvard rhetoric before the U.S. Conference of Mayors last week, Villaraigosa focused with equally fresh passion on poverty. As chairman of a national task force on poverty, the ambitious mayor got both media exposure, a national stage and will work with Washingtonís Brookings Institution on a new anti-poverty initiative.

But his bold plan to get the Legislature in 2007 to allow voters to decide whether he, too, can reinvent urban education by taking over the huge Los Angeles Unified School District, reform it and appoint the school board may be a reach too far minus a compelling explanation. His negative rhetoric has angered both elected board members and the powerful teachersí union, which raised over $850,000 to elect him.

Villaraigosaís hubris rests on a single poll his office commissioned private poll showing him with an 82% approval rating. Aping the George Bush re-election boast, the mayor said heíd use his political capital to succeed. But such passion could be in a race against time and higher ambition. His refusal to pledge to serve two terms until 2013 to insure reform suggests a more lofty progressive agenda either in Sacramento or, more likely, Washington.

Return of a Maverick

27 January 2006 |permalink | email article

It’s refreshing that a famous liberal California Republican maverick, Pete McCloskey, is again taking on the establishment after almost a quarter of a century out of Congress. His June primary target is six-term Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Tracy), chairman of the powerful House Resources Committee. 

Pombo, McCloskey says, has taken more money than any other California congressman from lobbyist Jack Abramoff, stymied efforts to further investigate former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, done nothing to reduce emissions in the Central Valley and has eroded the Endangered Species Act, which McCloskey authored in 1972.

A decorated Marine combat veteran who opposed the Vietnam War a generation ago, McCloskey, who represented Palo Alto, said his party “has shifted away from the values I knew.î Identifying himself with another maverick, Sen. John McCain, his platform calls for “a return to GOP traditional values of honesty, high ethical principles, fiscal responsibility and a reasonable balance between economic balance and environmental protection.î

He calls Pombo, 43, who represents the conservative leaning 11th Congressional District, largely in the San Joaquin Valley ìan embarrassment.î

McCloskey, 78, is a big underdog but heís been there before. In 1972, he challenged President Nixon on Vietnam and finished second in the 1982 GOP Senate primary, which ended his career. Still, despite a huge war chest, Pombo is vulnerable and McCloskey is likely to attract serious free media attention.

In November, Democrats need to win a net 15 seats to regain control of the House of Representatives. McCloskey urged Republicans to support John Kerry for president in 2004. Short of an upset, he could well become an improbable stalking horse to weaken Pombo against the eventual Democratic nominee. George Bush beat Kerry by only 3% in the district.

Maverick is a word in the dictionary associated with one who is unorthodox in political views. It goes back to Samuel Maverick, son of an Anglican minister in England, who settled in Massachusetts about 1624. McCloskey’s reappearance helps encourage serious debate in a nation that needs it.