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Subscribe to RSSA former top official of the Federal Emergency Management Agency will plead guilty to a felony conflict of interest charge for helping arrange millions of dollars in contracts to the Gallup Organization at the same time he was negotiating a $175,000 job with the polling firm.
A nine-page “criminal information” document filed by federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., this week charges that Timothy Cannon, 64, who served as the director of FEMA’s “human capital division” between 2007 and 2009, “knowingly and willfully” participated in the award of contracts to Gallup while he was arranging to accept employment with the firm.
Lawyers familiar with the matter say the new case against Cannon is noteworthy because it provides an unusual window into the world of federal contracts – complete with explicit email exchanges among Cannon and Gallup executives, including the firm’s chief executive officer, James Clifton.
“Ah, yes, I got another 500k put on the contract. Cool huh?” Cannon emailed one unidentified Gallup employee on Jan. 6, 2009, just six days before a job interview with the firm in which he discussed salary terms, according to the criminal complaint.
“Tim has had a distinguished career in the military and as a federal employee,” his lawyer, David Schertler, said Thursday. “To get this matter behind him, he’s agreed to plead guilty to one felony count.” He added that his client “has accepted responsibility for his conduct.”
The filing by prosecutors is the latest development in a widening federal probe into Gallup—perhaps the world’s most venerable and best known polling firm -- prompted by a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Michael Lindley, who previously served as its director of client services. The Justice Department last summer joined the lawsuit, accusing Gallup of bilking the government – including routinely inflating bills by tens of millions of dollars for polling for FEMA, the U.S. Mint and the U.S. Passport Agency.
Gallup said in a statement at the time that the charges in the Justice Department civil suit were based “on the false allegations of a former disgruntled employee.”
The criminal complaint against Cannon does not identify Gallup by name, referring only to a “Company A.” But three legal sources familiar with the case, who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity, said that the company in question is Gallup and that the CEO quoted in the emails is the polling firm’s top executive, Clifton. In addition, the same conduct outlined in the criminal information has already been publicly described in the amended Justice Department civil suit that identifies both Gallup and Clifton by name.
Asked about the charges, Gallup emailed a statement from William E. Kruse, its vice president for law, stating: “Today’s filing was not against Gallup, but rather DOJ’s allegations against a former FEMA employee. As such, there is nothing Gallup can comment on in regards to this development.”
The complaint alleges that Cannon first had discussions with Gallup officials in 2007 about the firm providing services for a FEMA project called the “BEST Workforce Initiative.” The following summer, Gallup, was awarded the contract – originally valued at about $6 million over five years -- to poll FEMA employees and provide training to FEMA managers.
By then, Cannon had already had multiple discussions with Gallup about a job and his interest had come to the attention of Clifton, the firm’s CEO.
“If (Cannon) gets us a big deal at FEMA… i (sic) think we should hire him … because he will be a ‘client’ hire … which might be good,” the Gallup CEO wrote in an April 25, 2008 email. Later in the same email chain, Clifton asked, “Is the ink dry yet on our deal with fema (sic)?”
Then, on or about Nov. 18, 2008, another Gallup employee wrote in an email to Clifton: “I talked to Tim today. He asked for a job.”
Clifton replied: “What about ethics… are we okay with all of that … he is a significant client … am sure you know rules … gee he seems like a winner to me … I don’t think these guys are as expensive as one might think … and he has a military background.” (Cannon served for 15 years in the U.S. Army, retiring in in 2001 as a colonel, according to Schertler, his lawyer.)
The criminal complaint charges that, during a two week period between Jan. 21 and Feb. 3, 2009, Cannon signed five separate forms expanding Gallup’s work with FEMA and giving the firm an additional $1.6 million in business. Gallup then sent Cannon a letter dated Feb. 5 offering him a post as "partner" in its government division. “I am very excited about joining (Gallup) and I look forward to working with you,” he wrote in an email to the firm that same day.
But the job offer quickly ran into problems. Cannon retired from FEMA on Feb. 27, 2009, after signing a form on which he checked the “none” box in response to a question asking if he had any agreement for future employment, according to the complaint. That same day, he asked Gallup to provide him with a new job offer letter dated Feb. 27 — to replace the one he had already received on Feb. 5. Gallup responded by sending him a new letter dated March 2, 2009, it said.
