Former Top Nasa Official Goes On Trial On Charges Of Steering $9.6 to Client
Prosecutors told the jury during opening arguments they would prove Courtney Stadd abused the power of his government office to line his own pockets and mislead ethics officials.
Stadds lawyer insisted his client was only carrying out the orders of NASA Administrator Michael Griffin when he insisted in 2005 that $12 million of the money be spent in the state of Mississippi.
The client, Mississippi State University, ended up with $9.6 million of the funds. Afterward, prosecutors said Stadd tried to get the university to raise his fee from $7,000 a month to $10,000 a month, citing his help with the funding.
Stadd, who lives in Bethesda, Md., faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of one conflict of interest count and two counts of making a false statement.
Stadd was NASAs chief of staff and White House liaison from 2001 to 2003 and served as former President George W. Bushs NASA transition chief in 2000. After leaving the agency, Stadd started a lobbying and consulting business called Capital Solutions that specialized in advising aerospace clients.
When Bush named Griffin to take over as administrator in 2005, Griffin hired Stadd temporarily as a senior adviser to help with his transition.
Prosecutor David Johnson said during the roughly two months that Stadd was in that role, he worked from inside the administrators suite on the 9th floor at NASA headquarters and essentially served as the agencys No. 3 official. Johnson said Stadd told the agencys ethics lawyer that Mississippi State was a client but he had told his contact at the university over a dinner that he could not work on NASA-related issues while working at the space agency.
But Johnson said the university contact, GeoResources Institute Director David R. Shaw, will testify Stadd told him no such thing. Johnson said Stadd also lied when he signed an ethics agreement near the end of his brief return to NASA saying he wouldnt participate in matters involving organizations in which he had a financial interest. But Johnson said Stadd was already violating the rule when he signed the statement.
The alleged violation involves a $15 million earmark that Mississippis congressional delegation secured for earth science research. But Johnson said when Mary Cleave, acting director of NASAs Earth-Sun System Division, decided to conduct a nationwide search for bids, Shaw e-mailed Stadd saying he feared the money would not come to Mississippi and asking if he could “provide some prodding.”
Johnson said the next day Stadd summoned Cleave to his office and told her only $3 million should be put out for nationwide bids. The remaining $12 million, he told Cleave, should go to Mississippi because of an agreement between the states congressional delegation and the agencys previous administrator, Sean OKeefe.
Stadds lawyer, Dorrance Dickens, said Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran had pressured Griffin during his confirmation to uphold OKeefes commitment, and Griffin told Stadd and other senior NASA officials to “get it done.” Griffin is expected to testify in the case.
Dickens said Stadd was trying to walk the line between carrying out Griffins orders and complying with ethics rules when he said the money should go to Mississippi, without ever specifying it should go to Mississippi State University. He said Stadd was a respected official at the agency and a rule follower.