Reflecting Pool Debacle Blamed on Shoddy Work

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday Jeanine Pirro, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, a Trump appointee and a former Fox News host and television "Judge,", announced that she was dismissing felony vandalism charges against David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, for his alleged involvement in causing damage to the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial shortly after the government paid roughly $16 million for renovations to that pool. In dismissing the case, Pirro stated that new evidence points to a botched contractor installation as the primary cause of the damage to the pool.

There were two major contractors involved in the pool renovation.  One was a Trump donor and Florida neighbor John J. Cafaro whose company, Green Water Services, LLC, got a contract $1.74 million for the pool's new specialized water treatment and filtration system to rid the pool of its heavy algae growth.   The algae came back with a vengeance shortly after the installation of the new system.   Cafaro is sometimes referred to in news accounts as "Trump's pool guy."  Since 2020 he has donated at least $350,000 to Trump's campaigns, and he has two federal criminal convictions:  one for campaign finance crime, and another for bribing a congressman.

The other contractor, Curtis E. "Eddie" Wood, operates Atlantic Industrial Coatings, LLC,  out of Virginia and was responsible for painting the pool with the special blue coating that quickly began to peel away.  Mr. Wood's company received $14.65 million for its services.   The new coating began to come apart in less than two weeks after its completion, aobut the same time as when the algae reappeared.

Both contracts, the one to Green Water Services and the one to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, were awarded on a "no bid" basis, apparently because Trump, the builder, was familiar with the work of both contractors and wanted to rush the work in order to have it completed before our nation's semiquincentennial.

Well, that's $16 million we might just as well have thrown out the car window!  There's a reason the federal government has a bidding process for awarding government contracts, perhaps next time we can go with that instead of cronyism. 

Only the best people, right Donnie?

Thank you US Attorney Jeanine Pirro for doing the right thing by David Hearn.  Better late than never.  Now an apology is in order, and it ought to come from the White House.  That's what a real man would do.