Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ex-FEMA chief profiteering on Katrina? - (James Lee Witt)
MSNBC (excerpt) ^ | July 23, 2007 | Tim Sandler and Lisa Myers

Posted on 07/23/2007 9:19:02 PM PDT by HAL9000

Excerpt -

Ex-FEMA chief profiteering on Katrina?

Witt’s firm charges Louisiana double its costs for subcontracted services

In the traumatic days after Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco turned to one of the most respected names in emergency management: James Lee Witt, the so-called Master of Disaster. But an eight-month investigation by NBC News into the performance and billing practices of Witt’s firm, James Lee Witt Associates, raises questions about profiteering, cronyism and possible falsification of records by one of Witt Associates’ subcontractors.

~ snip ~

Witt Associates reaps its biggest windfall, however, from billing the state double what it actually pays its subcontractors. Those 100 percent markups yield millions of dollars for Witt Associates for doing what insiders say is little more than clerical work.

For instance, Witt Associates subcontracted an Indiana-based company called PinPoint Resources to manage government grants for Katrina recovery. Public records and internal company documents show that PinPoint workers were paid $19 to $20 an hour. Pinpoint billed Witt Associates $37.50 an hour, and Witt Associates billed the state $75 an hour for doing little more than processing the paperwork with the state, sources say.

Witt’s most lucrative subcontract is with Arkansas-based Recovery Management Inc. (RMI). RMI hired workers like Wendell LaFosse to monitor debris removal and disposal. LaFosse, a stocky, plain-spoken Cameron, La., native, worked seven months for RMI before quitting in May 2006.

~ snip ~


(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: blanco; fema; jamesleewitt; jlwa; katrina; witt
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

1 posted on 07/23/2007 9:19:05 PM PDT by HAL9000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: HAL9000
Ex-FEMA chief profiteering on Katrina?

Is the Pope German?

2 posted on 07/23/2007 9:20:53 PM PDT by dfwgator (The University of Florida - Still Championship U)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HAL9000
Archives - Wesley Clark, Rodney Slater working for crisis management firm of ex-FEMA director Witt
3 posted on 07/23/2007 9:21:37 PM PDT by HAL9000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HAL9000
The nutjob that the media held up to us as the model of efficient FEMA operations.

The real hero of Katrina was Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi.
4 posted on 07/23/2007 9:28:13 PM PDT by George W. Bush (Rudy: tough on terror, scared of Iowa)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

What a bunch of BS. Of course they had to pay someone more than Blanco. She was totally incompetent. Note that there is no mention of getting the job done. I wonder about the sanity of some watchdog in Washington saying a relationship is crazy for publication. Witt may or may not be in trouble, but his critics seem like idiots.


5 posted on 07/23/2007 9:31:56 PM PDT by ClaireSolt (Have you have gotten mixed up in a mish-masher?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: HAL9000

In the immediate hurricane aftermath, it took only minutes after Blanco’s announcement of hiring Witt for Freepers to start predicting this outcome. Inevitable. 100% predictable. Nothing more or less expected.

And this walking shrine to the Peter Principle was still more competent than Blanco.

If Vitter didn’t walk into his own mess this month, this could have been another nail in the La. Dem party coffin.


6 posted on 07/23/2007 9:34:50 PM PDT by JerseyHighlander
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: George W. Bush
The real hero of Katrina was Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi.

Rick Perry gets an honorable mention for managing a massive number of refugees.

And Mike Huckabee gets a mention for deploying the Arkansas National Guard to New Orleans to restore order at the height of the anarchy.

7 posted on 07/23/2007 9:38:09 PM PDT by HAL9000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: HAL9000
Rick Perry gets an honorable mention for managing a massive number of refugees.

I'll give Goodhair credit for that.

8 posted on 07/23/2007 9:38:42 PM PDT by dfwgator (The University of Florida - Still Championship U)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: HAL9000
More archives - January 18, 2006 - GlobalOptions Group Agrees to Acquire James Lee Witt Associates
9 posted on 07/23/2007 9:39:21 PM PDT by HAL9000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HAL9000

Found the thread i was looking for, lo and behold, you posted it.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476788/posts


10 posted on 07/23/2007 9:40:55 PM PDT by JerseyHighlander
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HAL9000

40-50%gross margins for emergency services is not uncommon. There are lots of mobilizations costs that need to be factored in plus a company has to factor in those times when they need to be available but not busy.

