Racial set-aside programs around the country continue being indicted for corruption.
It is almost as if these programs were deliberately designed to invite corruption
and dishonesty. Consider the common characteristics of these programs:
- Minority officials hand out minority contracts as
favors to their political contributors. (See especially San Francisco's Willie Brown
and Prince Georges County's Wayne Curry.)
- Minorities receiving the contracts are considered
"poor and deserving", therefore standard accounting controls are not applied.
- The "supervisors" of these programs most
often have no prior business or contracting management skills.
- Excluded white-owned firms have a VERY high
motivation to lie about their skin color, or to create "minority fronts" as
pass-throughs.
- Set-aside programs very often are supervised by
political appointees and friends serving at the pleasure of a "newly empowered"
minority official, such as a city mayor.
- Frequently, no independent verification of a
contractor's claimed qualifications is performed. Their skin color is sufficient
qualification.
- Greatly relaxed competitive bidding procedures, or
none at all, virtually guarantees the worst work for the worst price.
- Any criticism of these programs is condemned as
"racism".
See especially "Contracting
Industry Strongly Opposes Quotas"
<== Select a Set-Aside
story from the scrolling index at the left. |