AP IMPACT: New Orleans pumps were faulty

[deminks]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070313/ap_on_re_us/katrina_faulty_pumps
NEW ORLEANS - The Army Corps of Engineers, rushing to meet President Bush's promise to protect New Orleans by the start of the 2006 hurricane season, installed defective flood-control pumps last year despite warnings from its own expert that the equipment would fail during a storm, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The 2006 hurricane season turned out to be mild, and the new pumps were never pressed into action. But the Corps and the politically connected manufacturer of the equipment are still struggling to get the 34 heavy-duty pumps working properly.

The pumps are now being pulled out and overhauled because of excessive vibration, Corps officials said. Other problems have included overheated engines, broken hoses and blown gaskets, according to the documents obtained by the AP.

(snip)

The drainage-canal pumps were custom-designed and built under a $26.6 million contract awarded after competitive bidding to Moving Water Industries Corp. of Deerfield Beach, Fla. It was founded in 1926 and supplies flood-control and irrigation pumps all over the world.

MWI is owned by J. David Eller and his sons. Eller was once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps. And Eller has donated about $128,000 to politicians, the vast majority of it to the Republican Party, since 1996, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

[fooj]

1. IMPEACH. INDICT.

[BayCityProgressive]

2. Didn't you get the memo?

it's Embarrass/Non-Binding

[intheflow]

3. k&r. n/t

[DavidDvorkin]

4. The pimps were faulty?!?

Jeez, no wonder everything went to Hell!

Oh, wait. Never mind.

[Hardrada]

14. That's how I read that too!!

LOL!

[razors edge]

5. "the vast majority of it to the Republican Party, since 1996,"

And all the rest to Joe Lieberman.

[rec_report]

6. K&R and...

Oh, btw:
Isn't it called 'depraved indifference,' if there are deaths due to this latest act of terrorism by the Bush Family Evil Empire (and Friends)?

[Canuckistanian]

7. Don't tell me - "mistakes were made"

Are there ANY consequences for sheer incompetence these days?

[tandot]

8. Defective pumps used to protect New Orleans (Company connected to Jeb Bush)

NEW ORLEANS - The Army Corps of Engineers, rushing to meet President Bush’s promise to protect New Orleans by the start of the 2006 hurricane season, installed defective flood-control pumps last year despite warnings from its own expert that the equipment would fail during a storm, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The 2006 hurricane season turned out to be mild, and the new pumps were never pressed into action. But the Corps and the politically connected manufacturer of the equipment are still struggling to get the 34 heavy-duty pumps working properly.

The pumps are now being pulled out and overhauled because of excessive vibration, Corps officials said. Other problems have included overheated engines, broken hoses and blown gaskets, according to the documents obtained by the AP.

<snip>

MWI is owned by J. David Eller and his sons. Eller was once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps. And Eller has donated about $128,000 to politicians, the vast majority of it to the Republican Party, since 1996, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

More here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17597203/

bold added by me for emphasis

[CrazyOrangeCat]

9. If something is fucked-up

there's usually a BFEE connection.

It's always about the bottom dollar with Repukes. Which is a sure invitation to f-ups.

[peacetalksforall]

10. When will this company be moving to Dubai?

[indepat]

11. Has a politically-connected 'puke contractor ever delivered a a non-defective quality product

on-time and at a reasonably competitive price?

[LisaM]

12. Remember when Babs tied her relief donation to Neal's software company?

Profiteering and usury.

[tandot]

13. We just had to go through a day-long training on ethics where I work

...was a waste of time for most of us. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what behavior is completely unethical.

They should require those training sessions only for Republicans. They obviously have a hard time understanding ethical behavior (e.g., conflict of interest in bidding, favoritism, etc.)

[LiberalFighter]

15. U.S. fraud suit targets ex-partner of Jeb Bush (2002)

U.S. fraud suit targets ex-partner of Jeb Bush St. Petersburg Times published March 15, 2002

Another Source
J. David Eller is President and Chief Executive Officer of Moving Water Industries, Inc. in the United States. His experience includes hundreds of water control projects throughout the United States, Africa, South America and Asia. He has been an active member of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, the National Society of Professional Engineers, and the Irrigation and Drainage Conference of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

[LiberalFighter]

16. Deerfield Observer Newspaper

The owner and publisher is a businessman and Republican opportunist named J. David Eller.

[hedgehog]

17. Water pumps are such new technology, how can anyone expect

them to work without extensive tinkering?

[seafan]

18. Corps placed faulty pumps in New Orleans (Former Jeb Bush partner in Bush-El water pump deals)

Corps placed faulty pumps in New Orleans

3/13/2007, 10:24 p.m. CDT
By CAIN BURDEAU
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Army Corps of Engineers, rushing to meet President Bush's promise to protect New Orleans by the start of the 2006 hurricane season, installed defective flood-control pumps last year despite warnings from its own expert that the equipment would fail during a storm, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The 2006 hurricane season turned out to be mild, and the new pumps were never pressed into action. But the Corps and the politically connected manufacturer of the equipment are still struggling to get the 34 heavy-duty pumps working properly.

