Sen. McConnell & Wife Secy of Transportation Chao: Deep in Grant Money Corruption

Kentucky's finest corruption family

Same subject stories from Vanity Fair, Politico, Business Insider, Vox, and where Sen. Mitch McConnell dismisses the story from the Washington Post:

Transportation Department Secretary Elaine Chao designated a special liaison to help with grant applications and other priorities from her husband GOP Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and to their state, Kentucky, thus paving the way for grants totaling at least $78 million for favored projects as McConnell prepared to campaign for reelection.

Chao’s aide Todd Inman, stated in an email to McConnell’s Senate office that Chao had personally asked him to serve as an intermediary, helped advise the senator and local Kentucky officials on grants with special significance for McConnell — including a highway-improvement project in a McConnell political stronghold that had been twice rejected for previous grant applications.

Inman, himself a longtime Owensboro resident and onetime mayoral candidate who is now Chao’s CofS, followed up the 2017 meeting by emailing the Riverport authority on how to improve its application. 

He also discussed the project by phone with Al Mattingly, the chief executive of Daviess County, which includes Owensboro, who suggested Inman was instrumental in the process.

Mattingly also said in a POLITICO interview: “Todd probably smoothed the way, I mean, you know, used his influence. Everybody says that projects stand on their own merit, right? So if I’ve got 10 projects, and they’re all equal, where do you go to break the tie? Well, let’s put it this way: I only have her ear an hour when I go to visit her once a year. With a local guy, he has her ear 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You tell me.”

Nonetheless, one former career official who was involved in the grant review process under multiple administrations, said that once the findings of the professional staff are presented to the secretary’s office, politics often plays a role in who gets the money.

Speaking without attribution for fear of reprisals the official said: “Putting a thumb on the scale for a favored project is really, very common, I would say across parties. It’s always going to be political. We have a merit-based process that we essentially ignore, [and] it’s really detrimental to meeting national transportation needs and having people feel like the process is worth engaging in.”

Virginia Canter, a former White House associate counsel under Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton and current ethics counsel for the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said showing political favoritism in awarding grants violates ethical standards. And when a potential beneficiary is a spouse, there’s an extra level of concern.

Then Cantor added: “There’s a standard for government employees; they’re expected to be impartial. When you have a spouse who’s the head of an agency and the other spouse is a leading member of Congress — and their office is referring matters to the department, and they’re flagging things from donors, from people with particular political affiliations, who are ‘quote-unquote friends’ — then it raises the question of whether the office, instead of being used purely for official purposes, is being used for political purposes. The fact that they’re both in these very important positions gives them the opportunity to be watching out for each other’s political and professional interests. Anytime a member of Congress can bring home funding to his or her community it could make a difference. It shows the member is being responsive.”

Sen. McConnell was asked at his weekly press conference whether he had received any special consideration for transportation grants because of his status as Chao’s husband. He skillfully turned the tables on the question saying in fact he had discussed federal projects with Chao, but that she hadn’t steered enough funds to his state adding: “You know, I was complaining to her just last night: 169 projects, and Kentucky got only five. I hope we’ll do a lot better next year.”

My 2 cents: If you believe McConnell’s BS and the total story details above (I totally do not) then boy, do I know have a bridge for sale in Brooklyn and still very cheap.

What will become of this blatant corruption? Nothing since McConnell has both Trump’s ear and back – he skates therefore while maintaining his symbiotic relationship with Trump. 

Also, this kind of “official” corruption is the lifeblood of most incumbents – from both sides just to be fair.

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