It was several months ago we saw a confident, smiling, even exuberant Todd Tiahrt bragging that he had gotten Wichita the new Boeing Tanker Deal. His picture was on the front page of The Wichita Eagle, showing his pride.
But recent news raises a question. Can Tiahrt DO ANYTHING RIGHT?
The latest news from The Wichita Eagle, June 1, 2005, is that a large scandal has brewed over Being’s tanker deal. The new Defense Department investigation of the Boeing aerial refueling tanker scandal found several top Pentagon officials failed to properly award and overview a contract worth more than $23 billion.
Improprieties by Boeing and Pentagon officials have put tanker replacement, which once promised 1,000 new jobs for Wichita, on hold.
So the big tanker deal that Tiahrt worked so hard on is now just a distant memory. The contract could easily go to another company.
And let’s not forget that the apples don’t fall far from the tree. Tiahrt worked with some greasy palms and that means that the same sleazy methods were likely used by him to get the deal in the first place
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The U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing Co. a more than $30 billion contract to build 179 airborne tankers, potentially ending a decade-long contracting saga that is one of the lengthiest and strangest in Pentagon history.
The announcement Thursday was an upset win for Chicago-based Boeing. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., a leading congressional supporter of rival bidder European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., quickly alleged that Defense Department officials had been swayed by "Chicago politics."
The process that started in 2001 to modernize the half-century-old planes that serve as aerial gas stations has made its mark for controversy, with an ethics scandal that ended with jail terms for Boeing executives and countless skirmishes on Capitol Hill over jobs, patriotism and free trade.
Thursday's news was the latest surprise and breaks a string of tanker-contest victories by EADS, the parent of Airbus SAS, that include a 2008 award by the Pentagon that was later overturned on appeal.
"We're honored to be given the opportunity to build the Air Force's next tanker and provide a vital capability to the men and women of our armed forces," Boeing CEO Jim McNerney said in a statement.
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