Posted on 09/16/2005 3:17:45 PM PDT by abb
9/16/2005, 4:41 p.m. CT The Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Less than a year after he took the post, state Democratic Party Chairman Jim Bernhard stepped down from the leadership job Friday, saying he needs to focus on his engineering and construction company — which is heavily involved in Hurricane Katrina rebuilding efforts. "The people of our state who have been so tremendously and adversely affected by this disaster require all the available help that exists, and I feel an obligation to contribute to those needs," Bernhard said in his resignation letter, released by the Louisiana Democratic Party. The letter was addressed to Mary Lou Winters, vice chair of the party, who takes over Bernhard's position. Andrew Koneschusky, spokesman for the state Democratic Party, said Bernhard's resignation didn't have anything to do with political upheaval because of the slow response to Katrina and criticisms of state officials over the handling of emergency response. Koneschusky said Bernhard is so busy in the hurricane reconstruction and recovery efforts that "he doesn't even know what's going on politically." Bernhard took over the post in January, replacing Mike Skinner, a former U.S. attorney who resigned after a series of stinging disappointments in the fall's congressional elections — the loss of several congressional seats and the election of Louisiana's first Republican U.S. senator since Reconstruction, David Vitter.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
This construction gig is gonna be much more lucrative than even corrupt Louisiana politics i guess.
Telling.
Shouldn't Halburton(sp)) be getting all the rebuilding contracts?
Thought you would enjoy this story.
Anybody named Landrieu on the board of this company? ...No...that would be too obvious.
Darn, you beat me to it. Look at the horrible capitalist pig liberal (oh that's only for earning a living, not for getting elected). Is there anything less hypocritical than a true liberal?
Uh oh, can we say Ka-ching?
Blanco’s husband gets jet ride to LSU game -
Chemical exec was being wooed on flight
Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)
January 6, 2005
Author: Robert Travis Scott
Capital bureau
Estimated printed pages: 4
BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s husband flew to the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday aboard the Shaw Group Inc.’s private jet, where company officials also were entertaining an executive of a major chemical firm in hopes of landing a lucrative contract to build a new plant in Louisiana.
The governor’s spokeswoman said neither Raymond Blanco nor anyone in the administration was applying pressure on the chemical company Shintech to contract for Shaw’s engineering and construction services over other Louisiana companies that might be competing for that business. But the governor wishes her husband had not made the trip because of the possible appearance of favoritism toward Shaw, Blanco spokeswoman Denise Bottcher said.
Shaw’s co-founder and chairman is Jim Bernhard, who headed Blanco’s transition team when she took office a year ago. Bernhard is a major supporter of the Democratic Party and has said he would like to be the state party’s next chairman.
Shaw is a Fortune 500 company based in Baton Rouge that does industrial engineering, construction and pipe work. The company would like to get a contract to build at $1 billion PVC plant for Shintech, which is part of a major Japanese chemical company.
The governor’s mantra for economic development since taking office has been that Louisiana is no longer a state where "who you know is more important than what you know." In her successful push for new ethics legislation last spring, administration officials frequently emphasized that even the appearance of conflicts of interest and favoritism cannot be tolerated if Louisiana is to improve its image as a state with a fair and friendly business environment.
Scrutiny ahead
Bottcher said the governor knew her husband was going to the game, but did not know the details of the trip or that Shaw would be simultaneously entertaining him and potential clients. In the future, Raymond Blanco’s itinerary will be more closely scrutinized for any potential appearances of an ethical problem, Bottcher said. The governor’s itinerary and contacts already are carefully screened, she said.
"And that’s why today we need to apply that same procedure to the First Gentleman’s office. We need to know who’s invited, and why they’re there," Bottcher said.
It is a common and legal practice for companies to entertain potential clients. The concern in this case centers on whether Raymond Blanco might have been used to show Shintech that Shaw had an inside track with the state government. The governor’s office oversees the Department of Environmental Quality, among other agencies that would have to issue permits for Shintech to build its plant.
Bottcher said the governor recognizes that the presence of a Shintech executive on the flight might appear to show favoritism, but the incident was accidental and will not happen again.
"The governor has made it very clear that no one in the administration is allowed to interfere with private business decisions," Bottcher said. "She does not want to get caught in the crossfire of competing Louisiana companies."
Last month, Louisiana-based competitors of Shaw complained that they were excluded from the bidding process to build a plant for Union Tank Car Co. in Alexandria. The Chicago railcar maker hired Shaw for the design and engineering of the $100 million facility and is finalizing a contract with Shaw for the construction component. The state is giving Union Tank a $30.4 million subsidy to help build the 850-employee plant.
A Texas company that was coordinating the early stages of the design and construction process was removed from the job in favor of Shaw in September. Executives with Performance Contractors and Turner Industries, two Baton Rouge construction firms, said they had sought the Union Tank work but were not even given a chance to bid.
Shaw spokesman Chris Sammons said his company has done work for Shintech in the past and is interested in doing additional work. Sammons said the company hopes that Shintech will decide to build its plant in Louisiana and that Shaw "absolutely" would like to have the work, including design, procurement, construction and management. But Sammons said the company was in no way using its contacts in the governor’s office for unethical leverage in getting business.
