About those mystery laptops sent to the governor
Friday, August 28, 2009 | 9:37 am
Who wouldn't want to receive five HP computer laptops for free?
Not Gov. Chris Gregoire. Or for that matter, not governors in several other states.
AP's Lawrence Messina (with an assist from Rachel La Corte in Olympia) reported today that computers were delivered to governors' offices in Vermont, Wyoming and Wisconsin. And, like in Washington, they had not been ordered.
I checked with Gregoire's communications office today and here's what happened in Washington.
At the end of July, a FedEx shipping envelope and a box with the five laptops arrived in the governor's office in the Capitol.
A staff member read the shipping order and knew immediately it was a mistake. None of the computers were unpacked. The staffer called FedEx to have it retrieve the order. By Aug. 4, the computers were in an HP warehouse in Indianopolis.
A couple days later, a note from the National Governors Association arrived saying such deliveries had been occurring elsewhere in the country.
It read in part:
Re: Unordered Computers Being Sent to Governors Offices
"The Vermont Governor’s Office received two shipments of computers from Hewlett Packard within the last week that were not ordered by that office or by the Governor. The payment method for the computers was with a credit card that named the Governor as the cardholder but that is not a state-issued card or one personally held by the Governor. Vermont has turned the matter over to the Vermont Attorney General for investigation. The AGO recently learned that at least one other state received shipments under similar suspicious circumstances and that HP intercepted a shipment to a third state.
"The Vermont AGO asked that NGA make an inquiry of other Governor’s Offices to determine if any have received shipments of HP computers that were not ordered by that office."
A couple days later, Hewlett Packard Company issued a statement which reads in part:
HP is aware that fraudulent state government orders recently have been placed for small amounts of HP equipment. HP took prompt corrective action to address the fraudulent orders and is working with law enforcement personnel on a criminal investigation.
Not Gov. Chris Gregoire. Or for that matter, not governors in several other states.
AP's Lawrence Messina (with an assist from Rachel La Corte in Olympia) reported today that computers were delivered to governors' offices in Vermont, Wyoming and Wisconsin. And, like in Washington, they had not been ordered.
I checked with Gregoire's communications office today and here's what happened in Washington.
At the end of July, a FedEx shipping envelope and a box with the five laptops arrived in the governor's office in the Capitol.
A staff member read the shipping order and knew immediately it was a mistake. None of the computers were unpacked. The staffer called FedEx to have it retrieve the order. By Aug. 4, the computers were in an HP warehouse in Indianopolis.
A couple days later, a note from the National Governors Association arrived saying such deliveries had been occurring elsewhere in the country.
It read in part:
Re: Unordered Computers Being Sent to Governors Offices
"The Vermont Governor’s Office received two shipments of computers from Hewlett Packard within the last week that were not ordered by that office or by the Governor. The payment method for the computers was with a credit card that named the Governor as the cardholder but that is not a state-issued card or one personally held by the Governor. Vermont has turned the matter over to the Vermont Attorney General for investigation. The AGO recently learned that at least one other state received shipments under similar suspicious circumstances and that HP intercepted a shipment to a third state.
"The Vermont AGO asked that NGA make an inquiry of other Governor’s Offices to determine if any have received shipments of HP computers that were not ordered by that office."
A couple days later, Hewlett Packard Company issued a statement which reads in part:
HP is aware that fraudulent state government orders recently have been placed for small amounts of HP equipment. HP took prompt corrective action to address the fraudulent orders and is working with law enforcement personnel on a criminal investigation.
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