Earlier I posted to following comment on the
FEMA subcontracting and the buses of New Orleans:
"I work for a small trucking company in Florida. We bid on a lot of government moves. A week after Katrina, we bid on a load for the Coast Guard to move items from Virginia to Louisiana. Our rate was approximately $1.85 per mile, or roughly $2500. The dispatcher that bid has a program or website (not quite sure) that he uses to monitor the bidding. We lost the bid to Landstar. The amazing thing is that Landstar had bid $12,000.00 for the move. We have called the Coast Guard and our representative to tell them about what is going on. By the way, the owners of this company as well as most of the employees are heavily Republican. They are sick over what is going on. I hate to say I told you so, but..."
It has been suggested that I diary this to include more details, so here goes:
One thing you should know about Landstar is that it does not own trucks or trailers, it merely makes the arrangements for transportation and is known as a broker. For the most part it uses Owner/Operator drivers and other trucking companies to meet its customer's needs. In fact my company has hauled freight for Landstar in the past.
The move for the Coast Guard was for pilings for the port in New Orleans and was directly related to the hurricane. Our company specializes in Boat Transport, so our drivers are well versed in getting into and out of ports, and we do quite a bit of transport for the Coast Guard.
When our dispatcher found out that he lost the bid to a ridiculously higher bid he called his contact at the CG and it was promised that it would be looked in to. After I showed the boss the story from the Chicago Tribune this morning, he made a phone call to the Coast Guard and was told that it was an error in the office. He also phoned our Representative's office (Tom Feeney) and gave them all of the information. He was told that it would be investigated.
Being a Feeney constituant, I am well aware of his ties with Delay, and I doubt that anything will be done about this particular case of waste. As I stated in my comments, the owner, the management and most of the employees are hardcore republicans. They buy into the republican party as the saviors of small business. I can only hope that this incident serves to open their eyes to what this administration is all about.