Government

Obama Paid $18k to Monitor ‘Negative’ Coverage of Oil Spill

WASHINGTON (AP) – The federal government hired a New Orleans man for $18,000 to appraise whether news stories about its actions in the Gulf oil spill were positive or negative for the Obama administration, which was keenly sensitive to comparisons between its response and former President George W. Bush’s much-maligned reaction to Hurricane Katrina.

The government also spent $10,000 for just over three minutes of video showing a routine offshore rig inspection for news organizations but couldn’t say whether any ran the footage. And it awarded a $216,625 no-bid contract for a survey of seabirds to an environmental group that has criticized what it calls the “extreme anti-conservation record” of Sarah Palin, a possible 2012 rival to President Barack Obama.
Obama Paid $18k to Monitor Negative Coverage of Oil Spill

The contracts were among hundreds reviewed by The Associated Press as the government begins to provide an early glimpse at federal spending since the Gulf disaster in April. While most of the contracts don’t raise alarms, some could provide ammunition for critics of government waste.

As of Monday, the administration has released details of about $142 million in contracts, a fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars it has spent so far. BP has reimbursed the U.S. $390 million, company spokesman Tom Mueller said. The government sent BP a new invoice for $128.5 million last week.

The White House is still deciding whether it will bill BP for spill-related trips by Obama and his wife, Michelle, to the Gulf, including the president’s flights aboard Air Force One, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars each.

The contracts the government has disclosed so far include at least $5.8 million for helicopter services, $3.1 million for lodging, $1.4 million for boat charters, $225,000 for water-testing devices, including some used aboard ships, $457,570 for cellular and satellite phone services, $25,087 for toilets, $23,217 for laundry services and $109,735 for refrigerators and freezers.

Yet the government’s new contracting data includes errors and vague entries that make it difficult to identify wasteful spending. It spent $52,000 on a boat charter described merely as “marine charter for things,” with no further explanation. A separate $90,000 contract for a single 70-pound anchor is listed incorrectly; the contractor told the AP it actually supplied hundreds of anchors.

A White House spokesman, Ben LaBolt, declined to comment on the contracts.

Among all the contracts, perhaps none is more striking than the Coast Guard’s decision to pay $9,000 per month for two months to John Brooks Rice of New Orleans, an on-call worker for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, under a no-bid contract to monitor media coverage from late May through July.

Rice told the AP that he compiled print and video news stories and offered his subjective appraisal of the tone of the coverage. “From reading and watching the media I would create reports,” he said. “I reported either positive coverage, negative coverage, misinformation coverage.”

Obama Paid $18k to Monitor Negative Coverage of Oil SpillThe Coast Guard provided the AP with a copy of two of Rice‘s printouts of news stories but didn’t respond to a request for copies of his reports rating the tone of news stories. Rice said he had already deleted them. The AP requested copies of all Rice‘s reports under the Freedom of Information Act but hasn’t received them.

The Coast Guard expects BP to reimburse the $18,000, Coast Guard spokesman Capt. Ron LaBrec said.

The Coast Guard said it didn’t ask for competitive bids because it urgently needed the work done. In the newly released federal data, the government didn‘t disclose Rice’s name, instead misidentifying him as “miscellaneous foreign contractors.”

Such contracts have caused problems for the government in the past. The Obama administration abandoned a $1.5 million contract in August 2009 with a public relations firm, Washington-based Rendon Group, that assessed work by journalists for the Defense Department before embedding them with troops in Afghanistan. And the Clinton administration in 1995 ordered Energy Department officials to cancel a $46,500 contract with a consulting company, Carma International, that ranked reporters who covered the agency, a practice that the White House concluded was “unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

Rice said he wasn’t on duty for FEMA or drawing a government salary when he worked for the Coast Guard. He monitored news coverage for FEMA during the Hurricane Katrina disaster, and a former FEMA co-worker recommended him for the Coast Guard contract, he said.

The head of a public relations firm in Baton Rouge, La., John T. Rice of Common Sense Communications, questioned the wisdom of the government spending $18,000 to track coverage of the spill, particularly in the Internet age when stories can be monitored easily online.

“In our neck of the woods, if you can land a $2,000 to $4,000 retainer with somebody, that would be considered really good,” said Rice, who isn’t related to the Rice hired by the Coast Guard. Rice said an $18,000 contract could also include focus groups and a marketing plan, not just tracking and evaluating coverage.

Under another federal contract, the Interior Department hired videographer Bob Boccaccio of Boccaccio Productions in Baton Rouge to shoot video of inspectors aboard an offshore drilling rig to distribute to news organizations. Boccaccio confirmed he was hired but declined to provide details.

