Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson is already under fire for claiming he cancelled a government contract with a business because the CEO was critical of President Bush. But that’s not the only contract corruption scandal his department is wrapped up in.
Shirlington Limousine and Transportation Inc. is the firm that defense contractor Brent Wilkes used to “transport congressmen, CIA officials, and perhaps prostitutes to his Washington parties.” Shirlington’s president, Christopher Baker, has a “lengthy history of illegal activity,” detailed in his 62-page rap-sheet, and his limo company “operates in what looks to be a deliberately murky way,” with multiple, regularly-changing addresses, many of which were actually at residential buildings.
Despite all of this, Shirlington recently won a HUD contract worth $519,823. (Shirlington was also awarded a massive $21 million contract “to provide transportation, including limo service for senior officials” for the Homeland Security Department last fall.)
Today, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) sent a letter to Secretary Jackson urging him to make public all information pertaining to Shirlington limo:
I request that you release all documents and communications in your possession pertaining to any HUD contracts with Shirlington Limousine. Thorough examination of these documents is critical to eliminating suspicion of inappropriate or illegal activity in awarding Shirlington Limousine a federal contract. I also ask you to clarify your comments regarding the eligibility of Administration opponents to compete for federal contracts.
Read Rep. Slaughter’s full letter HERE.
Previous in TP Politics
By clicking and submitting a comment I acknowledge the ThinkProgress Privacy Policy and agree to the ThinkProgress Terms of Use. I understand that my comments are also being governed by Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policies as applicable, which can be found here.