Accenture Booed In Madison

[EMunster]

Accenture voter deal will stand, board head says

By Aaron Nathans
December 21, 2004

The executive director of the state Elections Board is defending the decision to hire the private firm Accenture to create a state voter database.

Kevin Kennedy dealt with hollers and catcalls from the crowd of slightly more than 100 Monday night at the Wisconsin Memorial Union. Citizens are questioning the $9.7 million state contract with Accenture, a Bermuda-based consulting firm, to create the voter database system by Jan. 1, 2006. The state will pay about $3 million more for maintenance and support through 2010.....


more:
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/images/index.php?ntid=21902&ntpid=1

[Carolab]

1. There is a brand new Accenture office here

in a large bank building in downtown Minneapolis. These a'holes are everywhere.

[Hamoth]

2. O.k...I could totally make a database for abotu 5k. -NT

[GetTheRightVote]

3. It is simply a joke on the tax payer, no way it should cost that much

I am a programmer and they are running away with their money,
to bad so many bad people exist in this country, greed, just plain greed.

[Patsy Stone]

4. Accenture by any other name

is still Arthur Andersen...

[Carolab]

11. and Enron n/t

[RevCheesehead]

5. This is what ticks me off:

"The process was followed under state procurement rules," said Kennedy, whose board suggested a private firm would be best to create the voter list. He said anyone unhappy with the selection of Accenture should talk to the Legislature about the procurement process. "You award it to the best qualified bidder. It was opened up," Kennedy said.
(snip)
"McCabe asserted that the decision to seek a private firm, and then select Accenture, was done out of the public eye. Kennedy countered that everything was done by the book: The Elections Board wrote a letter to the Legislature recommending a procurement process, and the Legislature directed civil servants to start that process, he said."
(snip)
"McCabe said the state could cancel the contract if it wanted to; Kennedy said that was not going to happen.

"This gathering tonight is representative of what the Elections Board has wrought. They have bred mistrust and suspicion," McCabe said."


So, whom do we blame? The state elections board, or the repug legislature?

[eowyn_of_rohan]

6. You know the answer to that, Rev ;)

Here is a little tidbit from an August 2004 article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal

"Secrecy surrounding the contract is necessary to prevent "political meddling" and any attempts by vendors or their lobbyists to undercut the bids of rivals, said Kevin J. Kennedy, state Elections Board executive director.

"The whole idea of government contracting is to keep politics out of the selection process," Kennedy said.

Officials are following state law that requires that such information be kept secret until the bidding process is complete, said Department of Administration spokesman Scott Larrivee.

Secrecy "puts everyone on a level playing field," Larrivee said. "This process guarantees that taxpayers get the biggest bang for the buck."

Larrivee called the process "very standard." When a company is finally recommended, he said, information submitted by all companies will be made public.

But the secrecy surrounding the bidding has led legislators and others to recall how Kennedy and the Elections Board failed in the mid-1990s to comply with a legislative directive to post campaign-finance reports - including contributors, late donations and candidate spending - on the Internet for all candidates for state office.

http://www.wisconsinvoters.com/about-19.shtml

[Ellipsis]

7. We'll see about this.

Madison is still a liberal Town, maybe, the "last bastion of liberalism" in Wisconsin. Gonna have to do a little digging on this one. This, is going to escalate. You watch!

Madison had an awesome turn out for the vote I think 76%.

My old "Posse", out there booing, god love em.

k

[IndyOp]

8. Woo-hoo! GO! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

We just gotta make a few of these towns like Madison models of sparkling clean election procedures. Kick Accenture all the way back to Bermuda!

:kick:

[jdog]

9. GO MADISON! DO IT!

We love ya!!!!

[Ellipsis]

10. Damn Straight! Remember the documentary "the War at home" ?Damn Straight!

[Alizaryn]

12. I dropped the author a WARNING note

regarding Accenture and suggested that the board be forced to answer to how Florida's voter purge using Accenture went this year.