9320: Re: 9310: RE: 9304: Ira Kurzban-super salesman?? (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Pierre Jean <pierrejean01@yahoo.com>

Julie Hoover wrote the following in item #9310 about
Ira Kurzban:

> He has been with
> Aristide since the very beginning, providing valued
> advice and services.
[...]

What exactly is meant by "valued advice and services"
in the quote above?

She continues:
 
> Don't think he or anyone else really needs to
> explain how this money is
> spent but if they should do so, am sure your
> concerns would be alleviated.

Really? I think Haitian taxpayers ought to know
exactly WHAT they are getting for the type of
expenditures incurred under this administration (and
the past one, for that matter.) After all, if it
weren't for the US Government's policy of disclosure,
I doubt we Haitian taxpayers would have known about
these expenditures.

$637,000 per year may not be much for a government,
but given Haiti's precarious financial situation -
where some employees don't get paid for months or even
years - I think that any expense on lobbyists has to
be scrutinized.

What exactly have we gotten from Mr. Kurzban for his
services? A few fine-tuned letters are probably not
worth that much, and as for strategic advice, let's
just be charitable and say that the Aristide
administration has simply been invisible in
Washington, despite the efforts of Kurzban, Burt Ives,
and Hazel Robinson.

Finally, spare me the "wonderful man" compliment. This
is not about people being nice or mean, this is about
accountability of the Haitian government to its
citizens and judicious expenditures in a time of dire
financial crisis.

Government, more so than the private sector, ought to
be TRANSPARENT about what it is doing and what results
it is getting for its expenditures. For all the
criticism leveled at the US for secret funds and all,
the level of transparency in the US is well superior
to that of the Lavalas administrations over the years.

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