At that point, Gallup executives started to have concerns: In one email exchange detailed in the complaint, a Gallup employee stated he was “getting more red flags about Tim Cannon” and there was speculation among his co-workers at FEMA “that this is improper. They are pretty mad. This may get in the way of future business with FEMA.”
On March 26, 2009, Gallup withdrew the job offer, according to the complaint. In September, CEO Clifton forwarded an email about Cannon to company employees stating: “This is a guy that was our sponsor at FEMA. When he was applying we broke some of the rules of the US Gov on the ‘how’ we do it ... so we had to let him go.”
Michael Isikoff is NBC News' national investigative correspondent.
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Leave a Comment:
Will this guy do some serious jail time? "Survey says!: ______"
What about Gallup? Do they get off scott free?
Obama's FEMA is 10x worse than Bush's FEMA, 68 days later people still homeless.
bush caught alot of flack for 10 days ! I guess it depends on who's in charge and the media blackout coverage now !
and right NOW FEMA is still in charge of disaster relief and the bill in congress passing friday is for the stupid banks and insurance companys to start the rebuild ! which is basically another bailout for the insurance companys who seem to TAKE our monies and cry poverty to the government to pay them off in the form of disaster relief.
FEMA is for immediate relief and has failed at every level. also the insurance companys and banks are criminals holding up funds !
I'm not making excususe for congress, everything they touch is turned to poison !
Mike, in case you didn't notice the news today, the reason that there has been no progress on the Sandy disaster is because the Republican House of Representatives is refusing to pay for relief. Even Republican Governor Chris Christie has called their behavior reprehensible. Amazing that you want to blame Republican bad behavior on Obama. That's reprehensible too.
This sounds very similar to the circumstances that landed a former Air Force senior procurement exec who had gone to work for Boeing, Darleen Druyun, as well as another Boeing official, former CFO Mike Sears in prison for a while (9 months for Druyun and 4 months for Sears). It also resulted in the resignation of Boeing's CEO, Phil Condit. Druyun was helping push a contract through to Boeing to provide new aerial refueling tankers and then turned up working for Boeing shortly after. Prior to this, while still working for the Air Force as a procurement exec, Druyun had helped get her daughter and her daughter's fiance jobs at Boeing, which was a conflict of interest but not ruled illegal. She had also helped to inflate the value of the tanker contract to Boeing by a significant amount. The contract was pulled and went through a long saga of contract awards and protests until finally being awarded early last year. It sounds like this FEMA official did not learn the lesson from what happened with Druyun and tried to pull the same thing. Hopefully he will also get some prison time along with the execs at Gallup who were involved. The sentences should have been longer for Druyun and Sears and hopefully will be for this a-hole. There needs to be a clear message that this type of thing is not going to be tolerated and will come with some more substantial penalties than it has in the past. It is obvious that the relatively light sentences handed out in the Boeing fiasco have not served as a deterrent to others.
Blame Bush, its better that way. Right Liberals??
ross-1433821
Your a lying sack of CRAP. Congress didn't even get the Bill untill 1:00 yesterday morning & they didn't even give them time to read it. Out of the 60 Billion dollar bill , only 32 Billion of it was to go to the actual storm victims. The rest was PORK that the Demorat lead Senate put in it. The Congress is supposed to open it back up to trim the Bull $hit out of it & approve it on the 15th. Do some research before you start pointing fingers.
mike,
Why do YOU blame FEMA for the delay when your 2016 savior, Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, lays ALL of the blame on the Republican-controlled House in general and John Boehner in particular, for their failure in providing the required funding?
MSNBCMFE
See the post above. Both Christie & King have back tracked on their criticism.
Hi MSNBCMFE; I think the survey would turn up a resounding "probably not". It's offensive and demoralizing to recognize how common place this is regarded within the industry and our society as represented by the generally light sentences given to such fargin iceholes as this criminal, Tim Cannon (and the whole stinking bunch).
mike-2598123, Jean-982597, Deerhunterbow1,
....do you folks even care about facts and truth, or is it adequate just to make partisan accusations and call it a day. The corruption cited here occurred between 2007 and 2009, during the George W. Bush Administration. The individual charged, Cannon, retired from FEMA on Feb. 27, 2009 ( just 37 days after President Obama was inaugurated).
