Tom Davis cronies in Waxman's sites; Are they JDD clients?

By: Andrea Chamblee
Published On: 1/30/2007 1:11:47 AM

Today the Washington Post did a story about the incompetence of a Fairfax firm, ICF, in its Hurricane Katrina response. ICF was awarded a $7 BILLION contract for the work getting Gulf residents into homes after Hurricane Katrina.

...[R]esidents and state and federal officials have accused ICF of moving too slowly, paying its lawyers too much and valuing homes too low. The company's performance has been criticized by Donald Powell, federal coordinator of Gulf Coast rebuilding, and the Louisiana House and Senate have called for the contract to be canceled and for an audit of the company's $19 million in travel expenses...

Interestingly, ICF has testified before Davis's Reform Committee and got off easy. Perhaps because of those checks they wrote to Tom Davis when the hearing was scheduled? Perhaps because Davis's wife and friend at ICG prepared them for the hearing, for an additional fee? Will Davis or his wife say whether ICG represented ICF?
I started to follow the money on my own blog here.

When researching ICF, I can across another contractor Waxman has in his sites: Parsons. Parsons is the contractor that built that "critical" police station that leaks bathroom pipes on building occupants.

Parsons PAC gave Davis $11,000 according to www.fec.gov  Was Parsons also represented by Mrs. Devolities Davis and ICG?

Read more about Parsons here.

Davis may have been the biggest fundraiser in town. Waxman is the best friend a taxpayer could have. Davis's donors call Waxman "the scariest man in town."

Comments



you lose... (littlepunk - 1/30/2007 12:43:24 PM)
...all credibility when you blatantly misrepresent basic facts about the article.  the article says that they were hired to run a $7 billion program.  that is completely different than being paid $7 billion to run the program.


Correction - $756 million to spend $7.5 billon (Andrea Chamblee - 1/30/2007 1:41:04 PM)
You are right.  I dug deeper and found the "Road Home" program is now up to $7.5 billion. ICF will dispense the money.  In all, the company said in October 2006 that it expects to make $756 million off the Road Home contract, it reported in a recent press release.

Still, the government, which routinely dispenses billons with a 2-3% overhead, is paying ICFI over 10% to disperse this money. Transfering funds is a core government responsibility, and Treasury has the ability to do it. Why contract it out at all?  Because Tom Davis forced the agency to do it, that's why. Also, ICF isn't dispersing it very quickly, they are making errors in computing disbursements they do make, they refuse to allow audits of expenses, and they escaped oversight until Waxman gets the gavel. See story here



How did ICF get the contract? (Andrea Chamblee - 1/30/2007 1:50:16 PM)
It may have been contacts with ICG, where Tom's wife works, or Tom himself. The award, which was troubled by conflicts of interest among ICI employees and contracts, was no-bid.  Before the award, ICI hired Michael Byrne -- first Director of the DHS Office for National Capital Region Coordination, where he reported directly to the DHS Secretary. Byrne and Tom Davis have spoken at the Metro area's "Homeland Security Business Forum" on how to contract with DHS.  That's exactly the kind of forums that ICG sponsors.