The faux scandal of today comes to us courtesy of The Daily Caller: “Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare website.”
First Lady Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is a top executive at the company that earned the contract to build the failed Obamacare website.
Toni Townes-Whitley, Princeton class of ’85, is senior vice president at CGI Federal, which earned the no-bid contract to build the $678 million Obamacare enrollment website at Healthcare.gov. CGI Federal is the U.S. arm of a Canadian company.
Townes-Whitley and her Princeton classmate Michelle Obama are both members of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni.
Absent evidence that Mrs. Obama and Townes-Whitley are very close, I’m not sure why this is supposed to be scandalous. Princeton has a current undergraduate enrollment of 5336, roughly half of whom are female. Even if we assume high attrition, that means roughly 1000 people graduate Princeton every year, roughly 500 of whom are female. Given that it’s one of the most prestigious universities in the country, any large company will likely have Princeton grads among its executive ranks—particularly graduates from over a quarter century ago.
Oddly, the Caller buried a more interesting factoid:
George Schindler, the president for U.S. and Canada of the Canadian-based CGI Group, CGI Federal’s parent company, became an Obama 2012 campaign donor after his company gained the Obamacare website contract.
As reported by the Washington Examiner in early October, the Department of Health and Human Services reviewed only CGI’s bid for the Obamacare account. CGI was one of 16 companies qualified under the Bush administration to provide certain tech services to the federal government. A senior vice president for the company testified this week before The House Committee on Energy and Commerce that four companies submitted bids, but did not name those companies or explain why only CGI’s bid was considered.
Schindler donating money as a quid pro quo for receiving a lucrative no-bid contract would be interesting. Alas, clicking through the link we see it was a mere $1000.
