Senior Citizens Oppose Government Contracts for WorldCom

The Gray Panthers, a senior citizens pressure group, began running advertisements in The Washington Post and other national newspapers criticizing the federal government for awarding lucrative telecommunications contracts to MCI WorldCom in the wake of the $11 billion accounting fraud that has negatively impacted so many people's retirement accounts. The Gray Panthers ads claim that since the massive fraud was uncovered, MCI WorldCom has become the government's biggest telecom provider with over $750 million in federal government revenues in 2002 -- over three times as much as runner-up AT&T. The Gray Panthers argue that it is particularly outrageous for the U.S. government to award MCI WorldCom a contract to rebuild the Iraqi phone system without even taking bids from other competitors. The group also noted the irony of the Securities and Exchange Commission issuing a $500 million fine to WorldCom for its criminal activities, when on the very next day the federal government awarded a multi-million-dollar weather satellite contract to WorldCom.
http://www.graypanthers.org