Why D.C. Politicos Love This Money-Wasting Contractor

In a story the Washington Examiner broke on Monday and the Washington Post follows today, city audits show that Affiliated Computer Solutions, a Dallas-based company that holds a nearly $20 million contract to manage the city's parking meters, has essentially wasted millions of taxpayer dollars.

But don't expect a lot of political pressure from certain big names to end ACS' contract. What the stories didn't mention is that ACS is a big-time campaign contributor. According to city campaign-finance records, ACS gave more than $8,500 to seven 2006 election campaigns, including those of Mayor Adrian Fenty and Council Chair Vincent Gray. And that's not counting the more than $5,000 doled out by ACS lobbyist Max Brown.

The good news for taxpayers/bad news for ACS? While they gave the $2,000 maximum to the Linda Cropp campaign, they gave only half that amount to Fenty.