1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool turned green because of a botched renovation, not vandalism — and the contract behind that renovation demands a full investigation. The federal government awarded a $1.7 million no-bid contract to Greenwater Services, owned by the J.J. Cafaro Investment Trust. John Cafaro is a two-time federal felon who pleaded guilty to bribing a sitting member of Congress in 2001 and to making a false statement about a campaign contribution in 2010. He donated $350,000 to Trump across 2020 and 2024. That contract needs scrutiny now. The renovation itself was negligent. The blue waterproof coating failed in trials before it was applied. The buried pipes connecting the pool to its treatment plant were never repaired, so the filtration system wasn't running when the basin refilled. The Interior Department traced the algae bloom to residual growth in supply lines dormant for eight weeks. Meanwhile, the most surveilled public space in the country has produced zero footage of any vandalism — because there was none. Constituents deserve to know why a no-bid contract went to a repeat felon with direct financial ties to the administration, and why a $14 million renovation skipped the one repair that would have prevented this. Please open a formal investigation into the contracting process and the renovation's scope decisions.