WP: Privatized Walter Reed Workforce Gets Scrutiny; Contractor tied to Bush administration, KBR

[DeepModem Mom]

Privatized Walter Reed Workforce Gets Scrutiny
Army Facility Lost Dozens Of Maintenance Workers
By Steve Vogel and Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, March 10, 2007; Page A03

The scandal over treatment of outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has focused attention on the Army's decision to privatize the facilities support workforce at the hospital, a move commanders say left the building maintenance staff undermanned.

Some Democratic lawmakers have questioned the decision to hire IAP Worldwide Services, a contractor with connections to the Bush administration and to KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary.

Last year, IAP won a $120 million contract to maintain and operate Walter Reed facilities. The decision reversed a 2004 finding by the Army that it would be more cost-effective to keep the work in-house. After IAP protested, Army auditors ruled that the cost estimates offered by in-house federal workers were too low. They had to submit a new bid, which added 23 employees and $16 million to their cost, according to the Army.

Yesterday, the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal workers union, blamed pressure on the Army from the White House's Office of Management and Budget for the decision to privatize its civilian workforce.

"Left to its own devices, the Army would likely have suspended this privatization effort," John Gage, president of the organization, said in a statement. "However, the political pressure from OMB left Army officials with no choice but to go forward, even if that resulted in unsatisfactory care to the nation's veterans."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030902082.html

[rodeodance]

1. getting uglier and uglier!!

[OneBlueSky]

2. there's an inherent conflict in ALL privitatization in that the first objective of a corporation . .

is ALWAYS to maximize profit . . . in a service-intensive area like healthcare, that almost always means reducing (or even curtailing) services for patients . . . every cut the contractor can make results in additional profits, and that's what the corporation is (legally) all about . . . maximum (or even adequate) service and maximum profit are incompatible . . .

[ninkasi]

4. You're right

Anybody who expects privatization to be more cost effective than letting the government, which is not doing the job to make money, is crazy. Even people like me, who are not economic wizards, should be able to see that.

Sadly, the fact that privatization contracts are awarded to Bush cronies doesn't seem to cause the outrage it should. It's nothing but a scam, funneling taxpayer dollars to big businesses, for a profit.

The profit gained is the reason we shouldn't be privatizing everything the Republics can think of. It's just another way to rape the American taxpayer. Only instead of the guy who buys the whore's services, and gives her money, in the Republic version the whore gets fucked, and has to PAY the john herself.

[Ian David]

11. Why can't we just let market forces determine which soldiers have to sleep in their own feces? n/t

[Cobalt Violet]

14. Privatization = more death, more suffering, higher bills.

:kick:

[calimary]

31. And you know what the most beautiful part of that is? The word "Privatized"

appears FIRST in the headline.

That one REALLY needs to be rammed home, on EVERY issue, not just Walter Reed.

Privatizing (or, as I once wrote in one of my columns, Piratizing) means they're just in it to make a profit. They're running it like a business - which is ONLY in it for the money. And when all you're interested in is profit, any good self-respecting Ferengi knows that you cut costs (like - your overhead - sanitized word for YOUR WORKERS AND THEIR NEEDS/REQUIREMENTS) and raise prices to maximize earnings. Quality and wise longterm management be damned. As long as you do okay by the next quarterly statements, who cares beyond that? Which means the workers suffer and what they're working on (also, in this case, WHO - the wounded outpatient soldiers) suffers as well.

This White House, which has taken the whole "let's run the government like a business" to its most sinfully, corrupt, shortsighted, cheapskate extremes, is stealthfully trying to privatize everything it can, everywhere. On the surface, they say, "we're saving taxpayers money! Lower taxes! YAY!" And they leave it at that because it sounds good to the unsophisticated, unaware, and non-vigilant - the ones who aren't paying attention and don't read and don't look beyond the headlines and the quick-n-dirty 15-second soundbites and sloganeering. WE and others in the progressive movement and the progressive blogosphere are usually the ones left to try to get to the bottom of it and get the details and pry open the lids that are clamped on these things that the mainstreamers for one reason or other don't have time to bother with. So when I see the word "Privatized" up top - indeed, at the VERY top of the article in the Washington Post forcryingoutloud, in the HEADLINE for cryingoutloud, it means that SOMEBODY's starting to connect the dots. And that is an EXTREMELY good thing.

