ELECTION 2004

• Election 2004 section • Enquirer's election guide SUNDAY FORUM • Going back to 'college' • Our choices for Tuesday • Issue 4 is affordable way for city to improve • Issue 4 would hurt city, help taxpayers little • Bush is best choice to fight terrorists • More letters: The election of 2004 NATIONAL • Bin Laden tape fodder in presidential contest • Electoral College 'tied,' too • Contract officer warned against Halliburton deal • Cheney to woo Aloha State • Gore gets lei before VP does OHIO • Election paranoia running rampant • Final push: Get voters excited • Rallies, caravans, calls: Voting day must be near • On the streets, door to door, citizens rally for school issues • Direct mail still potent for candidates • Remember my name! • Campaign notebook • A survival guide to voting in Ohio (PDF file, 12k) KENTUCKY • Crowley: GOP forfeits high ground in Senate race • Voters anxious for election • Some candidates endorse Ky. importing drugs from Canada • Getting out all the votes • Lakeside Park candidates oppose possibility of merger • Parties seek gains Tuesday in Ky.'s divided legislature • Amendment won't be last word, foes say • Voters turn to Bible for ballot guidance • Senate campaign comes down to barbs over Ten Commandments

"I wrote directly on the document the weaknesses ... so that all could clearly see," contracting official Bunnatine Greenhouse wrote a top general this month in questioning the extended troop support contract in the Balkans.

Greenhouse has had problems with the $2 billion contract at least since January 2002, when she wrote, "There is little or no incentive for the contractor to reduce or keep cost down."

The contracting officer has gone public with allegations of favoritism toward the company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Greenhouse complained, in writing, Oct. 5 to Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers, that the Corps should not have halted plans to let companies compete for a successor Balkans contract. She is the Corps' top contracting officer.

Corps officials initially justified stopping the bidding by concluding that a "compelling emergency" would exist if Halliburton's work were to be interrupted.

When Greenhouse challenged the justification and sought an explanation of the emergency, however, Corps officials changed their reasoning. The new explanation was that Halliburton subsidiary KBR was the "one and only" company that could do the job.

Greenhouse, who has said she was frozen out of decisions on Halliburton, went public last weekend with allegations that Army officials showed favoritism to the company.

The FBI has asked Greenhouse's lawyers for an interview with her. The bureau has launched a criminal investigation of Halliburton's no-bid work.

The Balkans contract was to have ended May 27 but has been extended through next April.

Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said, "The issue mentioned about the Balkans was fully dealt with and resolved several years ago, and since then KBR has received high marks from the Army on our Balkans Support Contract."

In a letter to Corps employees on Friday, Strock said the Army is investigating Greenhouse's allegations and therefore would not respond to the allegations "to ensure that a fair investigation can proceed."

The Army has cited severe problems with Halliburton's work in the Balkans.