Then there are the taxes that need to be paid on gross sales which include payments to subcontractors.


11 posted on 07/23/2007 9:41:36 PM PDT by SeaHawkFan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

Guys this is a good ole Democratic boy from the county I grew up and live in. Arkansas politics is like most corrupt. These little people end up multimillionares due too their connections. Arkansas is a Democratic State. Wesley Clark is just another person getting rich by playing politics with the good ole boys. Nothin new here at all. Hope they all get jail time espically Clark. He disgusts me.


12 posted on 07/23/2007 9:45:28 PM PDT by therut
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: HAL9000

The other option is that this piece is a loosely orchestrated hit piece put together by the Shaw Group and La. Dem party (and media) in an attempt to steer the Witt contract into Louisianian Democrat-controlled firms,

Reuters might want to tke a look at who the CEO of The Shaw Group is:

J.M. Bernhard, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Shaw and is Chairman of the Democrat Party of Louisiana!

The Shaw Group Inc. announced today that it has been awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to aid in the recovery and rebuilding efforts. The $100 million contract has a base period of one-year, with an additional one-year option.


13 posted on 07/23/2007 9:47:13 PM PDT by JerseyHighlander
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: SeaHawkFan

Tell that to the Democrats that chant and gripe about companies and people who profit off the war. But when the well connected in their bunch of dogs profit on the poor black people of NO and not a peep from them it makes me angry.


14 posted on 07/23/2007 9:48:59 PM PDT by therut
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: HAL9000

15 posted on 07/23/2007 10:07:18 PM PDT by HAL9000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: George W. Bush

The real hero of Katrina was not Haley Barbour.

Read this about Haley Barbour and family. It seems they like deals also. Read the last paragraph to see how “honest” they are.

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070622/NEWS01/706220304


16 posted on 07/23/2007 11:45:17 PM PDT by texastoo ((((((USA)))))((((((, USA))))))((((((. USA))))))))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SeaHawkFan

Didn’t Blanco want a law against “profiteering” pushed through against gas stations?


17 posted on 07/24/2007 12:00:50 PM PDT by Holicheese (Zap Razdowler Rules!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: texastoo

Other than the company principal being the wife of the nephew of Haley Barbour, what does this have to do with the Governor of MS? Certainly, how does it detract from the absolutely stellar way that he handled the disaster that hit this state?

And other than the veiled allegations of a FIRED former employee that the FBI was looking for “something”, what wrongdoing can be attributed to the company?

The horribly left-leaning Hattisburg American attempts to paint the company and its owner in a bad light by implying that there was something wrong with a no-bid contract for showers or because she used her maiden name in applications. None of it is substantiated by anything even imitating fact. No-bid contracts were very commonplace in the days and weeks following Katrina. A company raised its hand when somebody mentioned needing laundry and shower facilities — they got the contract. The owner used her maiden name in representing her business so as to avoid any allegations of nepotism, cronyism, or other impropriety. For that effort, she is accused of impropriety. Go figure?

You fell for their trap and allowed yourself to be fooled into believing their ‘nothing there’ name-association tripe as an indictment of the Governor. Don’t get sucked into believing what reads like a hit-piece.


18 posted on 07/24/2007 12:47:35 PM PDT by NerdDad (Aug 7, 1981, I married my soulmate, CDBEAR. 26 years and I'm still teenager-crazy in love with her.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: WKB; wardaddy; WileyPink; jmax; Islander7; 2ndDivisionVet; somniferum; flying Elvis; MagnoliaMS; ...

MS Ping Yall.


19 posted on 07/24/2007 12:49:47 PM PDT by NerdDad (Aug 7, 1981, I married my soulmate, CDBEAR. 26 years and I'm still teenager-crazy in love with her.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

What about the post-Katrina atrocities by the FEMA Law Enforcement (F.E.M.A.L.E.) people?


20 posted on 07/24/2007 1:54:35 PM PDT by 2harddrive (...House a TOTAL Loss.....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson