Different Brands

I have always thought there were different brands of political corruption. They are treated differently by the media and the voting public.

Of course, everyone one is now familiar with allegations of corruption against former State Senator Manny Aragon and former Mayor Ken Schultz and their friends. They got away with $4 million or so according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. That is a lot of money. But it pales beside a different kind of corruption of another large New Mexico employer that has gone unheralded except for a small article today in the New York Times. I am talking about Lockheed Martin. They and another contractor had a 25 billion dollar job to refurbish and replace the Coast Guard's aging fleet and aircraft. They did shoddy work and got away with hundreds of millions. In one case they rebuilt a small fleet of boats for over $100 million. The boats were unseaworthy from the outset and now are being retired by the Coast Guard after being told it would cost another $50 million to fix them. Any one who works for Lockheed Martin should be a little embarrassed.

Where is the U.S Attorney on this kind of stuff? I suspect both corruption and sheer incompetence are present in this situation, but it looks like President Eisenhower's fear of the military industrial complex was well placed and that they are protected in a way that other folks are not. I have always felt that the bigger the scam the less the potential liability. It is amazing. I would like to see Lockheed Martin apologize to the American Taxpayer for this malfeasance. Fat Chance!