Chris McDaniel May Beat Thad Cochran

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Cochran fought hard to be sure no-bid contracts were part of the Katrina relief package and that Barbour held the reins of the spending, so Barbour and his cronies could make out like bandits.

It was Cochran’s long-time engineering cronies who received the large fees associated with readjusting population numbers for water and sewer projects. It was Barbour’s niece who bilked the federal government out of money for portable toilets and portable showers, that in turn brought an FBI investigation and fraud convictions. And it was Henry Barbour, despite having no experience in disaster relief, that was named as head of then Gov. Barbour’s Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal.

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Now comes a new report of how Barbour’s lobbying client Motorola, with Cochran’s help, bilked taxpayers and Katrina victims out of $100 million in federal disaster relief.

The scheme was to bid low, sue the competition and use lobbyists like Barbour to maintain an iron-fist grip, then come back later and renegotiate the contracts. This has left local governments without the ability to use a new state-wide radio system intended to help Mississippians during emergencies.

Disaster Money Diverted

The McClatchy Report says that “within months of Katrina’s 2005 devastation, Barbour enlisted Mississippi’s two powerful senators, fellow Republicans Thad Cochran and Trent Lott, to divert $100 million in federal disaster aid toward a new statewide digital radio system.

Later, with construction underway, Barbour announced plans to vault Mississippi into the vanguard by building a second, $70 million next-generation network that could flash data and videos via broadband to cops, firefighters and medics.

Motorola Uses Barbour and Cochran to Skirt Anti-Trust Laws

The report spells out how Motorola captured both of Mississippi’s mega contracts, which promised to generate more than $300 million in sales, with initial bid prices so low that competitors were dumbfounded.

The firm’s low-ball bids offer a case study in how some of the company’s myriad marketing tactics have warded off competition and helped preserve its estimated 80 percent hold on the nation’s emergency telecommunication business.

In Mississippi, Motorola locked up the radio project with a bid price of $221 million, $90 million below that of rival M/A-Com Inc. Although Motorola had the least experience of three bidders for the broadband network, its price of $56 million over the system’s 10-year life was $33 million lower than that of runner-up Alcatel-Lucent.

Despite the appeal of savings in Motorola’s bids, one of the new networks has been scrapped and Mississippi lacks the funds to operate the other.

Several industry experts also say the Mississippi network was grossly short of the number of towers needed to perform as advertised, perhaps helping to explain Motorola’s low bid.

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So to recap:

1. Cochran gives Barbour no-bid contracts with Katrina disaster money intended for Mississippians,

2. Barbour gives cronies and family members access to federal contracts.

3. Barbour gives Motorola control over the states radio network,

4. Motorola now wants $13 million more to make the system workable,

5. Barbour registers as a lobbyist for Motorola after leaving office,

6. Barbour is raising millions to keep Cochran in office.

Yeah sure. No red flags there at all.

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So to recap:

1. Cochran gives Barbour no-bid contracts with Katrina disaster money intended for Mississippians,

2. Barbour gives cronies and family members access to federal contracts.

3. Barbour gives Motorola control over the states radio network,

4. Motorola now wants $13 million more to make the system workable,

5. Barbour registers as a lobbyist for Motorola after leaving office,

6. Barbour is raising millions to keep Cochran in office.

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this is Mississippi. Just tell the constituents that you are a good 'ol "curstian" country boy and they will vote for you in droves.

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Mississippi politics has been dominated by three men for a long time: Haley Barbour, Thad Cochran and Trent Lott.

Those three men, their families, friends and inner circle completely and totally run the state and have reaped handsomely from the public coffers as a result thereof.

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