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Tanker Battle: Alabama Strikes Back

By Jamie Burch

A Mobile firefighter, sick of hearing how Boeing losing the $40 billion taker contract would cost American jobs, is now leading the charge to educate Congress and others on Boeing’s past failures. Tanker Battle: Alabama Strikes Back

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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michaelc Says:

Fri, Aug 01, 2008 at 12:26 pm

you know what asda, I’m feeling generous today, I’ll give you that one. No more lobbying debate.

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asda Says:

Fri, Aug 01, 2008 at 12:24 pm

Do you really think that EADS/NG doesn’t have paid lobbyist? Your boys go straight to the TOP!
This is a moot point because Tirant wrote a letter to Bush so that is about the same so this really is not a point at all. So moot point here.

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michaelc Says:

Fri, Aug 01, 2008 at 12:06 pm

And let’s see about YOUR wonderful state government shall we? Funneling funds for Katrina victims to support their tanker bid to EADS/NG

Source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/3272614/EADS-Northrop-win-GO-Zone-bonds-approval?secret_password=aa3ajauuoxiii7roxfd
Source: http://tankerblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/katrina-aid-funneled-to-kc-30-team.html

You expect me to buy that all this is OK because ‘they are going to build it here’! Who are the hypocrites now? Maybe it’s time you folks took off your ‘rose colored glasses’ and donned a pair of ‘real world glasses’ and looked at things as the really are.

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michaelc Says:

Fri, Aug 01, 2008 at 12:05 pm

Boeing did not even come CLOSE to 100 different items in its protest! Per Mr. Daniel Gordon - Deputy General Counsel - Government Accountability Office, in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee:

“Boeing advanced numerous protest grounds, which required us to use almost all of the 100 calendar days allowed by CICA to resolve the protest. In this regard, Boeing supplemented its initial protest seven times, raising more than 20 main challenges to the agency’s evaluation and source selection.”

Note he didn’t’ say more than 100, or 90, or even 80! More than 20 is what the man said. That puts the challenges at more than 21 but less than 29. NO WHERE NEAR 100.

Source: http://armedservices.house.gov/pdfs/AL071008/Gordon_Testimony071008.pdf

The GAO also supported 9 of those issues, not 7.

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michaelc Says:

Fri, Aug 01, 2008 at 12:05 pm

Blah, blah, blah! More of the same, ‘Boeing did this”, and ‘Boeing did that’, IRRELEVENT! I’ve got news for you people, NORTHRUP DOES THE EXACT SAME THING, you’re just to blind to the ‘they are going to build it here’ ####! Do you really think that EADS/NG doesn’t have paid lobbyist? Your boys go straight to the TOP!

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jul/17/eads.georgebush

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Opinionwriter Says:

Fri, Aug 01, 2008 at 11:06 am

“Boeing has, nor ever will claim that the KC-767 is 100% ‘American’.”
- I didn’t say Boeing claimed 100% American, I said it’s “Boeing backers” like the politicians and media (especially Lou Dobbs) who keep trying to taint the picture with lies.

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asda Says:

Fri, Aug 01, 2008 at 10:40 am

Why out of over 100 different items that Boeing protested they only found merit in 7 of them. That sounds pretty fair to me.

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asda Says:

Fri, Aug 01, 2008 at 10:38 am

Boeing spent $7.8 million lobbying politicians and $1.4 million in campaign contributions in 2000. 14 Richard Armitage (a Boeing Consultant and Deputy Secretary of State) and Karl Rove (a White House Senior Advisor who owns $250,000 in Boeing stock) can be counted on to work with Boeing’s loyal Congresspeople at the federal level - Democratic Senator Patty Murray and Representative Norm Dicks.

To ensure that their interests are followed, the economic elite have established and funded two political parties. In the last decade, Boeing has spent $7.6 million in PAC and soft money contributions.

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PeterDaphne Says:

Fri, Aug 01, 2008 at 10:23 am

With all of the delays in Boeing’s aircraft production of Dreamliners, Italian and Japanese Tankers, it would do a wonder of good for Boeing to be allowed to have competition, ie. Northrop/EADS. If politicians are going to be protectionist to the point of steering most contracts to Boeing with its inefficient and antiquated production lines - with their long delays - and to be the sole provider of certain armament, why not just nationalize the company and let us all own their stock.

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michaelc Says:

Fri, Aug 01, 2008 at 10:19 am

“They did follow their own rules so this point is moot.”

Um, you HAVE read the GAO report haven’t you? You may want to go back a review. The whole reason we are going through this is because the Air Force didn’t follow their own rules! So on this point I will have to disagree with you, it most DEFINATLELY is not MOOT!

“And as far as Boeing porkers—Boeing gives so much money to these to Porkers that they might as well get Boeing Tattooed on their foreheads.”

Do you have documentation to support this? If not, it’s simply speculation on your part.

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