The whole privatizing issue is one we have to get directly to the bottom of, and debunk it, and unmask it for what it is - the cheapskate's way out. The Walter Reed scandal has put a human face on this, and given the average American something tangible and understandable and relatable to chew on. Those wounded soldier outpatients being warehoused in the disgusting, disgraceful roach motel is an image made in Heaven to be able to get this message through to people - ESPECIALLY those who don't pay attention. They CAN'T POSSIBLY fail to understand this, and to get riled up by it. THIS is something they can easily and viscerally wrap their brains around, and it's something that puts them all SOUNDLY in OUR camp. THIS is the kind of thing WE can use, also, to debunk that whole "Dems/liberals/anti-war activists don't support the troops" shit. We can point directly to this and hang it around the necks of the cheapskate republi-CON, penny-wise/pound-foolish privatizer posse and let it sink them.

It's SO galling. I'm 53, and I've seen it through several decades by now. Every political era has these assholes crawling out from under their rocks and singing the praises of "running the government like a business" and cutting the size of government so you can get that precious dollar-98 tax cut (that's so significant to most people that it may - MAY cover ONE month's grocery bill or car payment per year if they're lucky) and all of that CRAP. Well, THIS is what happens when they're allowed to do that. THIS is the result. THIS is what you get for your cutting big government and getting your cute little tax cut, America. THIS is why we pay taxes to begin with - TO KEEP DISGRACEFUL SHIT LIKE THIS FROM HAPPENING - ESPECIALLY TO OUR WOUNDED TROOPS!!! Man, if we could kill that whole argument (at least for a generation or so - unfortunately, with time, it WILL be back along with its stingey proponents), we'd be SO far along the path toward REALLY healing our country and its people, and REALLY, SERIOUSLY start addressing the needs of our citizens, ESPECIALLY the poorest among us who need our help, and need the help that well-funded, well-managed (more often than not by DEMOCRATS) federal programs can provide. That's what our taxes are supposed to pay for: the safety net that keeps shit like the Walter Reed disgrace from happening, and the poor from starving, and the homeless from being left out in the cold or sleeping in their cars.

I don't like to use the word "right" because it's been so perverted by the bad guys. But, put simply, it's THIS case specifically that enables us to say "WE are right, and they are WRONG."

And it starts with bringing the word "privatize" and all its derivatives into a glaringly bright spotlight on center stage, and showing it for what it really is. Demonize THIS. Equate it in people's minds with something REALLY bad, offensive, disgraceful, embarrassing, horrendous, and stupid. Criminally so in this case. And then you've beaten it. newt gingrich and frank luntz and others of that ilk did this back in the 80's when they all rode in on ronald reagan's wolf-in-sheep's-clothing coattails, demonizing and marginalizing us liberals and us Democrats by equating us, in people's minds, with being bad, offensive, disgraceful, embarrassing, horrendous, and stupid. newty even put a how-to book out that he spread all over his "GOPAC" political action slash-n-burn organization. That's how they started taking us apart and turning the word "liberal" into something dirty and vile that no one wanted to be anymore.

Well, here's how we turn the tables. It's sad that the Walter Reed soldier-patients have to be the victims here. But they're also the poster children of this greater campaign to grind this whole privatization shit INTO THE GROUND, hopefully FOR GOOD. It's the one and only way to make absolutely sure that their suffering and neglect will not have been in vain.

[Cobalt Violet]

33. I've been reading up on privatization that's been going on elsewhere too.

It's appalling what's going on with prison healthcare. They can only make money by denying care.

American Service Group Inc. lists the "inherent risks" as disclaimer to their "forward-looking statements". One such risk is "-- the Company's ability to limit its exposure for catastrophic illnesses and injuries in excess of amounts covered under contracts or insurance coverage;". Does this sound as bad to you as it does to me or am I just reading it wrong?
:grr:

And a couple of the highlights: "-- Net cash provided by operating activities of $25.3 million in 2006 as compared with net cash used in operating activities of $10.6 million in the prior year", and "-- Gross margin of $10.3 million in the quarter as compared with $7.1 million in the prior year quarter ". Does this sound as bad to you as it does to me or am I just reading it wrong?

I'm galled too. Walter Reed and just about every other instance of privatization I can think of is a failure. I agree with you, we need to demonize this. Expose it for what it is. These guys are robbing us of our wealth and killing people in the process.

[rumpel]

3. the fleecing of America

until there is nothing to "fleece" anymore...

