S U N D A Y , S E P T E M B E R 1 8 , 2 0 0 5Katrina Relief Money Poured Into SleazyCompaniesby Michael in New York on 9/18/2005 08:35:00 PMMore in the endless stories of no-bid contracts for therebuilding of the Gulf region going to Halliburton (of course)and numerous companies who are under investigation or haverecently been forced to pay fines for illegal activities.</p><p> Says USAToday:A division of Fluor, a California firm awarded a housingcontract worth up to $100 million, has paid millions ofdollars to settle federal government lawsuits — includingone that accused it of overbilling for 1989 hurricane cleanupwork.The Shaw Group, a Louisiana firm that won housing andengineering contracts worth up to $200 million, hasdisclosed that it is being investigated by the Securities andExchange Commission.</p><p> The firm is also a defendant infederal securities class-action cases.But don't blame the government:FEMA spokesman Widomski said his agency had beenunaware of both the SEC matter and the securitiesclass-action lawsuits involving the Shaw Group."Right now, there isn't a place for the federalgovernment to get a history of a company's businessbackground," she said. "There should be one place wherethey can look."Gee, well here's a thought.</p><p> I don't recall ever applying for a jobwithout filling out a form asking if I'd ever committed a felony, beenarrested, etc.</p><p> Before giving a company $100 million to splurge on,how about asking them if they're under investigation of any sort atthe local, state or federal level, ever paid fines in a dispute, ever beenfound guilty, etc?Anyone who lies loses the contract and pays a massive fine.</p><p> Anyonewho answers yes is placed in the back of the line or eliminatedaltogether automatically.</p><p> Can't the gov't have zero tolerance forcheats? Now was that so hard? MORE POSTS ABOUT: KATRINAEnd Deadlock? 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