RETRACTION: I had originally titled this thread
Jeb Bush profitted on death and destruction. He sold the pumps that failed in New Orleans based on a mis-reading of the source on my part. I have since attempted to clean up my mess, the details of which are below. Please accept my humble apology.
Spinning off of Are_grits_grocerie's post here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6410266&mesg_id=6410266Seems a company with bushco ties made a hefty profit selling prop pumps in a scam to bilk taxpayers out of $.5 Billion dollars, a deal that resulted in the installation of replacement pumps, post-Katrina, that literally melted when put to the test...
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/28/773519/-New-Orleans-Pumps-Unsafe-.-.-.-on-Katrina-AnniversaryThe MSM, including the New York Times and the New Orleans Times-Picayune, have not covered an independent evaluation recently released by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) that there are serious safety and reliability issues with hydraulic pumps that were installed in New Orleans after Hurrican Katrina.
http://www.osc.gov/FY%202009%20A.html (the OSC report is the fifth from the bottom.) As the OSC told President Obama:
There appears to be little logical justification for: (1) restricting the emergency pumping capability . . . to only the untested hydraulic pump systems, (2) not requiring the installation of a reliable pumping system which would adequately protect New Orleans, (3) spending hundreds of millions of dollars to install forty MWI hydraulic pumps which are scheduled to be replaced at a cost of $430 million within 3-5 years. . .
http://www.osc.gov/FY%202009%20A.htmlMWI is owned by J. David Eller, once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps.
...snip...
I hope some sort of legal or civil action is persued against MWI.