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Lockheed Martin, which already settled one whistleblower suit at Stennis Space Center for $2 million, hit with another

July 4, 2017 by tomaswell

As recently as 2015, Lockheed Martin LOCKHEED MARTIN, with $36.2 billion in contracts, was the single largest Pentagon contractor, more than double Boeing’s $16.6 billion.

There is little reason to believe that those numbers have changed significantly in the last two years.

With three large cost-plus contracts for testing and maintenance support services, Lockheed Martin has a commanding presence at NASA’s primary rocket propulsion facility at the STENNIS Space Center just over the Louisiana state line in Mississippi.

But as history has shown (remember the $600 toilet seats and the $100 screwdrivers?), the potential for ABUSE with such large contracts that seem to carry little apparent oversight, is overwhelming.

Now two Louisiana residents, one former Lockheed employee and the other a former contract employee for Lockheed, are bringing suit in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans under the federal FALSE CLAIMS ACT.

The two, Mark Javery of St. Tammany Parish and Brian DeJan of New Orleans, claim that they were first given no duties and then fired from their jobs after reporting cost overruns and safety and performance issues.

They are represented by Baton Rouge attorney J. Arthur Smith, III.

DeJan was a project engineer for a Lockheed subcontractor, Camgian Microsystems, Inc. He was supervised by Javery, who was an infrastructure operations manager for Lockheed. As part of their respective jobs, they were to monitor preventive maintenance metrics and to report the results of their findings to NASA employee Reginald “Chip” Ellis, Deputy Program Inspector for the Rocket Propulsion Test Program.

In April 2014, DeJan and Javery began investigating “unexplained cost overruns and performance issues with the maintenance of test facilities.”

Their lawsuit says that during their investigation, they received “credible information that maintenance and charges related to NASA’s agreement with Space Exploitation Technology were being charged “inappropriately” to the Test Operations Contract for which Lockheed was the prime contractor.

They reported their findings on April 22, 2014, to Ellis and to their immediate supervisor, Terrance Burrell.

On April 28, Lockheed Martin suspended Javery during “pendency of an informal investigation and disciplinary process,” and on April 29, Lockheed requested that Camgian remove DeJan from the Test Operations Contract “until further notice,” which Camgian did.

On May 20, Lockheed terminated Javery’s employment and requested that Camgian “remove DeJan from the Lockheed Martin contract.” Camgian terminated DeJan on May 21.

The two claim that their actions were protected under the False Claims Act, enacted in 1863 over concerns that suppliers contracted to supply the Union Army with goods were defrauding the Army.

Javery and DeJan are seeking reinstatement, double their back pay, compensation for any special damages and attorney and legal fees.

Lockheed, like most defense contractors, has a history of overcharges and the occasional penalty. In 2011, it settled a whistleblower LAWSUIT for $2 million in another False Claims Act at the Stennis Space Center.

“Companies that do business with the federal government and get paid by the taxpayers must act fairly and comply with the law,” said Tony West, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Whistleblowers have helped us to enforce the law by bringing to light schemes that misuse taxpayer dollars and abuse the public trust by undermining the integrity of the procurement process.”

West, of course, was describing life in a perfect world. In the real world, things are quite different and the “schemes that misuse taxpayer dollars and abuse the public trust” are rarely reported and even more infrequently punished.

The occasional fine is a mere fraction of illicit profits gained through overbilling and outright fraud.

That’s because no one seems to be watching and because members of Congress passionately protect the contractors domiciled in their districts.

And that’s why contractors continue to belly up to the public trough.

Posted in Congress, Contract, Contracts, Corruption, Ethics, Fraud, Lawsuits, Politicians | 18 Comments »

What’s the Largest Gap in Our Budget? Credibility

July 3, 2017 by tomaswell

By Stephen Winham (Guest Column)

A question no mainstream media reporter has apparently considered serious enough to ask is a very simple, albeit long, one:

How did we enter the regular session with a proposal by the Governor that made the clear statement that we needed another $440 million in revenue to balance the budget for the coming year, provide full funding for TOPS, give state employees a pay raise and provide minimum funding for departments (among other things), yet wind up with NO new revenue, TOPS fully funded, pay raises for employees, and with everybody, including the governor, claiming the budget is okay and they are happy with it?

Think about it. That makes no sense. How can you go from needing $440 million for an adequate budget to needing ZERO? When we see this kind of thing we have no choice but to question the entire budget, including the size of the “fiscal cliff” projected for FY2018-19 and beyond. Credibility needs to be restored to the budget process before people are going to believe anything they are told about it.

For at least 7 of his 8 years in office, Gov. Jindal covered up our structural budget problem using every gimmick to which the legislature would agree.  Every year he declared a great victory on the budget and every year the gap remained or, worse, got larger.  He inherited an almost $1 billion surplus from the Blanco administration and left Edwards with a $1 billion hole – a turnaround of minus $2 billion if my second-grade math still works.

