Just one day after Tom Ridge was tapped to be Homeland Security Secretary, he popped in for a visit with a lobbyist who's firm later wound up with lots of contracts from Mr Ridge's department. Mr Ridge went to Arizona for a sitdown with David Girard-diCarlo. Mr Girard-diCarlo's firm is called Blank Rome. After the visit, two of Mr Ridge's aides -- from his time as Governor of Pennsylvania -- were hired as lobbyists at Blank Rome. Their job was to lobby Mr Ridge's new department for contracts to Blank Rome's clients.
Shortly after the visit, one of Girard-diCarlo's clients -- Raytheon -- won a $10 billion contract for border protection. Since 2003, Blank Rome has lobbied Homeland Security on behalf of tech company BearingPoint. That company was awarded a $229 million deal in September. CNN has this picture of President Bush, Secretary Ridge, and Mr Girard-diCarlo from a campaign stop last year. (NY Post)
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