What’s old, underperformin’ Norman up to these days? With the continued blessing of George W. Bush, the Dept. of Transportation Secretary is still wasting your money and making us all less safe in the name of political correctness. Using this press release as a take-off point, my latest column takes a closer look at Mineta’s embrace of the racial spoils system at DOT.

You may recall that the Bush administration angered and disgusted conservatives by defending DOT racial set-asides four years ago–putting the Republican White House on the same side as the Clintonistas. Since then, the fraud, abuse, and fronting scams have continued under the so-called “disadvantaged business enterprise” scheme that amounts to dollar-driven discrimination.

See here in Philly. Here in Miami. And here in Denver. Plenty more examples here.

Conclusion:

September 11 was supposed to have “changed everything.” But for Bush and his Clinton holdover, Norm Mineta, it’s business as usual at the Transportation Department. You can profile for profit, but not for public safety.

Homeland security? What homeland security?

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Roger Clegg, who has been fighting the battle against pro-preference forces on both the left and right for many years, passes along info on a new study by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights showing that the DOT and many other agencies are–surprise, surprise–failing “to seriously consider race-neutral alternatives as the Constitution requires” in federal procurement programs.

GoxExec.com reports on the study here.

Mineta and his minions remain strangely silent about these violations of equal protection under the law.

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Getting lots of reader feedback from folks with experience in federal contracting/procurement exposing how the process is undermining homeland security. Keep sending. I may do a follow-up.