To be added to the Murtha Watch ping list please notify myself or RedRover.
Posted on 10/01/2007 5:20:31 AM PDT by RDTF
While waiting to be confirmed by the White House for a top civilian post at the Air Force last year, Charles D. Riechers was out of work and wanted a paycheck. So the Air Force helped arrange a job through an intelligence contractor that required him to do no work for the company, according to documents and interviews.
For two months, Riechers held the title of senior technical adviser and received about $13,400 a month at Commonwealth Research Institute, or CRI, a nonprofit firm in Johnstown, Pa., according to his resume. But during that time he actually worked for Sue C. Payton, assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition, on projects that had nothing to do with CRI, he said.
-snip-
Commonwealth Research and its parent company, Concurrent Technologies, are registered with the Internal Revenue Service as tax-exempt charities, even though their primary work is for the Pentagon and other government agencies. In a recent report Concurrent, also based in Johnstown, Pa., said it was among the Defense Department's top 200 contractors, with a focus on intelligence, surveillance, force readiness and advanced materials.
-snip-
A leading patron of Concurrent in Congress is Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), who represents the district where the company is based. Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, announced the creation of the company in 1987.
Murtha recently arranged $10 million in earmarks for the company for fiscal 2008, according to records compiled by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group. One $3 million earmark is for an Air Force project.
Through a spokesman, Murtha said he has no financial ties to Concurrent. Murtha said the company's "quality work and research has resulted in improved equipment for our troops. Their competitive price has saved taxpayers money, and they continue to deliver on-time results."
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Even though I don’t like Murtha, the connection seems a little weak.
but always worth looking into!
Those -snip- items hide how far down in the original article Murtha’s name appears. Add to that the weakness of the connection, and it seems to be the ComPost’s attempt to look “fair and balanced” to those of us who say that they never bust the left.
It's rather like union busting (for intellectuals) ~
Notice that these guys don't have any non-government contracts.
From the “Comments” section of this article on the web:
Well, after reading all the usual Bush haters/blamers, Neo-con Bush apologists in the “Comments” responses to this article, nobody really comes close to identifying the coolest thing about this Washington Post article. Obviously, if you read either the print or web version of this story, it is how Congressman John “No Money At This Time, But Maybe Later” Murtha’s name does not suface until well after the “jump” on the back page, only to be found among the last paragraphs. That’s what’s coolest about how this article was presented: good job, Posties!
I saw Johnstwon, PA which was the giveaway, and then I had to search until I saw his name
THe article raises questions for me>
1) Why was he “waiting for confirmation from the White House? Doesn’t the white house nominate, and the SENATE confirm? Or did they mean something different?
2) Why did the guy say he did no work? Did he NOT get confirmed, and is lashing out? Or (more likely) does he have a clearance that doesn’t allow us to know what he does, so he has to say he did no work?
Please forward to Chessani and Wuterich’s lawyers.
These are influence fingerprints. It establishes a pattern, in my opinion. If a guy will manipulate via influence in one area, then he will in others....especially when his reputation is on the line.
Wow. If they need someone else to do nothing for $13K+ per month, I’m your man.
That's what I was thinking. I want ME one of dem!
Not what ya know, it's who ya know, obviously.
>>THe article raises questions for me>
1) Why was he “waiting for confirmation from the White House? Doesn’t the white house nominate, and the SENATE confirm? Or did they mean something different?
2) Why did the guy say he did no work? Did he NOT get confirmed, and is lashing out? Or (more likely) does he have a clearance that doesn’t allow us to know what he does, so he has to say he did no work?<<
Not to mention it sounds like its the Air Force that’s gonna get in the most trouble - and maybe who ever wanted the guy nominated.
Its about the charge not the facts, isn’t that the Democrats work?
George H W Bush was flying around on an SR-71 you know!!
You would be shocked at the number of GS-13 and above employees hired each year...who lack a clearance or have a clearance out of date.
Some examples: I worked in a DOD organization who hired a “doctor” to be their Africa analyst (GS-13). The guy had tons of education and experience...no clearance. For 18 months, they waited. He sat in a collateral area only...with very limited work that they could task him on with that access. After 18 months, he tired of the wait, and went back to the university (at least he told us that).
A DOD organization had a urgent need for a imagery trainer...which they decided to fill via contracting. They found a retired military guy...who was a certified trainer. He’d been out for a year, and his clearance lapsed. They couldn’t give him a “temp” high clearance...so they brought him to my office where he sat around for six months waiting.
We had a guy hired as a contractor...working for the Army prior...and our Air Force organization could not “drag” his clearance over...so he patiently waited in our office for four months until they could clear up the misunderstanding.
I was told of a guy in the Langley area (over ten years ago)...who was brought in as a political favor for someone...whose clearance had lapsed. He sat for six months in some office with no real work except reporting each day and reading regulations. When his clearance finally came in...he dumped this job and was hired by another company because he had an indepth knowledge of regulations.
None of this stuff should surprise anyone. Commercial companies do this just as much as government agencies. They hire some PhD type guy because someone demanded the position be a PhD...but the guy they hire has no management experience...so he is sitting there to look smart...and say nothing. I had a guy who had a contract with a major US university (via DOD)...and they wanted twelve folks of the forty to be brought in...to have a PhD. He went out and found the twelve guys...all college professors from the midwest...hired them up for a pretty fair sum (at least to them), bought them to the West Coast)....and told them to just sit in their own private office and read emails. The other 28 guys would do the required work.
To be added to the Murtha Watch ping list please notify myself or RedRover.
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