The pumps are now being pulled out and overhauled because of excessive vibration, Corps officials said. Other problems have included overheated engines, broken hoses and blown gaskets, according to the documents obtained by the AP.

.....

The drainage-canal pumps were custom-designed and built under a $26.6 million contract awarded after competitive bidding to Moving Water Industries Corp. of Deerfield Beach, Fla. It was founded in 1926 and supplies flood-control and irrigation pumps all over the world.
MWI is owned by J. David Eller and his sons. Eller was once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps. And Eller has donated about $128,000 to politicians, the vast majority of it to the Republican Party, since 1996, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

MWI has run into trouble before. The U.S. Justice Department sued the company in 2002, accusing it of fraudulently helping Nigeria obtain $74 million in taxpayer-backed loans for overpriced and unnecessary water-pump equipment. The case has yet to be resolved.

.....

Misgivings about the pumps were chronicled in a May 2006 memo provided to the AP by Matt McBride, a mechanical engineer and flooded-out Katrina victim who, like many in New Orleans, has been closely watching the rebuilding of the city's flood defenses.
The memo was written by Maria Garzino, a Corps mechanical engineer overseeing quality assurance at an MWI test site in Florida. The Corps confirmed the authenticity of the 72-page memo, which details many of the mechanical problems and criticizes the testing procedures used.

.....

After Katrina, Congress gave the corps $5.7 billion to make New Orleans safe from hurricanes. The Corps rushed to fix broken levees and floodwalls and make good on Bush's promise that the city would be protected "better than pre-Katrina by June 1."

.....

[MadMaddie]

19. They are being overhauled instead of replaced....this is just

setting up the next disaster.....complete incompetence.

[babylonsister]

20. This makes me so sick. Nom for outrage. nt

[seafan]

23. Jeb Bush, on his involvement with the fraudulent Nigerian deals: "Either you trust me or you don't."

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/03/15/State/US_fraud_suit_targets.shtml"> U.S. fraud suit targets ex-partner of Jeb Bush

By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 15, 2002

Gov. Jeb Bush's former business partner in a venture to sell water pumps abroad defrauded the U.S. government of more than $74-million, federal authorities contend in a lawsuit.
The Justice Department alleges that MWI Corp. of Deerfield Beach, a water pump company whose equipment Bush marketed to foreign countries, fraudulently helped Nigeria obtain U.S. taxpayer-backed loans during his father's administration.

Much of the loan money went for secret payoffs to Nigerian officials and equipment that was vastly overpriced and unneeded, the lawsuit says.
The company denies the allegations, many of which surfaced four years ago when a former MWI employee sued the company.

Bush, campaigning for governor at the time, shrugged off questions about the deal as little more than complaints from a disgruntled former staffer.

.....

In 1989, Eller, a major Republican contributor, formed a company with Bush, Bush-El, to market MWI's industrial water pumps abroad. Bush has described Eller as a "person of integrity."
Twice while his father was in the White House, Bush visited Nigeria as a water pump representative. He visited Nigerian dignitaries and was showered with attention, including a parade for him in 1989 with 1,300 horses.

Jeb Bush sold his share in Bush-El in 1994, and has said he earned about $648,000 from the company.

He has insisted that he received no money on the Nigerian deals, saying he took no commissions on sales backed by U.S. loans to avoid a potential conflict of interest. He said his earnings came from his work in other countries, including Mexico, Indonesia and Malaysia, but in 1998 declined to detail that work.

"You either trust me or you don't," he told the Miami Herald in 1998.

.....

[yankeeinlouisiana]

21. Our f'in pumps don't work!!

I was relieved when the finally finished the levee by my house, but now this!!! After $26.6 mil they don't f'in work!!!

[mod mom]

22. Come on folks-it's just another bush family coincidence.

:sarcasm:

[Kool Kitty]

24. And I suppose that this wasn't political, either.

They can't even pick a competent contractor. Everything is based on politics and whose ass was kissed, not on ability. We can't afford two more years of this, the stakes are just too high. Doesn't this administration know anyone that is remotely able to take care of any of the jobs that they have to do? This afternoon, Gonzo says that he didn't know what was going on because there are hundreds of people that work in the Justice Department. It was his chief of staff that handled the firings. He didn't know what his COS was doing? INCOMPETENCE. This job in New Orleans? Doesn't matter if it's done correctly, just do it fast. And be a friend of the Bushes and a large repug contributor.

This is the shit that makes my head explode. How the fuck does W sleep at night? I know I can't.