By Jamie Burch
.
Published: Wed, July 30, 2008 - 12:07 pm
Last Updated: Thu, July 31, 2008 - 12:03 pm
Mobile firefighter Bryan Lee has seen enough. Lee is tired of hearing how Boeing losing the $40 billion taker contract would cost American jobs. So he's doing something about it.Lee teamed up with a prominent attorney, a real estate developer and a certified public accountant and created a non-profit organization to send a message to Boeing. ‘Alabamians to Build American Tankers’ is trying to educate Congress and others on Boeing’s past failures. The groups says it's ads are as hard hitting as the attacks launched by Boeing supporters.
“The consensus seemed to be; when Boeing punches, you don’t strike back,” Lee said. “That’s nonsense. If you’re going to attack my home town, my friends and other workers you are going to get hit back.”
The Air Force awarded the $40 billion contract to Northrop Grumman/EADS in February. The companies planned to assemble the tankers at Brookley Field in Mobile. But Boeing filed a protest and last month the Government Accountability Office recommended the contract be rebid. The Pentagon said it will oversee the new competition and hopes to pick a winner by the end of the year.
Lee says Boeing has a tainted history includes bribing officials, executives selling military secrets to Communist China and failing to build a border fence after spending $85 million of taxpayer dollars.
“Talk about the pot calling the kettle black,” said Lee. “I never knew how much scandal there was within Boeing until I got involved in this. I don’t understand how they are even allowed to compete for Government contracts anymore.”
ABAT has purchased a heavy rotation of radio ads in the nation’s capitol. It plans to run a series advertisements in the Washington D.C. area as the renewed bidding process gets underway. (Click here to listen to the ads.)
“These ads are tough and I make no apologies for being direct,” said Lee. “I love my home and I love this country. We care for people here and across the United States. I know many emergency workers from Mobile who went on site to the World Trade Center and Louisiana after hurricane Katrina. We travel far and wide to help others across America in their times of need. Many of our citizens are military who have been fighting and dying to protect our country and our freedom. Our Alabama blood lies on the streets of the Middle East right now. We don’t deserve to have our loyalty or our character, questioned by the likes of Boeing.”
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And again, asda, awful confident about winning this aren’t you! What’s that old saying, don’t count your chickens before they hatched.