[Diane R]

5. Has the media finally woken up from their long slumber?

[Cobalt-60]

32. At some point it becomes apparent

That it will be a long, long, time before Republicons get enough power to make good their threats.

[Peace Patriot]

6. It's time to pull Halliburton/KBR's corporate charter, dismantle them and seize their assets

for the common good.

Corporations should be operated in the public interest, and, when they are not...goodbye corporate charter! We have the sovereign right, as a people, to dismantle them. That's why the global corporate predators who rule over us privatized our vote counting system, and are now "counting" all our votes with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code--owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations--the most unamerican thing I ever heard of. They knew that a time would come when the American people would get good and fed up with the corporate looting and war profiteering and the outsourcing of all jobs and all the rest of this fascist crap. Against that day, they took over our election system--during the 2002 to 2004 period--a coup engineered by the biggest crooks in the Anthrax Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney, abetted by corporatists 'Democrats' like Christopher Dodd. Now we, the people, have to prove who didn't win an election, rather than election officials having to prove who did. Vote counting is done entirely in secret. We have no right to know how they are counting the votes. And just try to get a recount. In many places, a recount is impossible because there are no ballots. You have to trust the Bushite corporate "black box." In other places, the rules are stacked against a recount and it's extremely expensive and difficult. This is nuts. But it's nutsiness with a purpose--designed to prevent us from stopping the war, from regulating loathesome business practices (such as the usurious credit card companies), from requiring decent wages and benefits and fair taxation, and even from calling a halt to outright corporate theft of billions of taxpayer dollars by the vice president's own company, and from impeaching the vice president for permitting it and profiting from it.

As with voting, we have to prove the theft, while they hide behind government sorcery. But we SHOULD BE just pulling their goddamned charter. No more! We don't have to prove anything. We are the People. This is our sovereign country. We own it. We rule it. Goodbye, Halliburton! That's why they took away our right to vote. Because we have that power.

Now we have to take a long slog back toward democracy, first of all by restoring transparent vote counting. And, you will notice, that Congress, even with it's new Democratic coloration, is going to keep these rightwing Bushite corporations, with their "trade secret" code, in place, and pay them billions more taxpayer dollars to "fix" the election system that they deliberately broke. That's how worried the Corporate Rulers are about the potential power of our votes. They have the Democrats by the balls, too--even the good ones. Rightwing Bushites "counting" all our votes in secret, and they never say anything about it, and when some of us catch on and scream our heads off, they propose a 2% audit of the machines (= 98% of the votes will never get counted; even if there is a ballot, the ballots are scanned right into the rigged electronics, the votes are turned into bunches of electrons and are sent off to Wonderland where they become a mandate for tax cuts for the rich and for more war, and your ballot is never seen again).

The Democrats--obviously, most of them--are the bulwark against the peoples' outrage at corporate crime. They throw sops to us--like the minimum wage--and the crime gets to continue. Halliburton/KBR shouldn't be allowed to exist any more. That's the truth. But I doubt you will ever hear that from our Democratic leadership. The good guys don't have the Congressional numbers. And why is that?

[Ian David]

12. Yes, revoking Halliburton's corporate charter is a great idea

See prior thread:

Revoking the Corporate Charter of the Boston Archdiocese
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=226x1599

[robinlynne]

24. oh yes patriot!

[reprobate]

29. Agreed! Let's bring back the corporate Death Penalty.

There was a time - in the 19th century - when a corporation was required to act as a responsible citizen. If it did not, the death penalty was exacted. That is, the charter was pulled. I believe this was the practice in most states.

I say let's bring it back. And in addition, let's hold management responsible legally. Any shenanigans like cheating the taxpayer should be a felony...send a CEO to prison to be Buba's bitch for a few years. Guaranteed to keep them honest.

If the assets of the corporation were sold at auction and the proceeds sent to the Treasury, hell would have no fury like the stockholders scorned. Maybe even lower taxes that way.

[truthisfreedom]

7. cheney of the one foot is behind this.

he has destroyed our Veterans' safety with one hoof tied behind his back.

[lebkuchen]

8. Remember all the contracts Cheney funneled to Halliburton when he was DoD Sec?

Once a carpetbagger, always a carpetbagger.

[salin]

9. important read - finally the public might begin to see

that the privatization schemes are often just that - schemes for profiting off of taxpayer $ - and often are KNOWN to cost MORE money than when the jobs are done internally (by the govt agency) - but the profits of cronies is more important than the idea of not defrauding the taxpayers and trumps the idea of good services being provided by taxpayer $.

