Nothing But Politics

[Rick Faurot]

Kerry Accuses Bush of Cronyism in Gov't Contracts
Fri Sep 17, 2004 06:54 PM ET

By Ellen Wulfhorst
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Reuters) - Democrat John Kerry charged President Bush's administration on Friday with rewarding politically connected companies with huge defense contracts and then "turning a blind eye to the massive overcharging and waste."

The presidential candidate proposed an overhaul of the way firms bid for lucrative government deals, saying the Bush administration favors old cronies like Halliburton, big political contributors and special interests in secret backroom deals that cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

"It's an abuse of the American taxpayer. It's an abuse of trust," he said in a scathing attack on Bush at a campaign stop in New Mexico, a battleground state where polls show him and the incumbent Republican locked in a tight contest.

The Massachusetts senator campaigned later on Friday in Colorado, another Western state where polls also indicate a close race.

Speaking in New Mexico, Kerry singled out Halliburton, the multinational company Vice President Dick Cheney once headed, for landing huge no-bid government contracts to rebuild war-torn Iraq.

"It is clear that almost every aspect of this war, from how we went to how it was conducted, has been mismanaged, all the way to turning a blind eye to the massive overcharging and waste that their friends at Halliburton engage in," he said.

The Bush administration has been dogged with questions surrounding the awarding of big contracts, without a competitive bidding process, to Cheney's old firm, which has been accused in several reports of overcharging.

"That's their cronyism," Kerry said. "They chose to give it to the big folks at the expense of the average person in the country."

CALL-UP AFTER ELECTIONS

Kerry also accused Bush of hiding plans to call up more members of the part-time National Guard and Reserve after the November election to compensate for thinning ranks in the fulltime U.S. military due to the Iraq war.

Nearly 40 percent of the U.S. troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan are from the National Guard and Reserve.

"He won't tell us what Congressional leaders are now saying, that this administration is planning yet another substantial call-up of reservists and Guard units immediately after the election," Kerry said. "Hide it from the people through the election, then make the move."
In Washington, Democratic Rep. John Murtha, a member of the House Subcommittee on Defense, backed Kerry's claim.

"I have learned through conversations with officials at the Pentagon that at the beginning of November, 2004, the Bush Administration plans to call up large numbers of the military guard and reserves," Murtha said in a statement.