Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Doc Hastings' ethic conundrum

Crossposted at Frontier PAC:

Congressman Doc Hastings (WA-04), chairman of the House Ethics Committee, good friend of Jack Abramoff, and lackey to Tom Delay, is coming under fire for ethics violations of his own:

Rep. Doc Hastings, already under fire as chairman of the stalled House ethics committee, accepted a $7,800 trip to England in 2000 from a company he championed for a multibillion-dollar contract at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, records released by an advocacy group yesterday show.

In addition, other records released yesterday by a political Web site show that Hastings, a Republican from Pasco, did not file a required travel report for a 2004 trip to a resort on Stuart Island, B.C. That was paid for by another company also working at Hanford.

How good was the deal that Doc Hastings brokered for BNFL, the Hanford company that rewarded Doc with his trip to Scotland? REALLY good. It was so bloated that the Clinton Administration killed the contract for its enormous pricetag:

BNFL won a $6.9 billion federal contract in 1998 to convert 54 million gallons of nuclear waste into glass for permanent storage. The contract was promoted by Hastings, who offered amendments to the Defense Authorization Act to pay for Hanford projects, including BNFL work.But in October 1998, the General Accounting Office began questioning the contract as too lucrative for the company. Hastings continued to defend the contract.
The trip to the U.K. took place in January 2000. Four months later, the Department of Energy abruptly terminated the BNFL deal when it learned the cost could soar to $15.2 billion.

Time to step down, Congressman Hastings. You simply reek of corruption.

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