Michael McCaul's Negligence Causes Sealy BAE Systems Plant to Lose 3,000 Jobs

There you go again.. (0.00 / 0)

You need to go back and read the entire story. And previous stories. What about all the Democrats who promised to use their "power in Washington" to have the contract reinstated and save all those jobs you want to just blame the Republicans for? Mainly Bill White.  So much for his credentials in Washington and his buddies including Bill Clinton. And the same thing will happen with regard to NASA.  For some reason, the Obama Administration doesn't like Texas. Maybe because so far it has escaped the ravages of the recession and he believes we should "share the joy?"

Seems not even the slickets of the string-pullers could pull the strings this time.  Including the Democrats.

As for surviving the recession so far, that unfortunately is the main draw for many with regard to Rick Perry.  

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by: Baby Snooks @ Sat Feb 13, 2010 at 18:32:31 PM UTC

Cause/Effect (0.00 / 0)

Trolls Comment --> Page Views Increase --> BOR Revenue Up --> More Money for Dem Candidates --> Democrats Win!

Thanks for playing your part so repeatedly and so well today. :-)

I'm not a player, I just Tweet a lot: @KathTX

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by: Katherine Haenschen @ Sat Feb 13, 2010 at 21:17:56 PM UTC

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Glad to do my part... (0.00 / 0)

All the money in the world isn't going to get Bill White elected however. I am supporting Ronnie Earle.  Maybe I should start a fundraising group. Trolls for Ronnie Earle.

Other than Ronnie Earle so far the Democratic candidates don't move me.  

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by: Baby Snooks @ Sat Feb 13, 2010 at 23:11:23 PM UTC

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Everyone is to blame a little, but blame is not the issue (5.00 / 1)

It was a bad decision. Thousands will be out of work.  That should be what the takeaway is and that's the main problem.  

I don't think this should be politicized by Rick Perry blaming Obama, Baby Snooks blaming Bill White, or BOR blaming Michael McCaul, there's plenty of blame to go around.  

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by: jfung79 @ Sat Feb 13, 2010 at 21:23:10 PM UTC

Wasn't blaming Bill White... (3.00 / 1)

Just pointing out that it wasn't just the Republicans trying to pull strings they couldn't pull this time. Lots of Democrats as well.  But it's a political year, so of course the Democrats will blame the Republicans. And the Republicans will blame the Democrats.  

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by: Baby Snooks @ Sat Feb 13, 2010 at 23:07:13 PM UTC

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Maybe no one could help (3.00 / 1)

I understand the company awarded the contract is a U.S. company and BAE is not, and their bid was 10% less. If BAE is BAe Systems, a U.K. company, you might read the interesting article posted today at WSWS.org.

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by: june @ Sat Feb 13, 2010 at 23:24:15 PM UTC

A Stitch in Time (3.00 / 2)

This whole affair makes me think of that saying "a stitch in time saves nine".  If the problem had been dealt earlier on, there might have been a different outcome.  By the time it was brought to the notice of people outside of that district, it was too late.

I think that McCaul should lose his job over this.  He sounds careless.  Doesn't represent the interest of the people in the district.  I am thinking about Jack Murtha from Pennsylvania who just past.  Yes, I know.  He was a flawed person who had some not so nice tendencies.  Yet he took care of the people back home.  McCaul is flawed without that quality.  

JMHO

  MKC

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by: Deja Vu @ Sun Feb 14, 2010 at 02:31:24 AM UTC

My thoughts exactly (0.00 / 0)

When its all said and done, McCaul didn't do his job. It may even be best for the country that the contract was yanked and given to another company but McCaul didn't even be bothered to show up to testify. That's pathetic folks and it doesn't matter whether he's an R or a D making the effort is in his job description and he failed. My state rep is an R but when I needed him to intercede on my behalf with a state agency he did his job and got it done. I may not like the team he plays for but I have to respect him for doing his job. McCaul doesn't deserve that kind of respect.

As long as corporations are people and money is speech, then democracy is a farce.