[Cobalt Violet]

13. I hope your right.

Privatization hasn't been working too well. It's been failing all over the place. And people have been dying as a result.

[Ian David]

10. Walter Reed Contractor tied to KBR, Halliburton, and Bush? WOW! What a SURPRISE!

NOT!

[halobeam]

15. glad to see this in Washington Post...

When I watched the hearings last week, it was incredible to see that almost overnight the Fed.employees lost bid to IAP... I want to know who raised their bid, and have that bid thorughly examined. This put their bid price, if I'm correct, over IAP's and then IAP bid won.

Everyone is so "outraged" about Walter Reed? Any repub that brings that up to me, I answer, look into the priv. contracting and then you will know why this happened.

Help educate the public, it's nice to see some media doing that, put it isn't nearly enough.

[Vinca]

16. The United States of Halliburton. nt

[terip64]

17. kick and recommend

[indepat]

18. Absolute power corrupts absolutely

[UpInArms]

19. connections with Duke Cunningham, Abramoff and Jerry Lewis

The congressman & the hedge fund

Posted 1/19/2006

One day after a New York investment group raised $110,000 for Republican Rep. Jerry Lewis, the House passed a defense spending bill that preserved $160 million for a Navy project critical to the firm. The man who protected the Navy money? Lewis.

The fundraiser, which took place July 7, 2003, and the subsequent vote illustrate the kind of relationship between congressman and contributor that's under increased scrutiny in the nation's capital.

A fellow California Republican, Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, resigned in November after admitting he helped steer Pentagon contracts to two of four businessmen who paid him more than $2.4 million in bribes. Former top GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty last month to using gifts and political donations in a conspiracy to bribe public officials. Both investigations continue.

Nothing is illegal about government contractors giving political money to lawmakers who help them, unless both sides agree to exchange campaign donations for votes.

Lewis, 71, insists he did nothing improper. "I'm darn sensitive to make certain we keep arm's length from certain efforts" by political donors to influence legislation, Lewis said.

Both Lewis and the investment company, Cerberus Capital Management, benefited from the relationship. Eighteen months after the fundraiser and the House vote, Lewis won the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee. He acknowledges that the fundraising efforts of Cerberus "played a very significant role" in winning the post. The ties between Cerberus and Lewis, a 14-term congressman from Redlands, Calif., have not been publicly examined before.

...go to the link for more (please)...

[aquart]

20. Did Lewis make it back into Congress?

[UpInArms]

21. yes - he's in 'til 2008

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=400239

Past and present terms in the House and Senate held by Jerry Lewis:When	Role	State & District
2003-2008	U.S. Representative	California's 41st	(was preceeded by Rep. Gary Miller )
1993-2002	U.S. Representative	California's 40th	(was preceeded by Christopher Cox)
1989-1992	U.S. Representative	California's 35th	
1979-1988	U.S. Representative	California	(District Number Unknown)

[robinlynne]

26. and who is one of the prosecutors just fired by Gonzo? Carol Lam, who was investigating

exactly these people.

[leveymg]

30. The USA investigating Lewis was Debra Wong Yang. She quit at the end of last

year to take a job with the high-powered LA law firm that's already billed Lewis $900,000 in fees related to the investigation. The timing of Yang's unexpected resignation was, um, peculiar.

AG Carol Lam had been investiagting the MZM-Wade-Cunningham scandal in San Diego when she got axed in January.

The investigations are related - Cerberus was Lewis' largest contributor, while MZM was second or third largest.

[senseandsensibility]

22. Is the privatization aspect getting any coverage on TV news?

Thanks for posting this. At least it's getting some coverage. To my mind, it's the key to the whole thing.

[DeepModem Mom]

23. Good question. I haven't been watching since early yesterday --

maybe someone else has an answer.

[brentspeak]

25. Exactly. The Powers That Be don't want the sunshine to be shone on the privatization scams

[robinlynne]

27. not really. not even on public tv! I wrote two letters to the Jim Lehrer newshour

complaining about how they can do a 14 minute segment about it and omit privatization altogether! got no answer.

[jwirr]

28. Those who know how to find things: Wasn't KBR and Halliburton

once under another name? Owned by a German company and using concentration camp labor with the help of Prescott? Also was KBR one of the residents of the Twin Towers on 9/11?