Another Bush-friend gets the contract?

[javasaurus]

Services Corporation Internation (SCI) has a record of law-breaking and using political influence to avoid charges and fines, according to this Federal News Radio article. Specifically, when their actions in Texas were brought to light, the whistleblower was fired, and subsequently filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the state of Texas. The suit that she was fired for investigating a powerful patron of the governor, G.W.Bush.

Now SCI, still considered a suspect and run-around-the-law company, has a subsidary which got the contract for gathering and disposing of bodies in the Katrina disaster.

Based on the numbers in this story, Kenyon (the subsidiary) will provide 150 workers for more than $700 each per day for up to 30 days to do the job (more than 3million total). For that kind of money (which they call a discounted rate), they better not be dumping bodies in the woods (SCI was caught doing just that in southern Florida in a previous lawsuit).

FEMA hired them (sans bidding?) because they were already there, and to allow bids would have caused more delay. (Um, I thought delay was FEMA's middle name?)

Maybe this is just business, maybe Kenyon is more legit than their parent company. Maybe.

Comments

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

Why are they moving to 'dispose' of the bodies now? I thought that there was a major plan to try to identify the bodies so that the families who have had members killed by Katrina (directly or indirectly) could have the closure that they need.

However, to do that will take a VERY long time (and probably not all will be identified). FEMA wants to have this company earn over $100mil/day to dispose of non indentified bodies w/out even TRYING to identify them? Or are they going to gather the bodies, warehouse them, then sit on their heels and wait for ID before 'disposal' at which point, I would think, the issue of method of disposal would be that of any surviving family members.

Oh, and FEMA's middle name isn't "wait" it is "point at anyone/anything else", "cause delay" is merely its nickname.e

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

I should have been more careful with my words. They are hired to do the recovery. SCI is also a major funeral home company, and will probably handle the disposal/burial/cremation of the bodies eventually. I didn't mean to imply they will be doing immediate disposal without identification, etc.

Also, it's over 100 thousand per day, not 100mil. (unles you meant mil in it's more proper sense of thousand, rather than as abbreviated million.)