The Interior Department said it hired Boccaccio amid concerns about safety, scheduling and permitting after network camera crews asked to accompany inspectors offshore to film them. The contract authorized payment of up to $15,000; Boccaccio, who traveled to the rig with the government inspector, billed the government $10,000. The AP typically pays a one-person crew about $1,000 per day. The government said it hasn’t decided yet whether to ask BP to pay for it.

The government’s contracts include at least $6 million for studies to gauge the spill’s effects on wildlife.

Contractors include a group whose political arm endorsed Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign and ran ads in several swing states against then-Republican vice presidential candidate Palin. The group, Defenders of Wildlife, received a $216,625 noncompetitive contract from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a seabird survey in the BP spill area.

Both Defenders of Wildlife and its political arm, the Defenders Action Fund, have criticized Palin, a former Alaska governor, for supporting use of low-flying airplanes to hunt wolves and other wildlife in winter.

Defenders of Wildlife also has been urging Discovery Communications to drop plans for “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” a reality TV series, and wants sponsors and viewers to boycott it. The Interior Department said the Fish and Wildlife Service hired the group to survey the effects of oil on ocean birds because its chief scientist, Chris Haney, is respected and experienced in bird research. It said BP approved the scientist’s selection.

An executive for Defenders of Wildlife said politics played no role in the $216,625 contract.

“I just truly believe there are no dots to connect,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark, the group’s executive vice president and a former director of the Fish and Wildlife Service under former President Bill Clinton.

The BP America spokesman, Mueller, could not say whether BP has already reimbursed the government for the media monitoring, videotaping and seabird survey, because bills the government submits do not include enough details for the company to tell which contracts are included.

BP paid the government’s first five bills but sought more information about some items before eventually paying for them, Mueller said. Those have included a $12.6 million bill from the Navy for “skimming and tow vessels,” a $30,000 Air Force expense for a “severe weather safe haven” and $339,915 for aircraft flight hours, he said.

Fifty of the 513 contracts disclosed so far went to minority-owned businesses. Female-owned businesses received 41. More than half the government contracts went to small businesses.

Jim Ketchum, owner of the Andree’s Wine, Cheese & Things restaurant in Fairhope, Ala., said the roughly $32,000 the Army paid his restaurant to serve breakfast and dinner to military police deployed to help with the spill response helped him make up for business lost due to the poor economy and the spill.

“It was a godsend — there was no question about it,” said Ketchum, who got up around 3:30 a.m. each day to have breakfast ready to serve to 45 to 50 soldiers with the Alabama Army National Guard’s 1165th Military Police Co.

Not all of the contracts the government authorized were carried out.

A $58,800 contract the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration struck with a women-owned public relations firm, Public Communications Inc., for media strategy and public education on threats to marine mammals and sea turtles wasn’t finished and may never be, NOAA and the company said.

“We never did anything” and haven’t received any money from NOAA, said Jill Allread, a partner at the Chicago firm. “We work with a lot of marine mammal issues. They said, `If we start having issues with die-offs with dolphins and things we may need additional support on helping people understand why that’s happening.’”

NOAA spokeswoman Connie Barclay said the contract was arranged by NOAA’s Gulf regional office, which has one public affairs officer and was overwhelmed with calls in the spill’s early days.

Barclay said she, not a PR firm, organized a recent Gulf event in which retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is overseeing the government’s response to the spill, released the first oiled turtles to be rehabilitated.

“People are really hungry for good news,” Barclay said.

Comments (93)

1 2 3
  • ConsiderThis
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 7:57pm

    I felt for the poor folks in the Gulf area cuz right from the get go it looked to me like they weren‘t exactly high on Obama’s priority list.

    Report Post »  
  • benrush
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 7:45pm

    I love the liberal response, “Well the last administration did it too!!!”

    As if that justifies corruption – Tweedle dum and tweedle dummer.

    Report Post »  
    • Independent Tess
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 7:57pm

      My mom: “Well, if everybody else jumped off the roof, would you, too.”
      (a timeless momism)

      Report Post » Independent Tess  
  • AChristian
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 7:21pm

    Billy Jeff Clinton signed a law that capped oil companies liabilities @ $75 million.
    BP went over $ 380 million last week. Not counting the $$ in this story. Thers is no number in the
    billions that is Lawfully the responsability of oil compony’s.
    All costs over $75 million is supposed to be the respnsability of the U.S. Government.

