Quisling bump!
Posted on 09/07/2005 1:58:44 PM PDT by COUNTrecount
WASHINGTON, DC. - Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) wrote a letter to Speaker Hastert, urging him to direct federal hurricane relief aid through channels other than Louisiana public officials. Citing incompetence and a history of corruption, Tancredo said a bipartisan select committee of the House should administer the aid and provide accountability for the $52 billion requested. The letter is reprinted below:
Dear Mr. Speaker,
Given the abysmal failure of state and local officials in Louisiana to plan adequately for or respond to the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans, and given the long history of public corruption in Louisiana, I hope the House will refrain from directly appropriating any funds from the public treasury to either the state of Louisiana or the city of New Orleans. Instead, reconstruction and relief funds dedicated to the people of New Orleans should be administered by a private organization or a select committee similar to the historic Truman Commission.
Public corruption is a well known problem in Louisiana. The head of the FBI in New Orleans just this past year described the state´s public corruption as "epidemic, endemic, and entrenched. No branch of government is exempt." Over the last thirty years, a long list of Louisiana politicians have been convicted of crimes; the list includes a governor, an attorney general, an elections commissioner, an agriculture commissioner, three successive insurance commissioners, a congressman, a federal judge, a State Senate president, six other state legislators, and a host of appointed officials, local sheriffs, city councilmen, and parish police jurors. Given the documented public corruption in the state, I am not confident that Louisiana officials can be trusted to administer federal relief aid.
Clearly the federal response from FEMA in the aftermath of the hurricane was hampered by bureaucratic ineptitude. Making matters worse, the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana have demonstrated mind-boggling incompetence in their lack of planning for and response to this disaster. According to one recent media report, "A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan...[but] did not take corrective actions. In 1998, during a threat by Hurricane George, 14,000 people were sent to the Superdome and theft and vandalism were rampant due to inadequate security. Again, these problems were not corrected."
The city of New York, by comparison, had no advance warning of 9/11. Yet Mayor Giuliani and Governor Pataki displayed tremendous leadership in managing a chaotic situation in the city. Their leadership inspired confidence in their ability to manage the emergency and coordinate federal aid In contrast, despite knowing days in advance about the coming hurricane, Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin seem to have done little beyond encouraging residents to leave the city or gather at the Superdome. City school and transit buses could have carried 12,000 persons per run out of the city, yet they sat idle in parking lots under water - while both the Mayor and Governor criticized the federal response.
In the coming days, tens of billions of dollars will likely flood Louisiana to address the costs of rescue, clean up, and rebuilding. The question is not whether Congress should provide for those in need, but whether state and local officials who have been derelict in their duty should be trusted with that money. Their record during Hurricane Katrina and the long history of public corruption in Louisiana convinces me that that they should not.
Sincerely,
Tom Tancredo
"One half of Louisiana is under water and the other half is under indictment."
Many of these Tancredo followers are the same folks who love Buchanan and Savage. hmmmm.
I think it's less than 2,750. I think it'll be just under 1,000 (directly related to Katrina). Vitter's comments, especially coming from a GOPer, were reckless and uncalled for. What a moronic comment.
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That's about it unless there are any others we haven't heard about.
Thought you'd enjoy this :-D
I dunno...seems to me that the media lags this site by about 4-5 days including Fox. They immediately jump on and broadcast the Dems histrionics though.
I love this guy. Can you believe the brass balls on him?
I don't like Savage, and it's too bad about Buchanan, he had something for a while. But Tancredo is getting interesting.
If this had any chance of even being considered, great, I agree with the gist of it. Given that it has ZERO chance of even being considered, I think it's grandstanding. Just my opinion.
LOL
Excellent idea. We know that both at the local and state level they are as corrupt as they come. Cut them out of the chain.
Now why would you say that? Just because you don't like the guy, doesn't mean his words don't have merit. Remember, we're dealing with people who are as corrupt as the day is long. FEMA is still wondering what happened to all the money sent to fix things. As of March of this year, they wanted an accounting for money spent. Ms. Blanco predictably stood on her hind legs, and brayed like the jackass she is, in response.
See, now I'm thinking of all the pols I can email and demand they give Tancredo's proposal serious consideration.
I know that, and I agree so far. But Tancredo is making something out of his raw materials. If he can articulate his basic complaint, and this corruption idea might be a step in that direction, he might grow considerably in statesman stature. He's not there yet, but few are born into it.
LOL, go Tom!!
I suspected that part of Blanco's refusal to relinguish control to the Feds was a hope to keep funds going through her office.
...so I'm sitting here reading, and along comes your post.
a. Do you think Tom Tancredo has a good point?
b. If so, do you think President Bush would ever do this?
c. Do you have a better idea?
You're sounding like some kind of hater, yourself!
Please see post #128. Of course there's massive corruption. Of course the main points of his letter are accurate. I don't like him for the reason stated in post #128. I just don't trust him. DeLay is one of our most powerful, trustworthy politicians in the nation. Conservative, doesn't give in the the libs, pro-Iraq, pro-Israel, etc etc etc. For Tancredo to go on national TV and sell him down the river was reprehensible, IMHO.
So far, I count 2 quislings. Probably all they could spare today.
"Many of these Tancredo followers are the same folks who love Buchanan and Savage. hmmmm."
Ahh, once again NYC Republican is on these threads denouncing savage. As I remember our earlier conflicts, 70-80% of your posts this summer seem to be continual rails against savage. Why would you be so obsessed with a man you claim is such a loser and no one listens to, yet you spend so much time denouncing him and mischaracterizing his arguments.
Why am I not surprised that you also hate Tancredo and often try to associate him with Pat Buchanan just like the other losers Dane and Bayourod?
As far as your rant against tancredo and "selling" delay down the river" that is another lie. You just believed the media spin, which selectively edited his statements:
Tancredo: DeLay Charges 'Trumped Up'
www.newsmax.com ^ | April 17, 2005
Posted on 04/17/2005 3:27:21 PM PDT by ArmyBratproud
Rep. Tom Tancredo's advice that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay should consider stepping aside while ethics charges against him are resolved received wall-to-wall coverage on the Sunday morning news shows - which all but ignored Tancredo's main point: that the DeLay allegations "lack merit" and were "trumped up."
In a statement posted to his official web site Friday, the Colorado Republican emphasized the that he believed that the DeLay scandal was a bogus partisan witchunt: "I believe that all of the charges against Tom DeLay I have seen to date lack merit. I believe they are being leveled in the hopes of brining him down, and with him the Republican Majority," he began.
Only then did Tancredo suggest that it "may be a productive move" for DeLay to take a "temporary" leave of absence, saying:
"However if the Majority Leader were to temporarily step aside so that these trumped up charges can be dealt with in a less hostile environment, as they have proven to be an unnecessary distraction, it may be a productive move.”
But that didn't stop the media from misreporting Tancredo's comments, suggesting that the Colorado Republican wanted DeLay to permanently resign.
Of twenty-nine mainstream press reports on Tancredo's statement generated by a Lexis Nexis search, fourteen omitted his "temporarily" qualifier.
None of the headlines so much as hinted that Tancredo's statement was anything but a call for DeLay's permanent resignation.
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