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by: Blue_in_Guadalupe @ Sun Feb 14, 2010 at 05:53:46 AM UTC

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McCaul should lose his job for other reasons, but... (0.00 / 0)

Do we really want our representative fighting things that are "best for the country"?  How would you feel if the Texas company were the low bid, but the job got sent elsewhere because of interference from their congressman?

If BAE were treated unfairly in the bidding process, or there were reasons to doubt the other company's ability to meet the requirements, or even if the area were significantly underrepresented in federal spending, that's one thing (if any of these are the case, please point it out) -- but I don't think it's productive to fight every legitimately lost contract.

The more the federal government saves in competitive bidding ($400 million in this case alone), the more it can spend on other projects, such as domestic spending that not only creates jobs but improves the district in other ways.  Fight for bringing our fair share of that home.

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by: Scott Wood @ Sun Feb 14, 2010 at 16:52:33 PM UTC

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Sealy News Voter's Guide by Ted Ankrum, McCaul's opponent (5.00 / 2)

Please let me quote from my piece in the Sealy Times Voter's guide, which was published on Feb 10, before the final Army decision:
"The top challenge facing this District is jobs and I'll talk about that, in general, in your next question.  But in Sealy, the biggest problem is British Aerospace's loss of the tactical truck contract.  Just because you are a Congressman doesn't mean you know much about how the Defense Department and other federal agencies really work.  If I had been the Representative, I would have known that the only large Defense contractor in the District was competing for a new generation of tactical trucks and I would have known what was happening about that contract.  I would have found out that Oshkosh was sharpening it's pencil to give a very competitive bid and jacked up the management of British Aerospace to do the same.  Instead, your Congressman was obvilious and British Aerospace was coasting on eight years of past history, rather than looking to a new environment.  Oshkosh produces a good tactical truck that the troops in Afghanistan love.  It's a capable company that deserved to be taken seriously by British Aerospace.  Oshkosh offered a better deal for the American taxpayer, and no amount of after-the-bid protests by Congressman McCaul is going to change that.  He, and the British Aerospace management team, were asleep at the switch.  The people at the Sealy plant can make a truck that is as good or better than anything from Oshkosh but it's got to be competitive and Congressman McCaul didn't alert the management that the old days were over.  The protests will run their course and the Sealy workforce may get another chance.  But if they don't, does Congressman McCaul know that the Quadrennial Defense Review is going to recommend buying a new generation of more fuel efficient tactical trucks?  That is the Sealy workforce's way forward and I can help.  I spent two years in logistics at the Pentagon at the full Colonel-level.  I know how it works."

Not two days after this piece appeared in the Sealy newspaper, the Army did exactly what I expected and upheld the award to Oshkosh.  Anyone who knows anything about the Defense procurement process knows that after-the-fact political lobbying is never effective, unless the bidding process was crooked, as in the Boeing refueling tanker award.  Mr. McCaul is a lazy Congressman who should have been riding point on the front end of this procurement.  Instead, he just took the campaign contributions from British Aerospace and did nothing.  Woops, he did do something:  He blamed the Democrats for sabotaging Texas.  I would suggest that this says quite a lot about the effectiveness of Republican leadership in Texas, and it's time for a change!

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by: Ted Ankrum @ Sun Feb 14, 2010 at 21:42:50 PM UTC

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And if he had alerted them? (0.00 / 0)

It is possible that BAE would have still lost the contract even if they had "competitively bid" and maybe they, not so much McCaul, were the one with the presumptive attitude.

Either way McCaul is like so many others. As you put it, lazy.  He's not the only one. But the voters tend to keep voting for them for some reason. Usually just because they are already there and have the (R) or the (D) beside their name.  

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by: Baby Snooks @ Mon Feb 15, 2010 at 00:56:09 AM UTC

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So you think. . . (0.00 / 0)

its a Congressman's job to let a private company know what its competition is doing and how to deal with it?  WOW!!! Two major problems with that. First, if the company does not know what its competition is doing, that is solely on the company!!! Its called marketing research. Knowing what the customer wants and what the competition is doing.  Second you say you would have known that Oskosh was, "sharpening its pencil to give a competitive bid".  AND the sun rises in the east!  Of course they are!!!  Why would you bid if you weren't trying to win.  Are you saying you could have given BAE specific information on that bid that is not for public consumption? (consult legal council before answering) After all is said, a Congressman's job to make the bidding process fair.  That's it!!!  

