WHO GAVE: Parsons Corporation
WHO RECEIVED: Governor Linda Lingle
DATE: Oct. 16, 2006
AMOUNT: $2,500
Parsons is a $3 billion, employee-owned, California-based construction giant. They build stuff all over the world, including Iraq. In fact, a few weeks before Lingle’s campaign accepted the above check the Washington Post reported that U.S. investigators had discovered that a Parsons contract to build a $75 million police academy in Baghdad—the biggest in the war-torn nation—was a colossal failure. Mostly the problem was substandard plumbing, which leaked “urine and feces” throughout the building, undermining the structural integrity. “This is the most essential civil security project in the country—and it’s a failure,” special inspector general Stuart W. Bowen told the Post. “The Baghdad police academy is a disaster.” Parsons said the problems lay with Iraqi subcontractors, but agreed to tear down the academy at no further charge to the federal government. For his part, Bowen has vowed to audit every Parsons contract in Iraq.
-Anthony Pignataro
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