I'm wondering what reporter threatened to blow it all out.
In both cases, the administration chose not to allow other interested companies to bid for the jobs, a typical procedure used to ensure that taxpayers get the best deal.(snip)
CiviGenics CEO Roy Ross was formerly director of administration for the Shriver Center, a biomedical research center founded by California first lady Maria Shriver's mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. A spokeswoman for the first lady said Maria Shriver had no knowledge of the contract.
(snip)
Other companies have objected to not being allowed to bid.
Gary White, who ran the Bakersfield facility before it was closed in 2003, said he spoke with corrections officials in October, and submitted paperwork to them concerning reopening. White said department officials discussed paying roughly the same amount they had paid him in the past for the 340-bed facility, about $39 per day per inmate.
White, who runs a company called Alternative Programs Inc., said he was stunned to learn in January that the department was proposing a contract with CiviGenics that would pay more than $46.