The Federal Emergency Management Agency is investigating a controversial $300 million contract to rebuild Puerto Rico’s power grid, a no-bid award that has spotlighted the agency’s poor record of policing similar grants and drawn scrutiny from its watchdog.
Whitefish Energy Holdings LLC, a Montana-based company that had just two full-time employees prior to beginning its work in Puerto Rico, was selected last week by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority to lead the rebuilding of Puerto Rico’s hurricane-ravaged electrical grid with the expectation that the money would come from FEMA.
(Bloomberg News, October 27, 2017)
Frankly, nobody should be surprised that the shady business dealings that defined the Trump Organization are now defining his administration.
And the canard of promising to investigate only adds insult to this simple, brazen case of corruption. After all, anyone can see why Whitefish got the contract:
The Department of the Interior oversees FEMA. Trump’s Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, is not only from Whitefish, Montana — he’s also a personal friend of the founding partner behind Whitefish Energy’s two-man front.
What’s more, as fleecing schemes go, this one would make even Trump green with envy. According to Business Insider, its provisions include:
- $79.82 per person for food each day;
- $332.41 per person for accommodations each day;
- More than $40,000 for helicopter-related services;
- It states that, ‘In no event shall [government bodies] have the right to audit or review the cost and profit elements’;
- And that the Puerto Rican government ‘waives any claim against contractor related to delayed completion of work.’
If that isn’t incriminating enough, reports say the money men behind Whitefish Holdings donated huge sums to Trump’s presidential campaign. Which is why, for them, this contract amounts to nothing more than a kickback for payback.
Not to mention, Puerto Rico ended up with Whitefish despite good-faith offers from several established electrical companies, including Tesla.
The Tesla team has done this for many smaller islands around the world, but there is no scalability limit, so it can be done for Puerto Rico too. Such a decision would be in the hands of the PR govt, PUC, any commercial stakeholders and, most importantly, the people of PR.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 5, 2017
Meanwhile, thanks to Whitefish’s rag-tag band of line workers, over 80 percent of Puerto Rico remains without electricity.
But hey, we’ve already seen that “Make America Great Again” means having the federal government pay millions for Trump’s kids to travel the world cutting business deals. So it should come as no surprise that it also means paying hundreds of millions for his cronies to pull off one of the biggest kickback schemes the world has ever seen. #MAGA!
This just proves what I warned about in commentaries like “Trump for President? Don’t Be a Sucker,” April 8, 2011, and “Trump, Jared, and Ivanka Forgoing Salaries Is Just Another Bait and Switch,” April 3, 2017.
Alas, the Americans who voted for him proved the old Barnumesque quip: there’s a sucker born every minute. And this Whitefish catfish only shows there’s no limit to how many times Americans can be played for one.
That said, I’d be remiss not to comment on the sideshow within the sideshow that has defined Puerto Rico’s relief and rebuilding efforts. It featured San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz famously kicking Trump’s ass for his Katrina-like incompetence and outright neglect, while Governor Ricardo Rosselló kissed it for whatever he could suck out of FEMA.
But iPINIONS suspects we’ll learn in due course that the governor’s kissing was more about securing kickbacks to line his own pockets than doing anything to rebuild Puerto Rico. He’s venting fiscal indignation today. But if Rosselló knew nothing about this contract, he’s guilty of gross nonfeasance. If he knew about it, or had a hand in granting it, he’s guilty of gross misfeasance.
Related commentaries:
Trump, Jared, Ivanka…
Trump for pres? Don’t be a sucker…
Puerto Rico, Trump’s Katrina…
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