    Oh well, laws mean NOTHIBG to PinochioBama, and meant nothing to Clinton. That is why both Bill & Hill were disbarred in the last century.

    Report Post »  
  • CaptainSpaulding
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 7:16pm

    ….well, at least someone is getting stimulated.

    To bad it’s not us. :(

    Report Post »  
  • Roger Fallihee
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 7:06pm

    18K seems reasonable to me.

    Report Post »  
  • RayGone
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 7:04pm

    No wonder Beck is a wacko
    it might be the booze or the drugs or both:

    “In 1994 it was learned that Adolph Hi tler had been posthumously baptized by the Mor mons together with 380,000 of his holocaust victims. Among them were Anne Frank, David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Is r ael and Sigmund Freud. (It is unlikely that many of the 380,000 would have opted to move into the Mormon section of heaven once they saw Hitler there.) When news of those baptisms became public, the Je wi.sh community was incensed. Aaron Breitbart, senior researcher at the Simon Wiesenthal Center said “these people were born J. ews, they lived as J.e.ws and many of them died because they were J. ews. They would not have chosen to be baptized Mor mons in life, and there is no reason they would want to be baptized by proxy in death.””

    - Glen Beck

    Report Post »  
    • Damage6
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 7:20pm

      Raygone and this supposedly comes from ???? a book, a comment from one of his shows? The Uiji board in your basement? You can attribute that quote to anyone without a source to back it up it’s just another typically liberal smear attempt.

      Report Post » Damage6  
  • Midwest Belle
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 7:01pm

    too many words for such a little bit of info :(

    Report Post » Midwest Blonde  
  • RobR
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:56pm

    President Barack Obama, the unholy marriage of socialism & paranoia, imperfect together.

    Report Post » Barack Must Go  
    • RayGone
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 11:56pm

      Yaaawnnnn…

      Old Fart McInsane and Hillbilly Palin played that card in ‘08 and had their sorry azzes wupped…

      Next …..

      Report Post »  
  • Living In NYC
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:56pm

    Gee……we should bill it all to BP…BO got us common folks a $20 billion dollar slush fund. The taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill BP should. Oh, yeah and then BP will just raise fuel prices. We get to pay for it either way. So, BO next time stay at home and give Air Force One a rest! Or take a Gulfstream and a couple of choppers to NYC with MO and have a date night!

    Report Post » Living In NYC  
  • parmajohn
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:55pm

    It was money well spent….They found the oil laying at the bottom of the gulf about 1 mile down per Fox News…Eveything is already in place To Blame Bush and BP and anyone else But P-BO and his boys…..Like Iraq It ain’t over till its over……

    Report Post »  
  • Contrarian51
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:42pm

    My initial thought was that a few bad apples would ruin the claims process for everyone by filing false and inflated claims against BP. You know the ones, fishermen who have never fished, tax cheats who under-report their revenues and inflate their expenses. etc. As could be expected, the biggest filer of inflated and undocumented claims is and always will be be this administration. I’m no fan of BP by any means, but I do wonder if there will be any money left for legitimate claims after the Obamorons get done paying off all their left wing support groups at BP’s expense.

    Report Post »  
  • Time_To_Stand
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:42pm

    Put a stop to the moratorium on drilling. Put the people in the Gulf Coast states back to work.

    Report Post » Time_To_Stand  
  • needanotherReagan
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:39pm

    I wonder if they will bill BP for Mrs. O’s trip to Spain.

    Report Post »  
    • Contrarian51
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:44pm

      Vegas won’t even set a betting line on that one so apparently the answer is “Yes we can!”

      Report Post »  
  • wingedwolf
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:39pm

    After this much time and this much power grabbing, this is all his obama’s crapola. If you really want to see how it got started, watch the documentary “Generation Zero.” Forcing the banks to give mortgages to people who were a bad credit risk, which began oh, say about 1992 was the beginning of the end of our economy. As lofty and altruistic as those goals to provide lower income families with the American dream of home-ownership was, there was always a good reason why one had to qualify for a mortgage. That de-regulation made Wall Street into Las Vegas for unscrupulous investment bankers who were gambling with other people’s money with no fear of repercussion. If they got caught, the SEC looked the other way. Where was the SEC, who is supposed to police these things, when our pensions and private retirement funds were being appropriated and used as gambling money by those mad bastards? They made hundreds of billions of dollars betting against the taxpayers who were forced by the government into backing the bad mortgages through fanny and freddie. When we all lost jobs and went bankrupt and went out of business, those unscrupulous bastards got to keep every penny they made on those hedge funds by knowingly betting that those mortgage securities were bad risks and would fail. They didn’t have to give back one penny. If you or I tried that, they would throw us UNDER the jail, and we wouldn‘t be able to own anything ever again that wouldn’t be garnished away from us. Even when the SEC was presented with hundreds of pages of clear and convincing evidence no fewer than 10 times during a several year period that people like Madoff were doing what they were doing, they remained completely inactive about it. If you watch “Generation Zero,“ then also consider watching ”Plunder: the Crime of Our Time,” which can be seen for free several times per month on link TV. It shows step by step how fanny and freddy and the unscrupulous investment managers betting against them with knowledge aforethought took down our economy right under every single American’s nose, from the president right down to us. If you must point fingers, get informed and then point them where they belong….By the way, who was in office in 1992?

