Former Attorney General: Ashcroft’s No-Bid Contract Was ‘As Wrong As It Can Be’
Former Attorney General: Ashcroft’s No-Bid Contract Was ‘As Wrong As It Can Be’
Last fall, New Jersey U.S. Attorney Chris Christie awarded his former boss, John Ashcroft, a lucrative no-bid contract to “monitor a large corporation willing to settle criminal charges out of court.” Ashcroft’s consulting company is set “to receive payments of $28 million to $52 million” in the deal, one of the biggest payouts ever reported for a federal monitor.
In an interview today, former U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach said the case is suspicious because no-bid contracts are generally awarded only if there’s a strong “reason why there isn’t” a competitive process:
“When you give people government contracts, there’s usually a bidding on the contract, or if there isn’t a bidding on it, you’ve got a reason why there isn’t,” Katzenbach told PolitickerNJ.com. “…If Interior wants to go give a former Interior Secretary some big job, people can say that’s just politics and maybe it’s not that serious. But when the Department of Justice starts doing it, it suggests other political things, and that seems to me to be as wrong as it can be.”
Christie maintains that he granted the contract because of Ashcroft’s “impeccable legal credentials” and “unique” qualifications. But Ashcroft’s group isn’t even a law firm. And according to Katzenbach, Ashcroft’s resume doesn’t meet the “standards” for a $58 million monitoring contract:
“He’s a pleasant enough man. I doubt that he was an editor of the law review or a Supreme Court clerk or something of that kind — those are the kinds of standards I have.”
Both Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) are now pressing the Justice Department for details on the contracts awarded to Ashcroft and other outside lawyers since 2001, and plan to hold hearings on the Bush administration’s federal monitoring process. The Justice Department has also opened an investigation.
Katzenbach said that as a former Attorney General, he would not have accepted the contract. “I suppose like any human being, I would be tempted, but I would think it was inappropriate,” he concluded.
UPDATE: New Jersey isn’t alone. The Washington Post reports today that in the past few years, U.S. attorneys in Alabama, New York and Virginia have hired “various former prosecutors and SEC officials with ties to President Bush, his father and other Republican luminaries” as corporate monitors. (via Blue Jersey)
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21 Responses to “Former Attorney General: Ashcroft’s No-Bid Contract Was ‘As Wrong As It Can Be’”
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so why is Chavez such a bad guy? these clowns are raping the taxpayer every chance, and laughing all the way to the bank in the Caymans. Sorry, Republicans aren’t patriots by any stretch.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:46 pmRepublicans do not understand that “conflict of interest” is something to be avoided, not strived for.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:48 pmThis is bigger than the traditional revolving door.
DOJ finds a company guilty and then has a “convenient” short list of who they can hire to pay pennace? Please.
Turn over some rocks at EPA and you may be finding some similarities.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:52 pmBlah blah blah blah blah corruption blah blah blah blah blah republicans blah blah blah blah blah corruption blah blah blah blah blah republicans blah blah blah blah blah corruption blah blah blah blah blah republicans blah blah blah blah blah corruption blah blah blah blah blah republicans blah blah blah blah blah corruption blah blah blah blah blah republicans blah blah blah blah blah corruption blah blah blah blah blah republicans blah blah blah blah blah corruption blah blah blah blah blah republicans blah blah blah blah blah corruption blah blah blah blah blah republicans blah blah blah blah blah corruption blah blah blah blah blah republicans blah blah blah blah blah corruption blah blah blah blah blah republicans…
January 15th, 2008 at 9:58 pmI don’t understand how this is even possible. Generally speaking, government contracts are highly regulated. I can issue a sole source contract, sure . . . if it’s less than $2500. Otherwise, I need three bids and a whole lot of documentation proving that those bids are fair market price. None of this no-bid contract should be legal. It’s craziness.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:02 pmMaybe this was a payoff to Ashcroft for keeping his mouth shut about the visit he received in the hospital.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:10 pmblah blah blah blah blah corruption blah blah blah blah blah republicans…
Comment by JPV — January 15, 2008 @ 9:58 pm
Well in all fairness, it is one of the FEW TUNES the GOP can whistle reliably!!! ;)
January 15th, 2008 at 10:19 pmSend him a letter, Conyers.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:39 pmA strongly worded one.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:39 pmThat kind of money buys a lot of silence. I’m betting John knows where every body is buried in this administration.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:34 pmThey “play with our world like it’s (their) little toy”, these Masters of War. The entire Republican party has the attitude that they are in charge of a banana republic, and the Democrats don’t seem to have any problem with the idea; they just want their piece of the pie.