President Obama’s made the first of several Federal Disaster Declarations 24 hours BEFORE Sandy struck the coast of the Eastern Seaboard in order to accelerate FEMA and other Federal resources. The Obama Administration was already coordinating with the Governors of New Jersey and New York before the storm hit.
President Obama submitted a $60.4 Billion "emergency" initial supplemental funding request to Congress December 7, 2012 for “federal resources for response, recovery and mitigation related to Hurricane Sandy damage in all affected states." That was four weeks ago.
The US Senate finally brought the request to the floor for a vote last Friday evening, 51 Democrat but only 12 Republican Senators finally hammered out and passed a bill -- and politically contentious -- $60.4 billion Hurricane Sandy "emergency" aid package.
The Republican controlled House will not vote on its own version of the "emergency funding" bill until tomorrow, because Speaker Boehner pulled it from the House agenda last week, delaying the Bill until the start of the new Congress.
So go ahead and play your ridiculous "Blame Obama" games all you wish. Most Americans, however, still believe that the truth is relevant.
Deerhunter,
Where did you see that Christie back tracked? I've looked for the information thinking I must have missed it, but nothing comes up that alters his angry rebuffing of his own Republican party. King said that, despite what he said earlier, Boehner is still his friend; but he didn't back track. He is still angry the bill was not brought to a vote before Congress adjourned. As Robert in Oregon says, stop making things up. If you have more information, please provide sources.
The arrest and conviction of this FEMA regulator is merely the tip of the iceberg. This corruption in FEMA is not an isolated case.
It is well known that too many regulators engage in the so called 'revolving door' career path where the regulator compromises regulations in exchange for future executive appointment in a private sector industry. And the revolving doors are not limited to regulators. For example, many former Congressmen and Chief of Staff sit on Board of Directors of major weapon production corporations after completing their government tenure which involved defense budget or procurement. In another case, FCC regulators become either corporate executives or lobbyists for the big telecoms.
Whether the regulator looked-the-other-way or compromised regulations, the result is injury to the public or the nation. To wit: BP oil spill, SEC, Bernie Madoff, Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, FSLIC, FDIC, Fannie/Freddie/FHA, EPA, etc.
Too many regulators from the EPA, FCC, FAA, SEC, FDA, USDA, etc have either used the 'revolving door' career path or fornicated with their respective industry to advance their personal agenda. Americans were told that the formation of these regulatory agencies were supposed to protect and advance the people's interest. In reality, these federal agencies have become part of a Big Government that shield the industry from public scrutiny as well as provide deniability. It is not surprising that Big Government and its nearly one hundred agencies usurp public interest despite taxpayers throwing hundreds of millions of dollar into these agencies.
Those who are in favor of Big Government has just received a glimpse of the corrupt inner circle within federal agencies. Unfortunately for the American people, the regulators have obscured the panoramic view of the rest of the corrupt Big Government.
Who just walked out on passing a Sandy Relief Bill? Hint: John Boenher's Party.
It's pretty clear who's to blame for the most recent delay. By Boenher's own admission he didn't want The House Republicans voting to spend this multi-billion dollar package on the same day they had to settle for the fiscal cliff deal they ended up with. He was concerned about how it would look. He was playing politics.
The net delay is really only a few days so the harm is not that great, but Sandy storm survivors have had to wait an awful long time already. It seems the politics have played out differently than The Speaker had anticipated and have backfired on him a bit.
JSinSD.....
With all the political discussions about lowering government expenditures, I think we'd find that thorough investigation into every government contract would save the US taxpayer millions of dollars.
This guy only got his job at FEMA because he knew someone. You really don't expect him to get a job after FEMA without padding some pockets do you? This guy could be a Senator or a Congressman of your choosing and the story would be the same. Do nothing but collect Government Welfare the lot of them! This type of behavior is a prerequisite for government employment. In 20 years we won't be worrying about these types, it will be the drug dealers and addicts we will be electing into government office. There again we already have enough alcoholics what we need to do is run a sewer pipe line from Washington D.C. to the Mississippi River to keep it from going dry. Boehner I'm sure could get enough votes for that?
It happens all the time that high ranking government politicians including ex congressmen end up in very high paying private sector jobs that they previously regulated or had ability to funnel money to. They're mostly smart enough not to send emails talking about how much they sent their way.
