If Congress Attacks the Mighty Oak of Contractor Misconduct, It Shouldn't Just Settle for an ACORN

[JohnWxy]

http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2009/09/if-congress-attacks-the-mighty-oak-of-contractor-misconduct-it-shouldnt-just-settle-for-an-acorn.html

Last week, the House and Senate voted to prohibit the federal government from awarding contracts and grants to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a national network of community-based organizations that advocate for low-income families. Congress rushed to cut off all federal funding to ACORN days after several ACORN employees were caught on camera giving advice to a couple posing as a prostitute and a pimp on ways to evade the law.

The House’s bill is called the “Defund ACORN Act”. The bill specifically targets ACORN, but it also applies to “any organization” or its employees who are charged with violating federal or state election, campaign finance or lobbying disclosure laws or filing a fraudulent form with any federal or state regulatory agency.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) is particularly interested in the fraud provision. Recognizing that there are probably worse offenders than ACORN in this area, Grayson is looking for help in coming up with a list of organizations that have committed fraud against the government or employed someone who did. Rep. Grayson will put his list in the Congressional Record as part of a legislative history that judges and lawyers can use to interpret the law.


POGO’s Federal Contractor Misconduct Database is a great place to start. At last count, it includes 87 instances of government contract fraud – federal and state – involving 43 contractors. You might want to focus on Lockheed Martin, which has 11 government contract fraud instances, or Northrop Grumman with 9 contract fraud instances including this $325 million False Claims Act settlement from earlier this year.

(more)

POGO's Federal Contractor misconduct Database


Again, praise goes to Florida Rep. Grayson for trying to help the Republican party with it's hypocrisy problem. Good Luck, Rep. Grayson.

[rurallib]

1. sounds like most defense contractors have been convisted so maybe

this will spawn some new defense contractors and there will be some real competition in the area.
Competition! What a great idea! Maybe it could spread into other areas.