Lets see.... 

ALL of the technical people involved (read competent) said that the hardware was far over specified and recommended a less expensive alternative.

In July 2010, a West Virginia Office of Technology administrator warned that the Cisco 3945 series routers "may be grossly oversized," according to an email obtained by the Gazette-Mail.

The administrator asked state officials to postpone plans to spend $24 million on the routers so he would have time to evaluate the proposed purchase.

Five days later, state officials signed the $24 million contract with Verizon Network Integration to buy the Cisco routers.

Yet, the political hacks said....

 

West Virginia Homeland Security chief Jimmy Gianato, who's leading the state broadband project, defended the $24 million router purchase last week, saying the devices "could meet many different needs and be used for multiple applications."

"Our main concerns were to not have something that would become obsolete in a couple of years," Gianato said. "Looking at how technology evolves, we wanted something that was scalable, expandable and viable, five to 10 years out. We wanted to make sure every place had the same opportunity across the state."

This is what happens with an out of control government program who's success criterion is spending money, not providing value to the taxpayer....

And YOU PEOPLE here on the vine want to re-elect this crowd of clods?