What a ridiculous statement. FEMA doesn't build houses for people though they do sometimes provide tempory trailers and such. FEMA's job is emergency services immediately following a disaster. FEMA under Bush took 10 days to get water to the Superdome where 14,000 people evacuated to. Trying to twist reality to fit an agenda is the path of a fool.
wallstfatcat
Isn't Gallup a corporation? Wasn't this also an example how corporate America will defraud the government for their own finical gain?
P.S.
I believe it was somebody from the "BIG" government that turned him in. Not someone from your beloved "BIG" corporations.
Time to send the "Colonel" to FEDERAL PRISON.
If he did this while working for the Government at FEMA, think what he did while he was in the Army.
Seems like the news reports on IDIOTS everyday now.
Government of the people, for the people, of the people.
Our city, county, state, and federal governments are no longer our employees "civil servants". We have allowed control of our governments to "tell" us what we must do and then lean on us when we don't jump at their snap of their fingers. They raise their own salaries, make uo their own working conditions, medical insurance plans, and hefty retirements. When have you seen or heard of one who didn't make more money than you, had better everything. While five of them leaning on shovels watching one guy in the ditch. We now are their customers, waiting in line while they wear out that piece of gum, then they are irritated them by asking them a simple question as "excuse me where are the restrooms" Welcome to a third world country, corruption, no money, higher taxes so they can fly the world playing with their friends. And you are worrying about some FEMA corruption, welcome to the real world of government good old boy/girl Employees
Funny how a whistleblower is always labeled as a "disgruntled employee" whose acuasations are always wrong.
Nothing to see here, just one complainer ... moving on.
Talk about no respect! It takes a LOT of courage to be a whistleblower; not being able to work in the same town again is only ONE negative aspect.
Could it be that Boenher hesitated because of all the pork placed in the Bill? Below is the rundown, gathered from various sources, on the specifics of the pork.
Two Democratic senators (New York Senators Kristen Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer ) packed the relief package with a lot of pork. They had the opportunity to have a $27 to $30 billion dollar legit relief package, packed it with pork, then dared the House not to vote for it.
Some of the disputed items in the Super Storm Sandy disaster aid bill include a $150 million in funding to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to dole out to Alaskan fisheries.
Some of the disputed hurricane relief bill pork measures in $336 million in Amtrak expenses and $2 million in taxpayer funds to repair a room on one of the Smithsonian buildings in Washington D.C.
$8 million to purchase new vehicles for federal agencies. A total of $4 million for repairs to the Kennedy Space Center were also added to the disaster relief bill.
NOTE: The US is currently accumulating additional debt at the rate of $150 million an hour.
Summary:
$150 million Alaskan fisheries
$336 million Amtrak
$2 million Smithsonian buildings in Washington D.C
$8 million new vehicles for federal agencies
$4 million repairs to the Kennedy Space Center
Sub-Total: $500,000,000.00
An eye-popping $13 billion would go to “mitigation” projects to prepare for future storms.
Other big-ticket items in the bill include $207 million for the VA Manhattan Medical Center; $41 million to fix up eight military bases along the storm’s path, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; $4 million for repairs at Kennedy Space Center in Florida; $3.3 million for the Plum Island Animal Disease Center and $1.1 million to repair national cemeteries.
$58.8 million for forest restoration on private land.
$197 million “to… protect coastal ecosystems and habitat impacted by Hurricane Sandy.”
$10.78 billion for public transportation, most of which is allocated to future construction and improvements, not disaster relief.
$17 billion for wasteful Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), a program that has become notorious for its use as a backdoor earmark program.
Summary:
$13 billion mitigation” projects
$207 million VA Manhattan Medical Center
$41 million eight military bases
$3.3 million Plum Island Animal Disease Center
$1.1 million national cemeteries
$58.8 million forest restoration on private land
$197 million “to protect coastal ecosystems”
$10.78 billion for public transportation
$17 billion Community Development Block Grants
Sub-Total: $41,288,200,000.00
Grand total + $41,788,200,000.00 not directly related to the damage done by hurricane Sandy.
$60 billion, has endured increased criticism over the last few days on account of roughly 20% of the bill's proposed allocations don't have much to do with storm relief.
Devil's Son
See post #1.23 it is spelled out perfectly. Get some information before you get into the blame game.
Nobody is against helping the victims of Sandy. We are against the crap that was thrown into the bill. How about this we pay for Sandy and YOU pay for the pork. I'm sure they can get you the bill.
