It’s no secret that big government always corrupts. Even less of a secret that it always corrupts liberals. It’s why we have watchdog groups, and attorney generals, and a free press – provided they’re not united in Fake News against an elected official.
Still, even with those safety precautions, I’ve never, ever seen as much corruption and payout money as this. It’s massive, and far worse than you’d see in just a single politician. Or a group of politicians, or even the entire Democratic party. It’s on a scale of what you might find in a small country.
To be honest, it is a small country.
Puerto Rico, as it turns out, has been busy growing deeper and deeper in debt by paying millions and millions of dollars to criminals, shady lobbyists, and – no joke – people and firms that don’t seem to exist.
At this point, it’s pretty safe to start calling the payments ‘bribes.’ Also, if you’ve forgotten, Puerto Rico is bankrupt.
The Daily Caller reports:
Bankrupt Puerto Rico has awarded nearly $11 million in consulting contracts to various businesses, including marketing, lobbying and public relations firms, some with ties to government officials, The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned.
Officials have issued 107 consulting contracts since January to questionable recipients.
The Caller is being nice, and playing professional, with its phrasing. Because ‘questionable recipients’ is literally the understatement of the year.
Take a look at what ‘questionable recipients’ actually means:
Rafael Cerame, press secretary for former Gov. Pedro Rosello, formed the public relations and marketing firm RCD International, which has received three consulting contracts worth a total of $298,000.
So, the government awarded its own press secretary 300 grand? And no one thought this was odd?
What kind of a fit would the American press be in if Trump just gave Spicer or Huckabee Sanders 300 grand of taxpayer funds?
I lived in Puerto Rico for two years, hands down the most corrupt place I have ever lived.
— Lisa H (@buderfly7) August 10, 2017
It gets better.
Municipal Consultants Group has received $250,000. The firm faced scrutiny and requests for investigations after it was discovered it shared office space and personnel with a group hired to audit Municipal Consultants’ government contracts.
In short, ‘a group that is supposed to investigate corruption is working for the guys they’re supposed to be investigating. All of them got taxpayer-funded contracts.’
Impressive. But it still gets better.
Arroyo-Flores Consulting Group received nearly $391,000 and has an almost blank Facebook page with only three likes. Its website provides little information and doesn’t even list the group’s executives.
The other, the MAC Group, received more than $364,000, seems to have no actual website.
Impressive.
We’ve gone from ‘people who work in government’ to ‘people who pay government off’ to ‘people who don’t actually exist.’
And Puerto Rico is bankrupt. And we’re bailing them out.
Source: Daily Caller
