Bribes versus campaign finance

Here’s a funny thing about the United States. If a police officer pulls me over for speeding and I offer to give said officer $100 if he/she forgets that I was speeding, that’s called a bribe and it is illegal. Yet if Corporation X helps elect a politician by spending a lot of money and that politician subsequently writes a law providing Corporation X with favorable tax treatment, it’s called free speech and is legal. Is there anything troubling and just a wee bit hypocritical about this?

Busted

The US Government is accusing AED, “a nonprofit organization working globally to improve education, health, civil society and economic development” of serious financial misconduct and conflicts of interest:

The U.S. government Wednesday took the unusual step of banning an American firm from being awarded new federal contracts due to evidence of “serious corporate misconduct” uncovered in an investigation of the company’s work on aid programs in Pakistan and Afghanistan…

The investigation revealed evidence of collusion between vendors and AED, resulting in overpayment for certain goods, the report said. The investigation also discovered that AED had inappropriately hired relatives of a person hired by USAID to oversee the program.

This is quite a big deal. AED’s operating budget is about $400,000,000 and I doubt it can survive without USG funding. The optics of this aren’t real good at the moment, either. Congress always loves to bash USAID and there’s never a better time to do it then when it needs to look like it’s doing something to control “wasteful government spending”.

Update: The rumor mill reports that the Chief of Party for the project will be charged with embezzlement and has fled to Russia. Developing…

Money talks

That Karzai’s been taking money from Iran has been all over the news. This is not a surprise. Anyone who has watched Casino would have seen it coming. As Joe Pesci (Nicky Santoro) sagely observed:

You gotta know that a guy who helps you steal – even if you take care of him real well – he’s gonna steal a little extra for himself. Makes sense, don’t it?

Nicky was referring to casino workers who were stealing from the casino owners. How does this relate to Afghanistan? Karzai has been wearing an “Open for Business” sign around his neck since George W. Bush & Co.”persuaded” him to become Afghanistan’s president. That he would take bribes from pretty much anyone who offers them is exactly what Nicky would expect.

The system

If Afghanistan created Karzai rather than the other way around, then getting rid of the man will not solve the problem.

C is for corruption

Is the opportunity for graft the reason they are so interested in being in the government in the first place?