Watch the movie "Blaze" and even if a good portion of it is fictional (I doubt it)...it certainly gives a good idea of how things were run when the Long family was in charge.
Your right Louisiana has been totally corrupted over the past years. Each parish in New Orleans is responsible for maintaining the levees that fall within their parish. Each year the Federal gov. provides funds to each parish president and council to maintain those levees. Some parishes have used the money wisely and maintained the levees, others have found other use of the funds including lining their own pockets. The problem can be traced all the way back to the local gov.