The amount they was appropriated is more than we spend on the EPA, FAA, FTC and Department of Education combined.
We may as well send words like honesty, integrity and selflessness to the back of the dictionary and label them as ancient or historically used terms. We've just about lost our use for them.
Thanks FXSTC for this breakdown of the bill. But your last statement and math is not clear. When you add the 2 totals together you get roughly 83 billion, but you then mention 60 billion and a reference to 20%.
Are you saying that 83 billion minus 20% is 60 billion? I'm not attacking your math, that is close enough if that is what you meant. It's just not clear from the totals you put up as to how you got there. If that is what you meant, then 20 percent of what you mentioned was trimmed from the bill already. Am I reading you correctly?
I do have a lot of other questions though. Most of the line items I read, while maybe not directly NY and NJ, can still be attributed to storm damage. Obviously we can question Alaska, but with this level of detail contained in a post on the vine, the headings for most of the things you pointed out seem legitimate.
Warrants further investigation certainly. Or if you have further details to shine more light here, and links to references, by all means post them up.
When you use your current employer's money to bribe your way into your next job you have to realize that your career is probably going to be short and end badly.
Interesting result here. Everybody thought that Gallup was being leaned on because Holder didn't like it's poll numbers.
Holder uses his position at DOJ to sue State, Businesses, and Individuals.
Wait a minute....he is looking out for his BOSS.
He just got caught.
There are many more out there getting away with worse things.
China would execute him.
USA, some company or some government agency will hire him since he will be looking for work.
In China bribery is a crime. In the U.S. it's called capitalism.
I cant wait to see what Lucrative Job Timmothy "Tax Cheat" Giehtner gets at Goldman-Sacks or some other Huge Bank after he leaves the Obama admin in January.
Just like Bob Rubin, the former Clinton Secretary of Treasury. You know, the guy who was in charge of Citibank when it got run into the ground.
How many more Democrats need to get caught breaking laws and stealing for American tax payers before the "masses " realize their huge mistake in electing Obama.
Eddie,
In point of fact, and according to the article, Cannon got the job during the administration of the forgotten one, George W. Bush, in 2007.
I realize that you want to link all sins to Obama, but this one is W's.
How do you know he was a Democrat? The story indicates Cannon was hired in 2007, during the George W. Bush administration. Remember him? Cannon also arranged for his new job with Gallup long before Obama was inaugurated and left FEMA about five weeks after the inauguration. This smacks of the brand of GOP corruption and cronyism that the Bushies were famous for. Heckuva job, Brownie!
Read, understand, and think with your head instead of your hate. This man worked at FEMA during the Bush administration, and quit soon after Obama took office. Incompetent administration was a hallmark of FEMA under Bush.
Don't you people understand? They blame Obama for every bad thing that happened since Bush was elected. Economic collapse mid summer 2008-Obama, 5 million unemployed last 6 months of 2008 was all Obama, millions losing their homes in 2008, Obama again. Just the threat of the black man winning was enough.
Why does Ed Poko's comment surprise any of you?
The denizens of TeaBagger Nation have proven time and again that they're too stupid to even grasp how a calendar works for 4+ years now,after all.
He is just like most federal workers...lazy, worthless and untrustworthy. He was given a patronage job in which he steals from the taxpayers for doing an unneeded job, just like most federal jobs and then seizes on to an opportunity to become an even thief. I hope he gets serious jail time and then rats on many others to make a deal.
I believe if you check the Cheney Bush record there were,I believe, 125 indictments,criminal investigation,etc.
Just mention Halliburton:
"Mention its name and images flash: Vice President Dick Cheney bestowing fat, no-bid contracts on the company he once ran; a giant corporation engaged in shameless war profiteering--charging outrageous prices to provide fuel for Iraqis and meals for American troops. Halliburton became a punch line, as when Tonight Show host Jay Leno noted that Saddam Hussein was captured with $750,000 in cash on him. "They think," Leno explained, "that he was trying to buy three gallons of gas from Halliburton."
What makes you think he was Democrat? The story says he held the FEMA job from 2007 - 2009. Recall that Bush was President in 2007 when he was hired. If I had to guess, I'd say he was a Republican. Not that it makes any difference. The guy is slime and deserves a load of jail time. We'll see if he gets it.
