Hawes of MCPS says bilking the taxpayer is OK with him

Richard Hawes, the MCPS facilities manager who tried to force the unwanted Kendale School project on the Seven Locks community - and who lied about important material facts concerning construction - says he has no problem with the Abramoff group bilking the county taxpayers.

The Washington Post discovered that the contract allowed the Abramoff group "to bull the full $9.9 million regardless of the renovation costs and to use the leftover taxpayer money as it wished." It reported that MCPS "awarded the contract without competitive bidding and waived rights to inspect the project."

That's just peachy with Hawes.

"Our clear intent was to reimburse [Yeshiva] for what they had done" at the first school," Hawes tells the Post. "If they made money off of it, that's the American way."