A "Recovery ham" update

The USDA offers up a lame explanation that basically boils down to "the Recovery.gov website sucks", and counters that what was actually purchased from Clougherty Packing was 760,000 pounds of ham in two-pound increments "at a cost of approximately $1.50 per pound." (Emphasis mine)

Fair enough.

However, as online colleague and all-around wag Scott Jordan notes, Food Lion is right this minute advertising Smithfield Shank Portion Smoked Ham (or, as Scott puts it, "the good stuff") for 79 cents a pound.

That's right, the USDA paid just about twice as much wholesale for basically the same item a local discount grocery store is offering at retail to anyone who walks in the door, no bulk purchase required.

That'll sure put an end to any questions about the Feds' management competence. (eyes roll)

The government was probably better off letting the original story stand unchallenged. That way, their "superior" commodity negotiating skills wouldn't have been exposed for everyone to see.


YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Details of this story are breaking with lightning speed. Isn't the Internet great?

According to Tim Worstall of the San Francisco Examiner, Clougherty Packing is owned by Hormel. As in James Hormel, the prolific donor to Democratic causes and former Ambassador to Luxembourg under Bill Clinton.

There's no definitive quid pro quo as of yet, but it sure would be interesting to examine the other sealed bids for the contract to see if Clougherty was indeed the proper winner of the process.