Buck hitches wagon to defense contractor who schemed to defraud taxpayers

Buscema contributed $7,000, the maximum allowed for an individual, to Buck’s campaign for Congress. She’s challenging Rep. Dina Titus, a Democrat, in Nevada’s Congressional District 1. 

Buscema also chipped in an additional $3,000 to GOP Winning Women, a Super PAC that has contributed $28,439 to Buck. 

S.A.F.E. Structure designs and manufactures support equipment and logistics for the U.S. Armed Forces. In addition to the military, it lists Boeing, Airbus, Cessna, and Learject among its clients. 

On his personal website, Buscema “attributes all his success to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ…” 

Buscema admitted to assisting in bid rigging by using his companies to make more than 100 bids for contracts he had no intention of winning, according to the settlement agreement. His companies coordinated with NOBLE, a Boston-based defense contractor that provided details to colluders that allowed another vendor to submit a lower bid, though higher than one resulting from a legitimate process.   

Buscema also paid other vendors to submit some 60 false bids so that his companies would win the contracts. 

“As evidenced in this settlement agreement, these contractors gamed the system to line their own pockets. They manipulated and undermined the fair and open bidding process designed to save our military – and taxpayers – money,” U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy of Massachusetts said in a news release last year. “Contractors should be scrupulous in dealing with the government, not coordinating with each other to pad their bottom line. When defense contractors collude, rather than compete, they violate the law and the public’s trust.”

Cheating the Dept. of Defense not only wastes taxpayer money, but also compromises the security of troops by supplying the government with inferior or defective weapons. It also deprives the military of revenue that could be used to support the troops. 

Buck has a personal interest in the well-being of U.S. troops. She is the mother of an Army Green Beret and combat medic. 

It’s unknown if she was aware of Buschema’s fraudulent acts when she accepted his contributions. The candidate and her campaign did not respond to requests for comment. 

“This is the height of hypocrisy,” Titus’ campaign spokesman Dick Cooper said in a statement. “She should return the money, just like John Buscema had to pay $1 million to settle the charges against him by the Department of Justice.”

Buscema also did not respond to the Current’s inquiries.