Former senior members of U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' congressional staff say they initially rejected a defense contractor's $10 million appropriation request last year but reversed course after being instructed by Harris to approve it.MZM, in turn, held a fundraiser for Harris. Yet we are not supposd to use the term "bribery" to describe this operation.
Harris insisted that Mitchell Wade's request for funding be given to a defense appropriations subcommittee, despite the request's being late and difficult to understand, according to two former staff members and Harris' former chief political strategist.
"She said, 'It's important to me, so submit it,' " said an ex-staffer who was involved in the process. "She wanted it in."
The pattern. Nobody has pointed it out yet, but the Katrina rebuilding scandal and the Wilkes scandal follow the same template.
1. A company run by "connected" individuals donates to the G.O.P.
2. Said company receives huge government contracts.
3. The company has a subcontractor do the actual labor. The subcontractor charges a lot less than the "parent" company charged the taxpayers.
4. A percentage of the profits from this scam are recycled into Republican war chests.
A well-engineered con job has a certain beauty...
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