Not Gonna Cut It

Less than a month ago, Sen. Collins' story about her refusal to investigate the Bush administration's dangerously corrupt procurement practices was that she didn't want to duplicate work being done elsewhere.

But now she's singing a new tune.

According to the Collins camp, the uproar for hearings--the kerfuffle over her scandalously lax approach to oversight of the Bush administration--should now be seen as a charade cooked up by a single overzealous Democrat:

Staff for Susan Collins said today that the efforts [to get a hearing] were a politically charged one-man crusade, and the committee had more important issues to deal with...

"All this stuff was going on, and a single Senator from New Jersey wanted us to drop all the other things and hold a hearing about one thing going on in Iraq," Abbott said.

Lautenberg sent Collins nine written requests for the hearing. Abbott said they were all publicity stunts...

"It was all political," Abbott said.

Well, then.

Sometime soon, I'd like to examine Abbott's stunning observation that Collins "had more important issues to deal with." But for the moment, let's focus on the charge that Lautenberg was pushing a narrow, political agenda with a constituency of one.

This would be a great argument for Collins--if no historical record existed. But unfortunately for her, there's a paper trail. From September 23, 2003:

Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Senator Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., Tuesday sought Committee hearings on the limited or no bid contracts awarded for the reconstruction of Iraq.

In a letter to Committee Chairman Susan Collins, R-Me., Lieberman and Lautenberg noted that a secretive, non-competitive bidding process raises concerns about "favoritism and collusion" while an open process results in substantial cost savings for the taxpayer. In particular, the senators wrote, Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of the Halliburton Corporation, formerly led by Vice President Cheney, has received more than $2 billion for its work in Iraq, much of that from an oil infrastructure repair contract awarded through a no bid process. The cost of that contract has been spiraling upwards over the last few months, increasing by $300 million in just one week, according to news accounts.

"With these hearings," Lieberman and Lautenberg wrote, "we would hope to examine the details surrounding these secretive contracting procedures, and explore what additional safeguards are needed to restore the public’s confidence in the integrity of our procurement system." (Emphasis added.)

And as Jessica Alaimo notes in her piece at PolitickerME.com, five other senators also signed on with Lautenberg.

But Lieberman's involvement, in particular, speaks volumes: It shows that even one of Collins' closest allies was so upset with her stubborn unwillingness to probe the Iraq war contracting mess that he went public with his concerns.

As we've pointed out before, back in 2003 plenty of people were aghast about the no-bid deals and worried about their impact on our war effort.

But--ever the Republican "team player--Collins stood down, even after Lieberman prodded her to act. As Iraq came apart, she sat on her hands.

We'll all be paying the price for years.

UPDATE: Senate Guru has more, along the same lines, here.