Hastert Office Blocked Corruption Probe
Fri Oct 27, 2006 at 05:52:07 PM PDT
CQ.com with the details:
Two former House committee investigators who were examining Capitol Hill security upgrades said a senior aide to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert hindered their efforts before they were abruptly ordered to stop their probe last year.
The former Appropriations Committee investigators said Ted Van Der Meid, Hastert's chief counsel, resisted from the start the inquiry, which began with concerns about mismanagement of a secret security office and later probed allegations of bid-rigging and kickbacks from contractors to a Defense Department employee.
Ronald Garant and a second Appropriations Committee investigator who asked not to be identified said Van Der Meid engaged in "screaming matches" with investigators and told at least one aide not to talk to them. Van Der Meid also prohibited investigators from visiting certain sites to check up on the effectiveness of the work, the investigators said.
The Republicans, you know, the guys that want you to vote for them, because they keep the country safe, blocked the following investigation:
The inquiry began in late 2003 or early 2004 and was authorized by former Appropriations Chairman C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., and the panel's top Democrat, David R. Obey of Wisconsin. The probe focused on the office entrusted with ensuring continuity of Congress in the event of a terrorist or other attack. That office had grown from a sleepy Cold War relic to one that was spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on numerous security upgrades on and off Capitol Hill in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strikes and anthrax attacks the following month.
....snip....
The investigators said they were looking into concerns expressed by contractors that some of the security upgrades would fail to work in the event of a terrorist attack.
Robert Pearre, the team's director, ordered the investigators to stop their work on the security contracts in the fall of 2005. Before that, the investigators said they were looking into allegations that security contractors had showered a Defense Department employee with kickbacks in the form of Redskins tickets, golf outings, a set of golf clubs and meals. The allegations of kickbacks did not implicate congressional aides.
The office in charge of the upgrades was funded through the Defense Department and overseen by the Capitol Police Board, but the Speaker's office took a lead role because of Hastert's status as third in line to the presidency, the investigators said.
According to the investigators, Van Der Meid sought to stop their investigation shortly after it began.
But none of this matters right? We need to focus on the issues. Its not like anybody could die...
Investigators said that in addition to allegations of bid-rigging and kickbacks, they were looking into allegations that some security upgrades would fail to work.
"The word was that what they were trying to do was physically or technically impossible to do but that they were spending a heck of a lot of money trying to do it," said Garant.
The other investigator said he was told that "people are going to die" because the upgrades would fail to do the job.
Brief Update:
Van Der Meid was one of the first to know about Mark Foley's chat sessions with young pages.
Tags: security, Ted Van Der Meid, Appropriations, Bill Young, David Obey, Robert Pearre, Dennis Hastert, Culture of Corruption, Department of Defense, Recommended (all tags) :: Previous Tag Versions
