Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) is retiring this year, after 30 years in Congress. Sen. Dorgan served as Chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee (DPC). In an address on the Senate floor last week, he reviewed the Committee’s hearings on contracting waste, fraud and corruption in Iraq and Afghanistan. He recalled the testimony of my client Bunny Greenhouse. The remarks caught the attention of David Isenberg who quoted it on the Huffington Post as follows:
A very courageous woman came to testify before our committee. Her name was Bunnatine Greenhouse. She was the highest civilian official at the Army Corps of Engineers, the highest civilian official in the Pentagon in charge of contracting. Here is what she said. She objected to the way the Pentagon was doing these contracts, massive contracts, sole-source, a massive amount of money, and she watched as the normal processes were avoided and ignored. She testified in public:
I can unequivocally state that the abuse related to contracts awarded to Kellogg, Brown & Root represents the most blatant and improper contract abuse I have witnessed during the course of my professional career.
This is an extraordinary woman, the highest civilian person in the Army Corps of Engineers. She was in charge of contracting. Two master’s degrees, came from a family in Louisiana. All three kids have advanced degrees. Her brother, by the way, was one of the 50 top professional basketball players in the last century, Elvin Hayes. Bunnatine Greenhouse. Remember that name. A very courageous woman, she saw abuses, spoke about it publicly, and for that she lost her career. She gave up her career. She was told: Resign or be fired.
Bunny is still employed at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, although the Corps removed her from her top contracting post shortly after her testimony to the Committee. Her legal case is still pending.