Because this is NBC. If he was a Republican, they would have said so in the first sentence. Everyone knows they crucify a Republican & slobber all over the Demorats.
This guy needs to go to prison for a long, long time.
Gee, this guy started his job during the Bush Administration - just wanted to point that out.
Also, I guess he saw what members of Congress do all of the time; steer contracts to certain companies, and when they retired, or do not get re-elected to Congress, then they go work (the next day) as a consultant for one of their campaign contributors.
I, too, remember all of the "no competition" contracts that Cheney had awarded to Haliburton. Guess Cheney wanted to keep Haliburton solvent so that he could still collect his pension from them. Gee, I wonder why he never went to jail, or was charged with anything? What about all of the members of Congress that were involved in receiving low interest home loans from Countrywide????
It's wrong that this guy did this at FEMA, but why is there a double standard, or no starndard for members of the Executive Staff and Congress????
I suppose you also remember those no-bid contracts that Obama gave KBR. KBR was a subsidiary of Halliburton.
Last week, the Army revealed that KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton, was awarded a no-bid contract worth as much as $568 million through next year. This deal was announced only hours after the Obama Justice Department informed the public that it was joining a suit filed by whistleblowers who allege KBR used kickbacks to get foreign contracts.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/13/obamas-mounting-hypocrisy/#ixzz2GyeDoG80
Then there is this no-bid contract.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/senate-democrat-seeks-investigation-of-obamas-no-bid-contract-for-smallpox-drug/
What happened to Obama's NO-Bid Contract promise?
Who cares if he is a repub or dem?? He is still a crooked idiot who should face time in jail.
Uh, Ed Poko in Post #6 sure seems to care.
all of these worthless politicians are crooks and until we as the people stand up to them, they will continue to rip us off til theres nothing left, better stand up to it people!
I think Gallup is one of the Pollsters that customarily use their polling to find the information desired by the folks who hire them. Hey, it's the way good Republican pollsters do business. Look how far off the GOP pollsters were on the past election.
This reminds me of the Admiral "Sponsorship" programs, where defense contractors would hire retired Brass to "sponsor" current Officers and "guide" them into their post military jobs at Northrup or whom ever. These sponsered officers would be the ones deciding on contracts and putting heat on the appropiations. When the DOD under Obama cracked down on the pratice some of the Navy's top brass resigned and got their lucrative civilian jobs. The big difference to me is that Gallup realized they screwed up.
More proof that corporations, business all are unethical and don't give a dam about anything except themselves and profits. More of the Wallstreet Good Ol Boys types.
Spot is spot-on with that comment.
the sad truth is, if you were once a highly placed federal employee--note, these jobs RARELY go to rank and file workers, only senior management--you have a good chance of illegally using your position to gain employment afterwards.
A case I know of: FAA Administrator Marion Blakey in mid August 2009 announced the awarding of $15 billion of NEXGEN contracts to upgrade the National Airspace System--with no idea how the money would be spent and no metrics to measure success. Her term as Administrator ended August 31, 2009, and she was hired by the Aviation advocacy group (damned if I can remember the name of it off the top of my head) about 2 days later as CEO for something like 4x her salary as government employee--coincidence?
Rats. They're here, they're there, they're everywhere. Send this mutt to the pound for his 3 hots and a cot for a long time. Then again, there's always hope of a presidential pardon for favorites.
Wonder if George Bush will try to get him a pardon; afterall the guy was a FEMA employee during George's term.
You're doing a hell of a job Brownie.
Interesting... Cheney had ties to Halliburtion before the contract that were given for Iraq. Cheney sure knows how to bet the justice system. He is a War criminal and steering contracts to Halliburtion.
You're doing (did) a heck of a job, Timmy!
And the root question is, why does FEMA need a Gallup pole in the first place?
Lenore.......great question!!!! And paying for it with your,mine and every other tax payer's money. No wonder we have a huge federal deficit!
Dwight D. Eisenhower, the last Army general to serve as president, warned of the "military-industrial complex." This is the modern-day equivalent. And the beat goes on.
And Congress just gave FEMA ANOTHER 6 billion for hurricane Sandy? Thanks,morons!!
Is there still no honor among thieves?
Bush administration no surprises there, move along people. Don't worry he will be well taken care of by the corporate whores that don't want their dirty laundry aired in a public "POLL" right Gallup?