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9323: Pina comments on "Ira Kurzban-super salesman??" (fwd)
From: kevin pina <kpinbox@hotmail.com>
While reading Mr. Durban's comments on the information released by Mr.
Lucas, I am reminded of that wonderful adage that a little bit of knowledge
can be a dangerous thing.
A case in point: I remember when I first learned of the Ministry of the
Environment's lack of funds to complete the waste removal from Gonaives in
early 2000. You folks remember that little environmental disaster created by
the dumping of Philadelphia waste ash on Haiti's shores? The clean-up effort
had come to a screeching halt and funds were being held up in NY due to
internecine brawls among US contractors managing the project. After close
scrutiny of the situation and the players involved, I concluded it would
take nothing short of a miracle to put the project back on track.
As we all know, the clean up was finally completed with the waste removed
from Haiti and successfully returned back to the US. I would like to
emphasize here that the international law involved and complexity of the
negotiations made this no small feat. Few know however, that this was
largely due to the intervention of Mr. Kurzban and his legal team who
initially invested their own funds and resources to resuscitate the clean-up
effort and see it through to completion. This is but one example where Mr.
Kurzban has committed his personal strength and resources, and those of his
law firm, towards advancement and progress in Haiti. He puts his money where
his mouth is. If his detractors could point to similar and tangible results,
on behalf of their own efforts in Haiti, it would lend great credence to
their attacks. Alas, I fear they cannot.
I completely support the release and dissemination of public information and
I am grateful Mr. Lucas brought this to our attention. In that spirit, I
would like to ask if he can direct us to a public source for financial
information about the International Republican Institute's USAID contract
for the "Democracy Enhancement" project? How much was the total USAID
contract awarded to the International Republican Institute for the
"Democracy Enhancement" project? How much was his personal salary and that
of his staff during his tenure as director including "hazard pay"? What was
the expense account figures over and above the payment of salaries? Lastly,
given that the result has been the formation of a small and unpopular
"opposition" whose only claim to fame has been the ability to block much
needed assistance and loans to Haiti, would he consider it a success and
money well spent on behalf of the American people? After all, it was US
taxpayer dollars that paid Mr. Lucas's salary and foot the bill for all of
this unless Mr. Lucas made personal contributions to the effort that we
unaware of.
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