"It's all that evil Bush's fault!"
Posted on 10/22/2005 5:03:57 AM PDT by Ellesu
But he still defends worker evacuation:
After nearly two months of public vitriol against his decision to evacuate pump operators before Hurricane Katrina, Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard has admitted to "flaws" in the parish disaster plan, conceding that workers were sent "too far away" to be able to restart pumps before flooding ruined thousands of homes.
In an advertisement financed with parish money and scheduled to be published in Sunday's Times-Picayune, Broussard again says dispatching 1,100 essential employees, including pump workers, to shelters in Washington Parish was the right call as a "potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm" aimed at Jefferson.
But in his most pronounced entreaty since the Aug. 29 storm, Broussard also acknowledges problems with the "doomsday" plan, including that most residents did not realize the parish intended to remove pump operators from their stations, which were not built to withstand a Category 4 or 5 hurricane.
"We never focused our attention on our plans to shelter pump crews off-site," Broussard says, according to a draft of the full-page advertisement that Broussard's spokesman provided to The Times-Picayune.
"I understand and accept your frustration," the ad says. "I assure you that while I remain firm in my decision to protect human life, I am equally committed to learn from the lessons, recognize the flaws of the Doomsday Plan and recognize that immediate changes must be (made to) create a more perfect plan."
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Buisson has said he would expect the Federal Emergency Management Agency to repay Jefferson for the cost of the ads, mainly because they were part of a larger objective to overhaul the area's hurricane protection.
The ads, he said, were informational, not political, and therefore should not have been financed from the $139,087 that Broussard reported to the state Ethics Board in February he had in his campaign account.
But a FEMA spokesman said the parish's Katrina ads most likely do not qualify for the agency's "public assistance" reimbursement program, which compensates local governments only for money spent directly "to protect the life and safety of people."
"If the parish had to put a legal notice in the paper about sandbagging . . . or about a deadline for debris removal, that would be reimbursable," spokesman Kim Pease said. "This particular ad, in the opinion of the people who control the purse strings, would not qualify."
Broussard is the guy who blubbered like a little girl on national television. If this clown is re-elected Louisianna should be kicked out of the Union and given back to France.
Of course, it was a CAT 2 when it hit NO.
Broussard in a lying, blubbering FOOL........... who needs a shave!
I hear you!
You're right. I live in this pathetic banana republic though not for much longer.
The circle's just about closed here on what amounts to a political oligarchy. Moon Landrieu's daughter is the senior US senator, Moon Landrieu's son is the Lt. Governor(and will soon be Governor) and Moon Landrieu's hand picked crony Sheriff of Orleans parish, Charles Foti, is now the state Attorney General controlling what does and what does not get investigated. Each one of these corrupt politicians' elections was guaranteed by a 80%+ vote out of Orleans Parish and a 90%+ vote out of the Ninth Ward.
Many will say, yes, but the politics have changed with many of the 9th ward residents not returning. Not true in my opinion. There will be an effort, successful probably, to allow all former NOLA residents to vote in the next local and statewide elections from wherever they are. The fix is in folkes, unfortunately. Oh, and there's this. A move is afoot in the state legislature to extend, using Katrina as an excuse, all of the elected state officials' terms by one year from 2007 to 2008.
I can't stand it any longer. I'm done. I refuse to pay taxes any longer in a state that is beyond political redemption. Many of us in other parts of the state have fought the good fight for an end to corruption and politics as usual--me for 20 years. That fight's not worth fighting anymore. When the corrupt/inept politicians have 150,000-200,000 votes ready to be bought or bribed in one location(New Orleans)reform minded politicians like Bobby Jindal and others don't have a snowball's chance.
So, I'm outa here. It'll take me a little while to get my house sold and myself situated somewhere else but by January 2006 I intend to refer to myself happily as a former Louisiana resident.
To those of you lucky souls who don't live here. Please, please stay on your congressman and senators to insist that any federal funds sent here get the UTMOST and tightest scutiny possible. Because if they don't the money will end up lining the pockets of the scumbags in this state who've run it into the ground over the last 100 years.
Still waiting to see the media report that N.O. was required by law to have "annual practice evacuations."
Curious that N.O. officials never anticipated that their emergency responders would also be evacuated.
"It's all that evil Bush's fault!"
Good Luck on your move. Be careful where you decide to go! The house should sell quick, if its in decent shape.
...A Washington Post investigation revealed $2 billion worth of government contracts given out, but only 3.8 percent are done by companies in Alabama, 2.8 percent in Louisiana and just 1.8 in Mississippi...
... Kent Adams thinks that's just fishy.
Adams Home Center in Yazoo City thought it had two sub-contracts to supply 450 portable classrooms to the Gulf Coast but an Alaskan Management Company pulled the rug out from under them.
"We were ready and capable of doing this project and it was taken away from us," said Adams.
Adams said the Akima Corporation, which has no experience supplying classrooms, was going to do a $24 million deal with Kent Adams' Yazoo City business to buy and set up the portables.
But Akima, out of Alaska, cut him out of the deal but took the contracts to his suppliers in Georgia and California.
"With us not only being from Mississippi and Yazoo county, you take somebody from thousands of miles away and they end up with the money," said Adams. "We could have created numerous jobs with this."..
The problems are just as bad in DC. (Isn't the chairman of the Senate Apropriations committee from Alaska? hmmmmmm)
Thanks for the kind wishes. I don't anticipate any problems selling the house.
As for where I'm going? I'm semi-retired but still do some consulting work on the side so I can go pretty much anywhere. Looking at several areas right now. St. Mary's/Brunswick, GA area, northern FLA and Wilmington, NC.
Hate to leave the area where I grew up and have many friends, but I can't support this state's crap any longer.
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