Rather than relying on such gimmicks, Gov. Edwards has returned to the tried-and-untrue plan of using scare tactics to frighten the people and the legislature into balancing the budget via increased revenue alone.  This is an old game and one Louisiana’s citizens grew sick of long ago.  How many times were we told, “We are approaching a big fiscal wall and we must do something or we will surely perish when we hit it!”  How many times did the wall move?  This tactic only worked once in the JBE administration and the temporary “solution” enacted is set to disappear in about 12 months. Now the wall has become a cliff from which we will fall to our fiscal death in the absence of a solution.

Re-read the simple question at the beginning of this column.  Do you believe Gov. Edwards presented a realistic and honest budget?  Do you believe the legislature enacted a realistic budget? Do you believe cuts were made and, if so, do you know the effects of those cuts?

The inability to definitively answer any of the above questions calls the credibility of the entire budget and budget process into question.  I personally believe we have a structural imbalance of at least $1 billion.  A “cliff” as large as $1.5 billion is being talked about.  Until we all have a better explanation of our current budget, none of us can really know the size of our budget problem, much less how it should be solved.

We pretty much know the revenue options.  What we don’t know is precisely what would have to be cut to balance the budget through cuts alone. The last time I can remember anybody really being put on the spot to answer this question was in 2013 when AP reporter Melinda Deslatte asked then commissioner of administration Kristy Nichols why she didn’t recommend cuts instead of patchwork funding in the governor’s budget recommendations.  Her response was that cuts would result in “needless reductions to critical services.”  While that is not much of an answer, it does offer clues to why we have not seen cuts anybody is willing to permanently stand behind offered up for serious consideration..

Without knowing what really must be cut to balance the budget, the contention that we need no more money by Representatives Henry, Harris, Seabaugh, and others will continue to resonate with a public that wants to believe it.

What I find most incredible is that the Governor apparently does not believe credibility is important.  More than once during recent legislative hearings on the budget the Governor’s staff essentially said, “If you don’t like what we have proposed, tell us what you want to cut.”  Legislators responded, “It is your job to tell us where to cut.”  I agree – But once the governor presents a credible list of cuts, I also agree with his folks.

I apologize for any redundancies between this and my last column, but now that the governor has signed the budget act, I believe the one simple question I ask here is worthy of an extra focus. How can we expect anybody to support taxes if they have no idea what cuts really mean?

—Stephen Winham spent 21 years in the Louisiana State Budget Office, the last 12 as Director. He lives in St. Francisville.

Posted in Politics | 12 Comments »

An ever-so-brief brief sabbatical…

July 3, 2017 by tomaswell

In case you might be wondering why (or grateful that) I haven’t posted anything over the past few days, there is a very good reason.

Remember last August 13? That’s the day many of use in the parishes of Livingston, Tangipahoa, East Baton Rouge and St. Helena stopped gazing skyward at the persistent rainfall and started looking downward at the rising waters that were suddenly engulfing our homes.

On August 13, I was a moderately content retiree satisfied that my mortgage and my wife’s car were paid off and I could look forward to a life of mowing my lawn, grilling hamburgers and pointing out the foibles of elected officials and governmental appointees.

After August 13, I continued to goad those who failed to meet their responsibilities to Louisiana citizens but now I had a brand new mortgage (I’ll only be 103 when this sucker’s paid off), a new car payment and a contractor to babysit through the rebuilding process.

Now I am happy to report that we are down to the final days. We should be moving back into our home within the next couple of weeks. Everything we salvaged from the flood will have to be moved back in, new furniture will soon be delivered, blinds and curtains will have to be hung (my least favorite task on the face of the earth), and countless other time-consuming chores will demand our attention.

That’s the long way of saying that for the foreseeable future (perhaps a month), posts on LouisianaVoice will be sporadic and squeezed in only when I can steal time away from the details of rebuilding, refurnishing and relocating.

So please bear with me. I have a backlog of stories on which I intend to devote considerable research but for the time being, they are going to have to wait.

But I promise when I return, it will be with a flourish because:

Bobby Jindal may be gone

But his ghost lingers on.

Corruption, sleaziness, ineptness, and unethical behavior, like the devil, never sleep.

 

Posted in Politics | 8 Comments »

Harley Purvis goes off on ethics law, GOP obsession to pass healthcare bill, criticism of Democrats over Scalise shooting,

June 29, 2017 by tomaswell

The regular meeting of the Livingston Parish All-American Redneck Male Chauvinist Spittin’, Belchin’, and Cussin’ Society and Literary Club (LPAARMCSBCSLC) was over and physically exhausted members exited the back room of John Wayne Culpepper’s Lip-Smackin’ Bar-B-Que House and Used Lightbulb Emporium after a mind-numbing near-record session of 11 minutes and headed home.

As they filtered out the front door, LPAARMCSBCSLC President Harley Purvis and I retired to his reserved booth in the back in the corner in the dark to discuss the day’s latest news.

Harley likes to keep track of the legislature and to make pointed observations about some of its actions and today was no exception.

