IG: Bobeck gets pass on “rent-free” perk from conractor
HMC Ret sends us a link from the Army Times which reports that the Pentagon Inspector General has told Senator Claire McCaskill in a letter that it was entirely appropriate that Army National Guard Brigadier General Michael Bobeck got rent-free housing from a contractor, Peduzzi Associates, Ltd., when the general was tossed from his home by his wife when he was caught in extra-marital games.
The inspector general found that the free housing…fell “under an exception to the general gift prohibition.”
[…]
However, emails obtained by USA TODAY show that Peduzzi officials kept Bobeck informed about the interest of a key client, Sikorsky, maker of the famed Black Hawk helicopter , as the Army and National Guard wrangled over a reorganization plan that had serious ramifications for Sikorsky’s bottom line. A draft letter in February that Peduzzi helped craft to key members of Congress on behalf of the National Guard Association requested that the Pentagon spend $367 million more on Black Hawks in 2017.
Bobeck and Peduzzi had also negotiated a post-retirement job, which gave Bobeck a financial interest in Peduzzi’s continued success, USA TODAY reported.
I guess the Pentagon IG’s office in concerned that there may be a homeless flag-officer epidemic looming on the horizon.
Category: Army News
Well, isn’t that just freaking wonderful. Yeah, that makes one helluva lot of sense, given that housing in the DC area is damn near free. (Obviously I’m being sarcastic as hell.)
Sounds like someone needs to answer this question: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? It looks to me like the answer today is, “Nobody.”
And to be very clear: here, the “custodes” I’m referring to as needing watching is the IG. This decision is so patently absurd given current DoD ethics regulations regarding the perception of impropriety that it makes me wonder how in the hell anyone actually trying to act as an IG could say this was acceptable.
Ahem! Do the phrase “command influence” strike a familiar note?
Not as much as the phrase “incompetent investigator”. And saying “incompetent” is giving them the benefit of the doubt.
Once again proving that those in positions of authority believe the rest of us exist to provide them with wealth and a good life, as opposed to their authority existing to protect us from the likes of those for whom corruption and avarice are the motivating factors.
A set of rules for thee my peasants, and quite another for the perfumed set like me.
So let’s change that. Needs to be done.
Hey, if he just needs a place to stay, he can sack out in my library. It’s really just an extra bedroom full of bookcases and books, but if fixes the garbage disposal and coughs up cash for his own food plus a little rent money, and maybe vacuums up the cat hair, I can put up with a houseguest.
Methinks the lady doth view the General as HOT?
I just can’t believe that anyone would see this as evidence of impropriety. They’re just trying to hep him out, as we say in South Baltimore.
So a flag officer dips his wick, gets the boot from his wife and with his pay rate, can’t afford his own accommodations? Really?!
The appearance of impropriety is usually a good indicator of…impropriety. That whole smoke and fire allegory.
Nasty civilian here. I thought the military fired officers engaging in extramarital wick dipping.
NG BG.
Whatever.
Maybe he should move in with his girlfriend (or boyfriend).
I’m going to hazard a guess that this ‘ahem’ general officer’s political persuasion has alot to do with this IG ruling. Got to take care of the Kool-Aid brigade.
I guess the Pentagon IG’s office in concerned that there may be a homeless flag-officer epidemic looming on the horizon.
Yah they’re the worst, always hangin out at busy intersections wanting to clean your windshield for $55,000 a pop, Holding signs that read “Country Club Membership Fee is Due” or “Will Fuck for Food”
Different spanks for different ranks.
Senator Claire McCaskill is a democrat, so she was probably totally understanding of this response, if he is a registered democrat.
This tells me the IG has their own interests first and/or they’ve gone into disrepute because no one listens to them anyway.
As they say on Twitter #draintheswamp
In my career, I don’t recall anyone, military or civilian, whose career aspiration was to be an IG…and the “talent” I’ve observed in those positions is, how do I put this, uneven…
Lemme see if I follow this. When a general is friends with someone, it’s okay for the general to accept gifts from that someone–EVEN though that someone is a contractor who presumably benefits from inside information and assistance given by the general. Dafuq? Ya think someone would protect against this sort of thing by excepting “friends” who are contractors. Time was the mere appearance of impropriety at least seemed to matter. I guess that was dinosaur land, my land.
“Hey, we’ve been friends fort how long, 13, 14 years? As a token of my gratitude for our friendship, I’d like to set you up in a rent-free home in D.C”–said no one ever.