Shaw has grown into a company with revenue of more than $3 billion, "and in doing that we’ve done business in an honest, ethical and legal way, following all the state and federal laws, rules and regulations," Sammons said.
Friendly flight
Bottcher said Raymond Blanco reimburses individuals or companies for any travel expenses and that the trip violated no laws.
Blanco said he got an invitation Friday from a close friend, Jeff Jenkins, to fly on the corporate plane to the Louisiana State University bowl game. Jenkins, who also took the flight and sat with Blanco at the game, is a senior vice president at Shaw. Jenkins’ late father was an education administrator who hired Blanco as a high school football coach years ago.
The jet carried Blanco, a State Police officer assigned to accompany him, and several guests of Shaw. Among the guests introduced to Blanco on the flight was David Wise, head of Shintech’s PVC plant in Addis, and Wise’s son.
Shintech, part of a major Japanese chemical company, plans to announce this month where it will its PVC plant. The potential sites are in Addis and Plaquemine in Louisiana and in Freeport, Texas. Shaw and other companies both in and out of Louisiana are expected to bid to design and build the plant.
Wise and Raymond Blanco both said Wednesday that they met on the plane but that they did not talk about Shaw Group or its business dealings. Wise said that when the company is ready to hire engineers and construction companies, it will be a "purely competitive" process based on bids. Shaw’s contacts with the governor’s office would not influence Shintech in its decision, Wise said.
Blanco said he was not trying to hide anything by going on the trip, evidenced by the fact that he sat with Jenkins in the stands at the game.
Because of the last-minute nature of the invitation, Blanco said he did not check the details of the trip as carefully as he should have.
http://www.nola.com
"Blue Roof" contract?
Blue state............
Should be called the Pshaw Grope.
Business is GOOOOOOOOOOOD for the shawgrp.com.
An MSN search also has it registered as the "it" group. (IT?)
137 jobs listed as of today in one of its 3 companies; 53 in another; 162 in another. Many as of 8/31.
" so far the Army Corp of Engineers has estimated there are more than 40 million square feet of roof damage to be covered by the blue tarps along the three Mississippi coastal counties—and they are still very early into the assessment stage."
All of Louisianna's democrats should step down. But since liberals never, ever take any blame for anything.... They won't.
Isn't Shaw Group the only Fortune 500 company in Baton Rouge?
Here's Marsha Shuler's version of the story:
Democratic state leader steps down
Shaw CEO Bernhard wants to focus on relief efforts
By MARSHA SHULER
Capitol news bureau
Louisiana Democratic Party chairman Jim Bernhard stepped down Friday, citing the major role his company is playing in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
In a resignation letter, Bernhard said The Shaw Group Inc. has been working "around the clock" to assist with the clean-up and rescue efforts in New Orleans and surrounding Gulf Coast area.
The Baton Rouge-based company recently was awarded about $200 million in hurricane-related contracts.
"I do not believe I can fairly divide my energies between the party and my relief and recovery efforts and totally fulfill the obligations of both important jobs to my satisfaction, or yours," wrote Bernard, Shaw's CEO.
Bernhard noted Shaw is the only Louisiana-based response and disaster recovery company working to rebuild the state. In the wake of Katrina, the Fortune 500 engineering and construction firm received two federal contracts, each worth $100 million.
One, with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, calls for Shaw to fix the pumps and get the water out of New Orleans.
The other, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, calls for Shaw to provide housing assistance for those citizens displaced by the hurricane.
Shaw is also doing other hurricane-related work under previously existing local and state government contracts. Some are pre-existing contracts issued after Florida hurricanes last year.
Bernhard did not return phone calls seeking comment on his resignation letter that was released by the Democratic Party.
Bernhard became chairman of the state Democratic Party in January. He has close ties to Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Both he and his firm have been major donors to Democratic and Republican politicians alike, including President George W. Bush.
Blanco said Bernhard did not talk to her about his decision, but it was not unexpected given the amount of work his firm is doing. "I think that things got to be a higher priority," she said.
Party Vice Chairman Mary Lou Winters will temporarily become chairman, Democratic executive director Andrew Koneschusky said.
Under the FEMA contract, Shaw is supposed to provide housing for displaced residents. Shaw will get $100 million for such services as site assessments, design, and construction. Shaw is supposed to provide on-demand services to meet the general needs of evacuees.
Under the Corps contract, Shaw is charged with getting pumps repaired and working to remove the water that covered about 80 percent of Orleans Parish.
The company also is working under prior contracts it had with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the U.S. Postal Service, the Louisiana National Guard, the U.S. Navy, Jefferson Parish and other government agencies.
Shaw has been providing food, water and supplies to hospitals in the affected area, and putting temporary roofs on residences and commercial buildings to prevent further damage until permanent repairs can be made.
It also provided emergency communications capabilities to New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish.
Click here to return to story:
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/091705/new_shawceo001.shtml
bttt
He got his contracts so he'll step down.
Just remember we, here at FReerepublic, exposed his immoral use of his relationship with the Blancos to land the largest contract of all contracts from FEMA for his company the Shaw Group!
Well...we have to be honest here...if you or I owned a construction business in LA...we'd be sitting there at night dreaming of the cash just rolling in over the next 12 months and how we can funnel that cash to our company. The guy could stand to make millions if he works 60 hours a week and delivers on time.
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