“I see the governor signed HOUSE BILL 231 by Rep. Major Thibaut,” he said.

Thibaut, a New Roads Democrat, authored the bill which allows the immediate family member of a mayor or any other member of the governing authority of a municipality with a population of five thousand or less or a legal entity in which the family member has an interest to enter into a transaction with the municipality subject, of course, to “certain conditions.”

“One of those ‘conditions,’” Harley said, his disgust readily apparent, “is that permission be obtained from the State Board of Ethics.

“After what that idiot Bobby Jindal did to the Ethics Board and state ethics laws back in 2008, a governmental entity could probably bring back public floggings in the town square if they go about it the right way,” he said.

He looked away briefly before turning back to me. “I thought we had made progress when we started prohibiting elected officials’ family members from doing business with the agency they represent. Now we’re right back where we were 70 years ago.”

“And there’s HOUSE BILL 162 by Rep. Rob Shadoin.”

Shadoin is a Republican from my home town of Ruston. “What about it?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing. It just prohibits the filing of a false lien against state officers and state employees. Why ain’t that already against the law? But what I’d really like to know is what precipitated Shadoin’s filing of this bill in the first place that brought the need for such a law to his attention? I know almost every year there’s a bill filed against local speed traps and it’s only because some legislator got hisself a ticket. I betcha there’s a story behind Shadoin’s bill that we don’t know about.”

Just as suddenly, Harley turned his attention to national events.

“Mitch McConnell really is the face of the Repugnantcans. I mean, look at his health care bill.

“It’s one thing that he is so desperate to do away with Obamacare that he’s willing to throw anything up against the wall to see if it’ll stick. I’m not happy with Obamacare because it needs to be tweaked. But damn it, if it needs tweaking, tweak it, don’t just eradicate it. You don’t roll your car over a cliff because the air conditioning goes out; you repair the AC and move on. But the mentality of the Repugnantcans is ‘We gotta do away with Obamacare, even if we do rip health care away from 23 million people. We have to abolish Obamacare even if we do reduce Medicaid benefits. We must erase all vestiges of Obamacare even if premiums do go up, and it’s essential to repeal Obamacare especially even if it means nice tax breaks to the rich.’

“It’s pretty obvious that the mindset of McConnell and his Repugnantcan co-conspirators is not to do what’s best for the country, but to do whatever they can to undermine America’s middle class and low-income citizens to the benefit of the great 1 percent. And it’s pretty disgusting to think that’s who is representing the citizens of this country.”

Harley had a lot on his mind today, so he continued:

“And it’s a shame about the shooting of Rep. Scalise. I don’t agree to his politics but I sure don’t agree with some nutcase being able to obtain guns—especially high-powered semi-automatic weapons—and trying to make some kind of insane political statement.

“But what really burns my butt is attempts by Repugnantcans to tag Bernie Sanders with this just because the crazy guy was a Bernie supporter. Hell, I was a Bernie supporter but I would never even think of owning an automatic weapon, much less using against anyone.

“What’s worse, though, is you got some Repugnantcans like Rep. Chris Collins, and the ultra-conservative MEDIA trying to blame Democrats’ political RHETORIC for the shooting. That’s just about the stupidest thing I ever heard. There’re others, like Rep. RODNEY DAVIS and even DONALD TRUMP JR who somehow saw the attack as the fault of Democrats.

“And wasn’t The Donald himself, when he was running for president, who encouraged his supporters to physically ATTACK protesters? I seem to remember he even offered to pay their legal bills if they did so. They all apparently forgot that Rep. Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords was also shot by a deranged maniac in 2011 and she’s a Democrat. But weren’t the Repugnantcans strangely quiet about that shooting?

“If you want to blame rhetoric, then maybe the Repugnantcans should be asking if their support of open carry laws and their support of semi-automatic weapons—bought and paid for by the NRA—might be a contributing factor to insane acts like this one. Perhaps the Repugnantcans should be questioning whether their fanatical support of weapons designed to kill people—and that’s the only purpose for those weapons—might be the problem.”

He drained his mug of stale coffee before going on. “Every time there’s a mass shooting with these killing machines, it’s awfully coincidental how the NRA rushes to the microphones to defend their sale and the Repugnantcans in Congress kill any efforts at banning them.

“And after each shooting, those same Repugnantcans run and hide behind the NRA which in turn, keeps their campaign contribution pipeline flowing wide open.”

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Ethics, Governor's Office, Legislature, Legislators | 9 Comments »

Notable Quotables (in their own words)

June 24, 2017 by tomaswell

“Judge Free’s actions have harmed the integrity of and respect for the judiciary.”

—Louisiana Supreme Court in handing down a 30-day suspension to Judge Robin Free in December 2014 for his accepting a free trip from a plaintiff attorney who won a big judgment on Free’s court. He would be suspended for misconduct again on June 29, 2016, this time for one year.

 

Posted in Politics | 3 Comments »

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