    Report Post » wingedwolf  
    • GnomeChomsky
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:46pm

      George HW Bush

      Report Post »  
    • AMERICA4EVER
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 7:00pm

      There are a few points to remember here. Under Jimmy Carter the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) was implemented and it was strengthened under Good old Bill Clinton. The CRA was already set in motion when George Senior was president and he only lasted one term when he caved to the dems on taxes.

      Report Post »  
    • emqcrcu
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 8:08pm

      By the way….which party controlled Congress???????????????????????????????

      Report Post »  
  • emomobile
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:37pm

    It’s all about controlling the message…. And using tax dollars to do so.

    Report Post »  
  • Contrarian51
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:36pm

    Dear President Obama:

    MSNBC, CNN, NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times and all the rest of the usual suspects were unable to bring themselves to utter or print a negative word about you. They even refrained from mentioning the obvious lies about having been engaged “from day one” despite the fact that you sat back and waited to see if BP would take care of everything, and over half a dozen of your minions blurted out “from day one” non-stop on every Sunday news show that would have them on.

    Enclosed please find my invoice in the amount of $2500.00 or preparing this report. It would be appreciated if payment could be made within 30 days, either in gold, silver, yuan or some other form of currency that still has actual value. Thank you.

    Report Post »  
  • TheLascone
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:34pm

    Hi …
    I am The Lascone, I believe that Glenn Beck is good for America. I also agree with a lot of what he says. I am an artist … and Glenn’s thoughts have inspired some of my recent art. If you want to make free copies (right click and save the image) Just don’t sell them. Here is a link to a recent artpiece…. http://www.flickr.com/photos/23630227@N06/4987682245/

    TheLascone  
  • dteam270
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:26pm

    Ummm…I’m really digging deep on this one…I’m surprised..

    Report Post » dteam270  
  • dollfin
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:18pm

    AND, remember that reporters weren’t allowed near the spill fall-out. Talk about Tyranny.

    Report Post » dollfin  
    • emqcrcu
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 8:07pm

      I agree….why haven’t charges of TYRANNY been brought up not only against the no-man but against Congress as well….TREASON, ring a bell anyone?

      Report Post »  
  • faktchekr
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 5:47pm

    Hey Terry Evans, the media didn’t give Bush/Cheney any cover or spin on that so I don’t really get what you are referring to. Obama is too thin skinned, he can’t take what he and his lefties carrying his water in the media have been dishing out for decades…boo hoo…put on your big girl panties Obama, you’re the President now, you actually have to produce results…unlike a community organizer.

    Report Post » faktchekr  
    • Freelancer
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 5:57pm

      Why did you have to let all of the air out of that balloon he spent so much time blowing up? He thought he had something but as usual, the left never does any homework before they try and make a stoopid point.

      Report Post » Freelancer  
    • tierrah
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:00pm

      I want to scream when someone points a finger to a past administration as a defense to what the current administration is doing. Don’t you all think we should learn by the mistakes made and try to MAKE some changes, irregardless of who made the booboo?

      Report Post » tierrah  
    • Zoe
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:25pm

      “Mr.” Obama-

      …put on your big girl panties Obama, you’re the President now, you actually have to produce results…

      Fish or cut bait– It’s time for you to go down below……….. Your going to get people hurt up here where the action is!

      Report Post » Zoe  
    • annieoakley
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 10:18pm

      Amen!

      Report Post »  
  • Freelancer
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 5:43pm

    Wag the Dog anyone?

    Report Post » Freelancer  
    • Stupid Windmill
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:30pm

      You mean Glenn Beck? The Whole Tea Party Movement?

      Stupid Windmill  
    • smartypoop
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 10:26pm

      Same thought crossed my mind FREELANCER. Been an awful lot of wagging the dog of late.

