Gallup Being Sued By Federal Gov't. Agencies

[Drek]

USA Today Link (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/story/2012-08-22/justice-department-joins-suit-against-gallup/57215932/1)

Turns out Gallup has been massively over billing for their services and fixing bid specs in order to give them what effectively amounts to uncontested bids.

Multiple branches of the government, including the Mint and the Justice Department, are now suing them.

Consider that the next time you give Gallup's polling any weight ever again. They clearly have top down systemic corruption when it comes to billing. Does anyone think they're above manipulating their polling data to make their once every 4 year cash cow - the presidential elections, make them the most money?

[Rohirrim]

Unfortunately, too many citizens in America consider the federal government a cash cow and have some kind of twisted logic operating that rationalizes them gouging it for every penny they can. I used to work in military procurement and saw this attitude on a daily basis. One of the biggest issues in our exploding health care costs come from people defrauding federal health care programs, charging five and six times more than procedures or equipment are worth. This is one of the reasons I despise Reagan. He sold that whole idea that government is our enemy. Why not gouge them? They aren't "us." They're the enemy.

[nyuk nyuk]

Uhm all you have to do is search who the most accurate polls were in the 2008 election, and Gallup wasn't on the top. The dreaded Rasmussen was, however, the same one liberals in 2008 kept claiming was "skewed right."

[nyuk nyuk]

Unfortunately, too many citizens in America consider the federal government a cash cow and have some kind of twisted logic operating that rationalizes them gouging it for every penny they can. I used to work in military procurement and saw this attitude on a daily basis. One of the biggest issues in our exploding health care costs come from people defrauding federal health care programs, charging five and six times more than procedures or equipment are worth. This is one of the reasons I despise Reagan. He sold that whole idea that government is our enemy. Why not gouge them? They aren't "us." They're the enemy.

Think entitlements and excessive welfare programs from Democrats have encouraged this any? More programs, more this, more that! More free stuff is one of the Democratic Party's main dangled carrots to the underclass. Republicans have the audacity to offer jobs.

Reagan never said to gouge the government (????) just so you know, and I'm quite sure he didn't think it OK to steal tax dollars.

[Rohirrim]

Think entitlements and excessive welfare programs from Democrats have encouraged this any? More programs, more this, more that! More free stuff is one of the Democratic Party's main dangled carrots to the underclass. Republicans have the audacity to offer jobs.

Reagan never said to gouge the government (????) just so you know, and I'm quite sure he didn't think it OK to steal tax dollars.

Reagan set up the ethos that "Government is the problem." I think that we have the best government in the world. Or in history, for that matter. And that's what I learned as a child, to be proud of our government. Then Reagan comes along and tells us that government is our problem. That we should shrink it until we can drown it in a bathtub. And replace it with what? Corporatocracy? Plutocracy? No thanks.

[nyuk nyuk]

Reagan set up the ethos that "Government is the problem." I think that we have the best government in the world. Or in history, for that matter. And that's what I learned as a child, to be proud of our government. Then Reagan comes along and tells us that government is our problem. That we should shrink it until we can drown it in a bathtub. And replace it with what? Corporatocracy? Plutocracy? No thanks.

Ripping quotes out of context? Intentional or just grossly ignorant?

[Rohirrim]

Ripping quotes out of context? Intentional or just grossly ignorant?

Historically accurate.

[SoCalBronco]

What does billing have to do with poll data? Sounds like political payback for not liking their likely voter screen.....not that there's anything wrong with that. I would do the same but it still comes off as petty.

[nyuk nyuk]

Historically accurate.

So you actually think his reference to oversized, intrusive government meant that it was OK for people to abuse the system and loot it? Whut?

[nyuk nyuk]

What does billing have to do with poll data? Sounds like political payback for not liking their likely voter screen.....not that there's anything wrong with that. I would do the same but it still comes off as petty.

I agree. There may be justified issues with the billing, but why is the suit timed NOW exactly when Gallup Polling is showing Romney ahead? Smells of politics. I'm sure plenty of businesses overbill the feds, but why them and why now?

[Spider]

Think entitlements and excessive welfare programs from Democrats have encouraged this any? More programs, more this, more that! More free stuff is one of the Democratic Party's main dangled carrots to the underclass. Republicans have the audacity to offer jobs.

Reagan never said to gouge the government (????) just so you know, and I'm quite sure he didn't think it OK to steal tax dollars.

you are certified bat shiat crazy ....Ronnie Raygun ..ever hear of him ?

[Rohirrim]

So you actually think his reference to oversized, intrusive government meant that it was OK for people to abuse the system and loot it? Whut?

He did not separate government from bad policies, which are two different things. It's one thing to call policies misguided. It's another to say "Government is the problem." That original error has now morphed into a Right Wing assault on our government itself.

Case in point: The Right's stranglehold on the House and their abuse of process to the point that their obstructionism is now harming the general welfare of the country in the name of their rabid partisanship. In other words, they no longer have any respect for our form of government.

[nyuk nyuk]

He did not separate government from bad policies, which are two different things. It's one thing to call policies misguided. It's another to say "Government is the problem." That original error has now morphed into a Right Wing assault on our government itself.

Case in point: The Right's stranglehold on the House and their abuse of process to the point that their obstructionism is now harming the general welfare of the country in the name of their rabid partisanship. In other words, they no longer have any respect for our form of government.

He always said government was bloated and oversized, and Republicans rightly continue to do so. That you think such a position thinks remotely that Reagan was supporting the looting of the treasury because of his belief that the government was bloated is beyond belief. All you seem to have to support this is a sound byte ripped out of any meaningful context.

In his own words, the statement IN CONTEXT and clarified for the timid:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RmUJY5EugcM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[nyuk nyuk]

you are certified bat shiat crazy ....Ronnie Raygun ..ever hear of him ?

Now if you keep up with this behavior in violating the standards of civility on this here forum, Rohirrim may report you.

[elsid13]

What does billing have to do with poll data? Sounds like political payback for not liking their likely voter screen.....not that there's anything wrong with that. I would do the same but it still comes off as petty.

We both know that there is no political motivation in this. It about how long it took to file the case and get all the agencies counsels to agree on the suit.

[SoCalBronco]

We both know that there is no political motivation in this. It about how long it took to file the case and get all the agencies counsels to agree on the suit.

There's no such thing as "no political motivation". It was noted in September that Axelrod had, some months earlier, been intimidating Gallup and some emails were produced to demonstrate this.

Look I'm not taking the administration to task for using the levers of power to try and influence a poll. I don't care if they do. Every administration does and I don't care. I'm most interested in productivity and accomplishments, not whether they are tyrants or not. I don't give a **** if they're tyrants. It has nothign to do with tangible results. But it does come across as petty from a PR perspective when a purely political advisor has a beef with them and then later the Justice Dept. has a suit against them. It's petty and it makes the actual suit less credible and what it makes even less credible is the claim that because maybe there are billing abuses, the actual poll methodology is somehow bad because of htis. Polling methodology has absolutely nothing to do with potential billing abuses, so people in the thread shouldn't be connecting them because they are upset at polling data for their guy.