Posted on 07/21/2010 6:13:51 PM PDT by jazusamo
When the D.C. Council approved the city's lottery contract in December, two members spoke before the vote on behalf of the local firm that walked away with a majority stake in the deal: Chairman Vincent C. Gray and Marion Barry.
Besides both having a previous work relationship with a principal of the local firm, Veterans Services Corp. (VSC), the two lawmakers had something else in common: They both had discussed the issue of a local partner with a lobbyist for the Greek gambling firm Intralot that was awarded the contract.
In fact, Mr. Barry told The Washington Times this week that he let Intralot know it needed to take on a local partner if it wanted the council to approve the $38 million lottery pact.
"I sent word that the contract was DOA without a local partner," Mr. Barry said Monday, a day before D.C. Attorney General Peter J. Nickles wrote to the inspector general and called for a probe of the troubled contract.
Mr. Nickles told The Times on Wednesday that an investigator had been assigned to the case.
Mr. Gray, a candidate for mayor, on Wednesday reiterated his calls for the mayor to fire the attorney general and described the call for an investigation as "petty political retaliation."
"This once again proves why Peter Nickles should be removed from office," Gray campaign spokeswoman Traci Hughes said.
Mr. Nickles also sharpened his criticism of Mr. Gray, who is not mentioned by name in the letter to the inspector general. Mr. Nickles said the council chairman allowed, among other things, a substantial portion of the contract to be handed to a "complete unknown."
He said he has no explanation of why an international gambling company that delivers state-of-the-art systems to lottery organizations worldwide felt compelled to team with inexperienced firm...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Greek gambling firm? I like those odds!
>> Barry ... let Intralot know it needed to take on a local partner if it wanted the council to approve the $38 million lottery pact.
That’s the bad news. DC local partners are ex-PEN-$ive!
The good news is, if you take on *Marion Barry* as your local partner, you can pay him in crack, which will cost you less if you know where to shop.
Marion Barry is a longtime friend of Charles Sherrod from their days together in the SNCC back in the 60s.
Just a little factoid to keep in mind.
Yeah, but the bad news is when he gets busted and fingers you you’re going to end up the slammer with him. :-)
I don’t know. I’m starting to suspect Marion Berry is somewhat less than an honest politician. I wonder what the average I.Q. of the D.C. voter is?
I’ll be darned, it’s a small world.
Congressman John Lewis and former NAACP president Julian Bond were two other notable SNCC friends of Charles Sherrod.
LOL! Good one!
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