One last question.  If I bid 10% higher for a government contract, are you saying you can step in and get me the bid over my competitor?  If so, you sir, have a job with my company!!!  

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by: sdhook @ Mon Feb 15, 2010 at 13:47:07 PM UTC

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It's a congressman's job to help his constituents (0.00 / 0)

and there are thousands of those working at the Sealy plant.  Somebody needed to kick the management in the pants.  I do not advocate, nor am I suggesting that a Congressman get info that is restricted.  I know the procurement process.  I am specificaly saying that I cannot get the bid for you if you are 10% over.  It's too late.  The work needs to be done before the bid.

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by: Ted Ankrum @ Mon Feb 15, 2010 at 15:22:10 PM UTC

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I don't get what you could have done. (0.00 / 0)

"I am specificaly saying that I cannot get the bid for you if you are 10% over.  It's too late."  

This is pure Monday morning quarter backing.  How would you have known they were under bid by 10%?  BAE does $30Billion a year in sales and they are the 2nd largest global defense contractor.  I am thinking they know their business.  They have lobbyists, lawyers and entire teams working every day on bids like this.  I don't see what you or any public official could or would have done.

I know you said you would have "jacked up BAE management" to sharpen their pencils and kick them in the pants.  That's easy to say but in noting that the president of BAE's Global Tactical Systems called Oshkosh's price quote "unbelievable," and said that it's actually less than BAE's costs to build, I don't think they could have put a fine enough point on the pencil.

However, I don't blame you for using this in your campaign after all you are a politician.

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by: sdhook @ Mon Feb 15, 2010 at 18:49:50 PM UTC

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Is this a debate? (0.00 / 0)

A Congressman is elected to represent the district.

The Congressman protects the jobs in the district, especially any federal contracts where he can argue on behalf of those jobs directly to decision makers in Washington. The people of his district send him to Washington to help them. His doing everything he can to protect that contract is the only job he should be doing while in Washington.

McCaul did not fight for this contract. He had no written communication of supporting it. No record on the House floor. No press releases. There is absolutely no evidence that he did anything to defend that contract. None was found the first time around, and his office never offered any when asked -- other than to quip "that's not how things are done here."

I want my Congressman to be tearing down the walls of Congress to save my job. It looks like McCaul couldn't even lift a pen. The buck stops with him.

Now, a very great man once said that some people rob you with a fountain pen.

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by: Phillip Martin, Progress Texas @ Sun Feb 14, 2010 at 21:58:04 PM UTC

Republicans in Washington are so busy (0.00 / 0)

saying no and obstructing literally everything, even bills and issues they believe in, that they have failed to notice the provisions of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. (Stimulus Bill.) States that can propose shovel ready projects are eligible for federal stimulus funding that will create jobs.  The more projects Texas proposes the more likely it is that we receive more federal awards = more jobs.   But Texas Republicans are too busy hating big government to notice the benefits that are and can continue to flow to Texas.

http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/...

Given the state of the economy and the devastation in the Midwest with the closing of car factories BAE and all politicians here should have known it would be a fight to the death to keep the contract in Sealy.  

McCaul seriously fell down on his job of protecting jobs in his district.  Perry owns part of this, too, because he also apparently did not know or did not care that 3,000 would leave the state.  I am sure his reckless and irresponsible comments about secession did not help our chances at keeping the contract here, either.  Governor Perry and other Texas Republicans may wish to be reminded that they can no longer control their messages and lies nor can they easily cover up their mistakes with complacent journalism and local media black outs anymore.  We have entered a new era of technological transparency whether they like it or not.

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by: Libby Shaw @ Mon Feb 15, 2010 at 00:18:53 AM UTC

F-22: Do We Need It? (0.00 / 0)

The real question.

http://www.cnas.org/blogs/abum...

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by: Triangulation of Death @ Mon Feb 22, 2010 at 19:01:11 PM UTC

blah (0.00 / 0)

wrong thread. delete pls. kthx.

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by: Triangulation of Death @ Mon Feb 22, 2010 at 19:03:03 PM UTC

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