Wife, Friend Tie Congressman to Consulting Firm

[Judi Lynn]

Wife, Friend Tie Congressman to Consulting Firm
Company's Clients Say They Get Access to Va. Republican

By Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Scott Higham
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, July 28, 2006; Page A01

Two months before Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) became chairman of the powerful House Government Reform Committee in January 2003, one of his close friends formed ICG Government, a consulting company for technology firms seeking government contracts.

Donald W. Upson had risen with Davis through the burgeoning Northern Virginia technology community, where they worked side by side as executives at a company that sold computer systems to the government.

Davis went on to Congress, where he became a leading voice on government contracting and an advocate for his technology industry constituents in Fairfax and Prince William counties. Upson became the top technology official for the Virginia state government before reentering the private sector and starting ICG.

From the beginning, Upson worked with Davis and his staff as he built his consulting business, which holds seminars on procurement and advises clients on winning government technology contracts worth billions of dollars. Those contracts often came under the oversight of Davis's committee. One of Upson's first hires was Jeannemarie Devolites, a Virginia politician who later married the congressman.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/27/AR2006072701846.html?nav=rss_politics

On edit, adding photos:



William M. Davis III

[ShockediSay]

1. Gov't contractors and their lobby lawyers

are killing this democracy and bleeding it dry.

[struggle4progress]

2. 'It Was My Job to Maintain the Integrity'

Friday, July 28, 2006; Page A13

Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) and his staff have worked closely with corporations and their lobbyists to help write federal procurement legislation.

Davis said the effort is intended to streamline contracting and make it more efficient. But some procurement experts and federal investigators said the legislation, called the Services Acquisition Reform Act, contains provisions that would loosen federal oversight on contracts and allow practices that are susceptible to abuse and fraud ...

On May 3, 2002, Styles e-mailed her boss, then-OMB chief Mitchell E. Daniels Jr.: "David Addington probably did the best job of summarizing Mr. Davis' legislation. . . . 'I hear the whosh of taxpayer dollars out the window.' The bill is not fiscally responsible and cannot be supported in its current form."

She described 13 of the legislation's 29 provisions as "problematic" and said they would result in "policy changes that the administration cannot support." Among them: a plan to allow more contractors to bill the government for their "time and materials" with no fixed cap on the total amount ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/27/AR2006072701534.html