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This is the fat bit*h's line for everything.

"The regretful thing is if we have to come up with 30 million dollars, it takes away from children, it takes away from the sick... you know, very, very important initiatives."

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?s=3151637

Blanco Addresses FEMA Payback Issue
April 1, 2005, 10:39 AM CST

Governor Kathleen Blanco says if the state is forced to pay back the federal government more than 30 million dollars, the state's children and sick will suffer. This week, FEMA officials sent a letter demanding back 30.4 million dollars back in misspent flood buyout money.

Governor Blanco is very concerned about that FEMA demand letter. She says the state simply does not have that kind of money just laying around. Blanco says a 30 million dollar hit to the state budget would be devastating.

"The regretful thing is if we have to come up with 30 million dollars, it takes away from children, it takes away from the sick... you know, very, very important initiatives."

According to FEMA, the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security which is the overseeing agency misspent the money over a five-year period. The money is for buying out homes that habitually flood.

The letter references a federal Office of Inspector General's report which lists, among other ineligible expenses, a 2002 Ford Crown Victoria, audio and video equipment, office supplies, travel, professional dues, charitable donations, an L.L. Bean briefcase, a rain coat, and a trip to Germany by a Louisiana Homeland Security person as money that has to be sent back.

"I'm hoping that we can demonstrate that it was used for the proper function that it was intended," says Blanco.

Louisiana Homeland Security officials say it will be up to the parishes who got the money to give it back. Meanwhile, the 32 parishes included in the buyout program were notified Wednesday and Thursday about sending the money back.

East Baton Rouge Parish ranked third in the amount alleged misspent of money they got from FEMA at 3.6 million dollars. St. Tammany got the most with 8.5 million, followed by Ouachita Parish which got just under 6 million.

The entire investigation into the FEMA money originated in Ouachita Parish when local television reporters began looking into how they were using the FEMA money.

One Louisiana Homeland Security person said it may take years to resolve this issue. And it will likely be decided by a judge or jury if this thing ends up in the courts.

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?s=3145997

FEMA Says State Must Pay $30 Million
March 31, 2005, 03:44 PM CST

Louisiana officials are stumped. Do officials in our Office of Homeland Security owe the federal government more than 30 million dollars? The feds sent the bill Wednesday for money paid out in the form of grants for a federal flood buyout program. Three former Louisiana Homeland Security employees who oversaw the program are currently under federal indictment.

The state says we don't owe the money back. But they say if we do, the individual parishes the grants went to will have to pay back the money.

Mark Smith, Dept. of Homeland Security said, "Would I call it a public relations nightmare? Yes."

It was just a matter of time before the bill was sent to the state following its handling of federal FEMA flood buyout monies. The government says more than 30 million was misspent by the state through the Office of Emergency Preparedness between 1997 and 2002. Three former high level employees of the office are under federal indictment for charges related to the handling of those FEMA funds.

"Really its not that the money was misspent here or the money was misspent there," says Smith. "It's going to be, in a lot of the cases, a matter of improper paperwork."

According to the letter, the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Office of Emergency Preparedness failed to properly assess project eligibility, rank properties consistently with state priorities, and verify that projects met the criteria for priority funding.

"We'll have to look at each individual parish and possibly go back to them for money."

According to Joanne Moreau, Director of the East Baton Rouge Parish Homeland Security, East Baton Rouge will be asked to pony up 3.6 million dollars. Moreau says she has requested documentation from the state to prove what they owe.

East Baton Rouge Parish applied for their own grants and did not enlist the help of private companies like Aegis Innovative Solutions. Aegis contracted with many of the parishes who will be asked to pay back the money. Aegis is owned by former Office of Emergency Preparedness employees.

Moreau says she believes the letter from FEMA clearly asks the state to re-pay that money. In other words, it's a state issue and not a parish by parish issue. We also asked the state Homeland Security Office to show us the documentation the federal government used to come up with that 30 million dollar figure. They agreed to show us, but not until Thursday.