Can you be shocked yet not surprised at the same time? Well test your brain on this story. The government hurried to try and restore the flood pumps in New Orleans before the commencement of the 2006 hurricane season. In the rush, the Army Corp of Engineers installed defective pumps around New Orleans that were predicted to fail based on internal tests. Thankfully the season did not produce any storms that caused any damage or even did a real-life test for the pumps. Nevertheless, why would the pumps be installed in the first place?
Maybe it has something to do with the politically connected MWI:
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. [Details here]
Partnered with Jeb Bush while being investigated by the government...that must be a coincidence, right? Of course for us with common sense, it is easy to see that this is one more tragedy piled on top of the rest where money and power come before people and fairness.
|