Friday, September 16, 2011

Ok, you've waited long enough: here's what Steve Simpson does for a living, and why it matters

Steve Simpson, the Republican nominee for Attorney General, was, until February 15, 2011, the Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. As Commissione, Simpson was responsible for approving all contracts with vendors who wished to do business with DPS.

One of the largest contracts Simpson signed as Commissioner was a $5,900,000.00 contract with L-1 Identity Solutions for automated drivers license kiosks. Simpson signed that back in 2008. Big deal, right?

Well, on February 2, 2011, 13 days prior to Simpson's planned exit from his job at DPS, Simpson signed a "change order" with L-1, which added an additional $63,600.00 to the price of the contract between DPS and L-1.

So, who, I ask, does Republican Attoreny General nominee Steve Simpson work for now? You got it, L-1 Identity Solutions. (Not that you'd know that from his Ethics filing, though.)

I have the documents to back all of this up, and will be posting them shortly.

5 comments:

mississippi citizen said...

I think that John McEnroe said it best: "You cannot be serious!"

James Parker said...

Mr. Simpson seems to be quite the conspicuous, conflicting con arti...er...conservative.

Anderson said...

Now, is his salary $63K? Please let it be $63K.

Kristina said...

It's my understanding that the kiosk system has been nothing but a success in Mississippi? I don't think changing an order or adding to it, while in office, is anything worth reporting!!! The kiosks and how they have proven to be an efficient way to help the DMV is one of positive things that Steve Simpson did in his position in Public Safety. If Steve Simpson is an advocate for these kiosks in other states, I say WAY TO GO! To imply impropriety you should look at your candidate, Jim Hood.

Cottonmouth said...

I don't know the answer to that, Anderson. Maybe Kristina does....