Northrop has friend in Kaine

That staunch defender of ordinary folk, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, continues rushing, heart aflutter, to wrap loving arms around poor Northrop Grumman, the world’s fourth largest defense contractor with its piddling $32 billion in annual revenues. Some bid Kaine sit still. Meanwhile, an aroma stirs.

And meanies in the General Assembly want to know why Northrop can’t make good on its end of a $2.4-billion contract to manage the state’s information technology systems. Kaine says the problem is in the management of the deal and, big-hearted lug that he is, he’s vowed to rework the terms. To which state lawmakers say, step away from the contract, governor.

The chairmen of a pair of legislative panels have asked Kaine to cease and desist contractual tinkering until their snoops finish investigating a lengthening list of complaints concerning the governor’s beloved. That development and others add intrigue to intrigue.

It has gone like this:

First, Lemuel Stewart erred by blowing whistles. The chief information officer of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, or VITA, told that organization’s board that it should withhold payment on a Northrop invoice over worries about high costs and poor service. The board answered by firing Stewart.

Kaine then stepped in to defend Northrop as VITA’s board tapped one of the governor’s cabinet appointees, Secretary of Technology Len Pomata, to replace Stewart. Hmm. Pomata responded dutifully, approving on June 22 a $13.2-million payment to Northrop despite VITA’s contract manager and finance director recommending that the money be withheld because of missing details in the invoice. Some mused over potential conflicts in Pomata’s dual roles. With a hand firmly clamped over his eyes, Kaine saw no evil.

Eight days after Pomata signed off the Northrop payment, VITA’s contract manager told the company that it had two months to produce a plan to shape up. A joint commission of the General Assembly reported that Northrop had been late on 63 percent of the more than 70 benchmarks set in its contract. Batting .370 makes a fellow a legend in baseball, a bum in most everything else. Is the governor playing games or just confused?

Finally, there’s this: On Monday, the state’s Freedom of Information Advisory Council said VITA’s board improperly held a closed-door meeting in April to discuss the performance terms of Northrop’s contract, which, by the by, is the state’s largest ever with a single vendor. After the private huddle, Stewart went public over the invoice and off went his head. Coincidentally, of course. The same thing happened to a horse in “The Godfather.”

Swimming beneath the thickening ooze are curious facts. Since Kaine became governor in 2005 and picked up the state’s IT services partnership plan from his predecessor, Mark Warner, Northrop has funneled almost half of $432,280 in campaign contributions in Virginia to Democrats. In nine previous years, Virginia Democrats picked up just 39 percent of Northrop’s campaign contributions.

There’s also this: Since joining Northrop in 2002, company Chairman and CEO Ron Sugar’s personal campaign contributions have run more than 2-to-1 in favor of Democrats. From 1993 to 2001, his contributions favored Republicans by almost 3-to-1.

Kaine, like Warner, is a Democrat. Kaine also happens to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The coincidences are remarkable. The air about them offends increasingly.