“No Bid” contracts used to not exist; now they are de riguere. How’d that happen?
January 15th, 2008 at 11:43 pmThis is an out-and-out government shakedown scheme, reminiscent of The Untouchables. Ironic how Bush/Cheney becomes so amenable to rehabilitation (and avoiding a trial to boot) vis a vis punishment when it enables their cronies to make a buck or billion. And, make no mistake, the taxpayers are footing this bill; the money is going straight to the cronies, not back to the taxpayers or victims as fines or damages.
Scott Horton shows how loyal Bushies don’t even have to be retired to reap the benefits of this administration’s corruption. He details how an Alabama judge garnered hundred-million-dollar contracts from the U.S. Government for his side business while (some might say “in exchange for”) enabling the railroading of a prominent Alabama Democrat, Don E. Siegelman who had a history of causing electoral trouble for the Republicans. Horton has compiled a spell-binding series, literally scores of articles, at his Harper’s Magazine No Comment website on the Siegelman case, which lies at the very heart of the Justice Dept. / U.S. Attorneys scandal and heavily involves Karl Rove, along with a host of Alabama Republican bigwigs.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:51 pmOnly 14 comments on this?
This is a bigger story than you all think.
The thing is, under bush jr. suing in a court for your rights is OUT, and the (corrupt) judges ruling in favor of out of court settlement is IN.
In practice, the people get screwed, and GUESS who is hired as overseers to see the corporation actually doing what they should - the political cronies like Ashcroft.
http://www.dailykos.com/ story/ 2008/ 1/ 14/ 195727/ 342/ 429/ 436899
January 15th, 2008 at 11:52 pmComment 14. - links hopefully corrected:
shows
No Comment
January 16th, 2008 at 12:00 am15. AmericanGoy
I agree. It means that justice is for sale to the highest bidder. While class differences have always existed, seperate justice according to income has become openly visible and apparently the law of the land. And they don’t even bother to hide it or show any shame.
Additionally, a once respected Justice Department has openly compromised any possible appearance of impartiality as it embarks on prosecution (?persecution?) based on political affiliation.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:26 amIt’s not like they are spending their own money. It’s yours tax dollars.
January 16th, 2008 at 4:06 amCouldn’t have been buying silence?
January 16th, 2008 at 5:16 amThis is OUR money they are giving away to their cronies. We’ve had seven years of this sort of blatant rape of the public treasury.
Soon, all we will hear from the Republicans is that the treasury cannot afford vital public expenditure, when for seven years they have been giving out cash to their cronies by the pallet. When they object and obstruct, the press will laud their fiscal conservatism.
January 16th, 2008 at 8:43 amWe need to ask the democratic candidates - including Kucinich - what they intend to do about prosecuting Bush Administration criminality.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:07 amMy republican co-workers and customers just cannot understand why the democrats want to continue forcing social programs onto the taxpayers backs - “communities need to help themselves and each other”, they collectively whine, while urging the pitching of social security, medicaid, WIC, any kind of welfare, states health insurance programs for children, state college scholarship funds, etc.
NOW I see - this is what they mean when they speak of helping each other. Huh. Who knew?
January 18th, 2008 at 10:42 amIt’s neither a Democratic or Republican problem. It’s a problem with GREED. That is why democracy has never worked before for more than 350 years. People get greedy and the rule of law goes out the window. No matter whom we elect this year, it’s up to “We The People” to “Be The Change You Want To See.” M. Gandhi.
February 26th, 2008 at 12:55 am