      Report Post »  
    • Tazzy
      Posted on September 14, 2010 at 12:08am

      If you wag it, it will be taxed !

      Report Post » Tazzy  
  • Rickfromillinois
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 5:37pm

    Regardless of who is doing it, it is unsavory for the White House spend tax dollars on attempting to influence the news media.

    Report Post » Rickfromillinois  
    • sjssb
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:55pm

      Hey Rick, you are not serious are you? I mean, he (Obummer)already has all the State Media in his bedroom so why not go after the rest of the little fish. This has to be the worst administration of the USA in history. Obama and his Chicago Daley Express thugs. How much are the working class going to have to pay to bail out SEIU, AFL-CIO, UMW, and UAW to replenish their retirement nest eggs. They riddled the funds to pay for Obummers election in 2008 and even poor George Soros donated at leasat 1 Billion to the cause. We no longer have a republic when the DC Mafia interferes with every State’s election processes. The New Black Panthers have been forbidden to visit any polling places through 2011. Why not permanently? Does Obummer need their thuggery to ensure he is re-elected in 2012. Come on November 2010. Lets eliminate all the corruption and Progressives from our Government, whether disguised as Democrats or Republicans. Start with Pelosa then take down Hillary. Now I can sympathize with William Jefferson Clinton and his encounters with Monika, beats the hell out of Hillary.

      Report Post » sjssb  
    • missmarie
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:57pm

      I agree with you RICKFROMILLINOIS, it is very unsettling. I have to add the medias role in this. It has become a very time-consuming task to check on media stories, fill in the gaping holes in their coverage, and research the facts behind articles on my own. In my younger years, I believed this was why we had journalism schools.

      Report Post » missmarie  
  • Just_Bubba
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 5:21pm

    Sounds a lot like the “Nixon Method” of media control through lists and spin control. Outright muzzling of any dissent or criticality is not far behind.

    Just_Bubba  
  • Flagwaver
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 5:09pm

    Think how many jobs this created! It must be part of the President’s shovel ready jobs… However, he never said what the job would be shoveling.

    Report Post » Flagwaver  
  • JJMinor
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 5:05pm

    Politics is the art of controlling spin. No surprises there.

    Report Post »  
    • Terry Evans
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 5:27pm

      Gee, What about Bush-Cheney = Blackwater. No spin or bids there, right ? ?

      Report Post »  
    • Oh Bumbles
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 5:43pm

      Terry, I thought the country voted against all that in ‘08. Guess not.

      Report Post » Oh Bumbles  
    • GnomeChomsky
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 5:45pm

      While I get what you’re saying Terry, I dont think JJ was making a partisan statement just a general observation regarding politics no matter which side of the aisle. I could be wrong though and be giving him/her too much credit.

      Report Post »  
    • Freelancer
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 5:46pm

      Don’t even go there with Blackwater idiot…. Blackwater now operates under over 30 different entities profiting greatly under Obama and he KNOWS it.

      Report Post » Freelancer  
    • Independent Tess
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:00pm

      Hey! I’d be happy to moniter media for tone and content. I’d even do it for $8000 per month. They could save $1000 per month on me.
      Yoohoo…..call me………

      Report Post » Independent Tess  
    • wingedwolf
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:13pm

      I guess Terry actually believes this administration has really been just as transparent as they said they would be. They lied. It was always going to be politics as usual with chicago thuggery thrown in for good measure. I never thought I’d miss George Bush. As a republican I hated what I thought was power-grabbing, but obozo makes Bush look like a beginer when it comes to the power grab. Can’t wait till november.

      Report Post » wingedwolf  
    • prodigy
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 6:58pm

      he’s awfully free with other peoples money

      Report Post »  
    • PeterBreitholtz
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 7:10pm

      Just once I’d like to swipe that soap and have the corner come out smelling like apple pie!

      Report Post »  
    • baldwin4freedom
      Posted on September 13, 2010 at 7:42pm

      The NEW boss is just like the OLD boss.

      Report Post »  
    • Jeff in Miami
      Posted on September 14, 2010 at 6:11am

      It looks like he got a bargain at $18k for a few hours work. I guess we can now count 1 job from all the government spent but we still have to deduct the 100,000 jobs lost from the drilling freeze in the Gulf.

      Obama is a one man wrecking crew. By closing the 2,000+ auto dealerships he put over 200,000 people out of work. So for this one job we have 300k jobs lost at Obama’s direct orders.

      Report Post » Jeff in Miami  
    • JJMinor
      Posted on September 14, 2010 at 7:23am

      terry evans: no surprises there either. I’m a libertarian.

      Report Post »  
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