Not long after Nelson Ludlow and his wife started a technology business in Port Townsend with money scraped together from friends, family and retirement accounts, they spent precious dollars in an unlikely way:
They hired a lobbyist and started giving to a congressional campaign fund.
The lobbying paid off. Soon, an $800,000 earmark for the Ludlows was tucked into a 2003 spending bill, giving their tiny startup, Mobilisa, a no-bid contract to provide Internet service on Puget Sound ferries.
So, what are we getting for our $800k? Well we certainly aren't getting a piece of the company that the Ludlow's and your money built. We certainly aren't getting a discount on the service that they provide:
Mobilisa, for example, sells a bar-code scanner to swipe ID badges at security gates on military bases. The off-the-shelf Motorola scanner retails for about $3,000. Yet Mobilisa sells the same handheld device to the government for nearly $7,000.
"What Mobilisa is doing is selling the government a $500 hammer," said Mark R. Baughman, president of Tricom Card Technologies, a small identity-card company in San Pedro, Calif.
And this is from a competitor. So you can assume that they will say negative things, but I fail to see how slight modifications will justify the extra $4k in price. Then there's this:
The $800,000 federal grant Murray got for the Washington State Ferries came with strings attached: The state had to put up an additional $200,000 and was instructed to award a sole-source contract to Mobilisa, despite its meager track record.
So you have money coming from the federal budget, and now the state of Washington has to come an extra $200k out of pocket. But it's for free internet service on the ferries, so it will be worth it right?
The Internet service on the ferries was free. And the initial feedback was good. But an independent review, paid for by the grant, found slow download speeds and lost connections were common over the water.
Murray got Mobilisa another $1 million earmark in 2006. Ultimately, the federal government paid more than $200 for each of the 8,000 passengers who the state agency said tried the free service.
In late 2006, Washington State Ferries switched to a paid service, giving the contract to another company after Mobilisa and a partner lost in competitive bidding. A ferry spokeswoman said connection problems continue.
It doesn't even work well! We paid over $1 million dollars for a service that isn't reliable. You and I paid almost $200 per person to set this up, and let me explain something to you, the ferry system is a little over a few miles long in Washington state. I've been on them. There is no reason why you can't have two wireless access points with a couple of cable modems on either end and a strong wireless repeater on the ship.
I could build something like this with off the shelf parts for around $1,000 bucks.
But of course, the Senators who've wasted your money aren't apologetic:
Murray defended her earmarks for Mobilisa: "My job is to do everything I can to make sure that Washington state businesses can compete and create good family-wage jobs. I'm proud not only to have helped Washington State Ferries provide commuters with wireless access on their way to work but also to have given their security workers the ability to download critical safety information with the click of a button."
Wrong. Your job is to represent us in the halls of Congress, and wasting money on a technology that doesn't work isn't one of them.
They got a contract through a no compete bid that you signed on for so you can't say that you "make sure that Washington state businesses can compete" because it's a lie.
If a business can't compete, they can't be in business.
But Patty Murray is caught by her own words. This is on her website dated in 2003, the same year she awarded these people these earmarks and no bid contracts.
And today, despite the fact that the President's last tax cut has yet to create any net new jobs, the Administration is pushing for another massive tax cut under the claim of "stimulus."
Except this time, the nation is back in deficit spending. According to private economists quoted in Friday's Washington Post, the U.S. could be facing deficits as high as $350 billion next year. We haven't seen deficits that high since the first Bush Administration posted a $290 billion deficit in 1992.
So while she talks about the dangers of deficit spending, she turns around and wastes $1 million of your dollars on companies that can't compete and are simply squeezing as much money as they can out of the government.
She had no problems complaining about Bush's tax cuts when it suited her, but then to turn around and waste the tax money she does have it ridiculous.
Senator Murray was unavailable for comment at the time of press.
Travis
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