Post-9/11 Rush Mixed Politics With Security(Rep. Hal Rogers R-Ky)

By Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Scott Higham
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 25, 2005; Page A01

As a small start-up company in Massachusetts sought to become a major player in the business of homeland security, it hired a lobbyist and attended a fundraiser for one of the most powerful members of Congress.

The company was Reveal Imaging Technologies Inc. The congressman was Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers (R-Ky.). The fundraiser, held Oct. 22, 2003, brought in $14,000 from Reveal and was the beginning of a mutually beneficial association.



On Nov. 4, 2004, Tom Ridge, who was secretary of the Homeland Security Department, speaks at the Center for Rural Development, which Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers, far left, helped create. (By Janie Slaven -- Commonwealth Journal)
Reveal had just received a government grant to develop smaller, cheaper explosives-detection machines to scan baggage at the nation's airports. Rogers, who chairs the House Appropriations homeland security subcommittee, said he wanted the machines to improve security while saving taxpayers' money.

In the end, Reveal received a federal contract from the Transportation Security Administration worth up to $463 million. Rogers achieved his goal of launching the next generation of machines. In the process, he received $122,111 in donations to his leadership political action committee from Reveal executives and associates -- and a pledge from the company to move $15 million worth of work to Rogers's poor Appalachian congressional district.

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/24/AR2005122400994.html

(such as the good folks at Reveal Imaging Technologies, Inc.) achieve the American Dream?