Posted on 10/14/2007 9:02:53 PM PDT by jazusamo
Using congressional privilege, Rep. David Wu helped direct more than $2 million in defense contracts to a company in his district for T-shirts that Marines say they can no longer use in battle because they can melt and cause severe burns. A report in today's Seattle Times also found the company's top executives contributed to Wu's campaign account about the time the spending "earmarks" were written into the final Department of Defense budget.
Wu told The Oregonian today that he is "horrified" the Marines had to ban the polyester T-shirts in battle because of the danger they pose.
"I didn't know there was a melting problem," said Wu, a Democrat who represents Northwestern Oregon. "I thought they would be helpful because some of the people who helped me get the appropriation served in Vietnam where their (cotton) shirts were literally melting off of them."
Wu said he is "also horrified by the implication that there's a connection" between the Defense budget appropriation and campaign contributions to him.
"There are many people who seek earmarks for things like sewers or roads or research projects," Wu said. "Some people wind up being contributors. Most -- the vast majority -- do not."
Executives with InSport International, a Beaverton company that sold to a Vital Apparel of New York in late 2005, did not respond to calls Sunday from The Oregonian.
In addition to Wu, a press release from the company's Web site quotes U.S. Sens. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., praising both the product and the budget earmark. Wu said the four worked together to secure a $2million earmark for InSport in the 2006 Department of Defense budget and $1 million in the 2007 budget.
Federal Election Commission records indicate that only Wu received $8,850 in campaign contributions from the company's three top executives.
His campaign received $6,100 in donations in a single day from executives of InSport and its owner, Vital Apparel. The day after the bill passed on Sept. 29, 2006, one executive gave Wu another $750. Two others followed with identical donations within three weeks.
Was there a connection?
"Absolutely not," Wu told The Oregonian today.
He said InSport came to him with an alternative to the cotton T-shirts troops normally wore under body armor. He tested one of the shirts himself. "Before I asked for the appropriation I said, 'Can you smell me? I've been wearing the same shirt for three weeks.'"
Wu also cites a March 2006 letter from the Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter praising the shirts. "We concur that the use of anti-microbial, moisture-wicking technology will enhance the individual Marine's combat effectiveness," Winter wrote one month before the Marines banned the shirts from the battlefield.
But the Seattle Times reported that U.S. military officials already had encountered problems with polyester T-shirts in the heat of Iraq and elsewhere.
Capt. Lynn E. Welling, the 1st Marine Logistics Group head surgeon, told the Times that polyester clothing melts in intense heat, adhering to the skin. "This essentially creates a second skin and can lead to horrific, disfiguring burns."
In April 2006, the Marines banned polyester T-shirts for use in combat or anywhere outside the protected Green Zone bases, according to the Times. But the newspaper reports in July 2006, because of Wu's earmark, the Marines announced the purchase of 87,000 of the banned polyester T-shirts, along with 11,000 T-shirts with fire-resistant sleeves.
The Times examined the 2007 defense appropriations bill looking for relationships between the businesses and individuals who benefit most from spending earmarks and the members of Congress who deliver them.
Of the nearly 500 companies identified as getting 2007 defense earmarks, the newspaper found 78 percent had employees or political action committees who made campaign contributions to Congress in the past six years.
The Pentagon officially opposes having money directed to specific contractors or projects. Military officials say such earmarks circumvent its own efforts to set spending priorities, thoroughly evaluate products and seek competitive bids.
In addition to the InSport earmarks, the Times noted that Washington's Sen. Patty Murray and Congressmen Norm Dicks and Brian Baird, all Democrats, steered more than $8 million to Edmonds, Wash., shipbuilder Guardian Marine International and its subcontractor, Oregon Ironworks in Portland.
From 2001 to 2002, the Times reports that executives of the two companies would give more than $22,000 in campaign money to members of their local delegations, including $3,000 to Murray. In the past four years, executives of Guardian Marine and Oregon Iron Works have given nearly $125,000 in contributions to Congress members.
None of the boats built as a result of the earmarks was wanted by the military or used as Congress intended, the newspaper reports.
But on Sunday, Wu's press secretary Jillian Schoene, says the InSport T-shirts "have found a niche." On Oct. 1, 2007, the Marines announced a $14 million contract for more InSport Products -- the polyester shirts are worn by troops in training.
Was there a connection?
"Absolutely not," Wu told The Oregonian today.
Really! And he expects people to believe that?
Another article that mentioned Wu today in The Seattle Times.
OR Ping!
Wu wu made a boo boo.
Isn’t this common knowledge? I believe the Navy had similar problems like right after polyester was invented.
Steelworkers learned first, no rivets on clothing, not even coins in pockets.
They also learned that polyester was not a good material, even in the long underwear they wore to protect against the heat. It still melted under the all-cotton overalls.
It should be common knowledge, fire depts have been aware of it for at least twenty five years.
Democrat culture of corruption BUMP!
But the Seattle Times reported that U.S. military officials already had encountered problems with polyester T-shirts in the heat of Iraq and elsewhere.
It seems the author(s) don't realize that where these t-shirts are failing is in combat when Marines are exposed to blasts and flame.
B.S. 100% polyester starts to stink in about 1-2 hours.
Good thing for Wu he’s a good Democrat. If he were a Republican, he would already be Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s cellmate.
Agreed...Wu and quite a few others should be sharing a cell with Cunningham.
I personally knew the guy.
The first to leave before the check arrives.
Quick to find an excuse not to pay a bill (destroying a relationship others would suffer the loss of).
Unprosperous at the practice of law, and presumably eager for the lifetime “dole” of having held a congressional seat, plus all those other personal financial perks.
A dishonest guy.
Glad I don’t know him any more.
Thanks for the rundown, it doesn’t surprise me. Him saying there was no connection is a flat out lie.
No mention he was a dem until the third paragraph... If he had been a Republican it would have been in the headline.
It is common knowledge among firefighters, as you say. Even the BLM and USFS know this and specify all-cotton clothing and undergarments for wildland fire fighters. Anything polyester is explicitly not allowed.
Ha, ha!!
I was amazed The Oregonian put it in at all, they are a real left wing rag.
Hmmmm I wonder just who he asked. He should have barbecued in his 3 old week stinky shirt. That would have been testing.
Is the word “kickback” unPC to use now?
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