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
Hub and I have been VERY concerned that the city and state would get their corrupt hands on hard-earned money given and millions from the government. Someone needs to be in charge........not from Louisiana.....and account for every red cent that is spent on reconstruction, etc. That's why we have been very leery of giving.........I think we'll go with Samaritans Purse run by Franklin Graham.
She just guaranteed that she will not receive a dime.
"Have you seen the little piggies living piggy lives..."
CP, he's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't so what has Dubya got to lose? He NEEDS to start responding to all this BS and take the gloves off. Too many stupid people out there taking the Demonrats talking points and accusations as gospel. Enough already!
Makes too much sense - never happen.
Tancredo has my vote if I get the opportunity. I just don't think he has a snowball's chance in hades. He actually isn't afraid to tell the TRUTH. Truth and major political office don't really co-exist.
Yeah..., who the hell pays any attention to their disaster plans anyway!
BTTT!
Not to mention the DNC and the majority of Democrat governors and Congressmen, at least when it comes to illegal immigration and border security. Everyone but the vast majority of the American people, who want the border secured.
I've been leaning between Samaritan's Purse and Salvation Army. One of the families ended up in our town (purely by circumstance) and it was in the paper and a lot of us have been giving them clothes, food, gas money, etc.
Here is the thread ntnychik, but watch out for Wiley E. Coyote!!
Yeah, I know. I read the article. But that doesn't answer my question: do YOU see a difference between hiring illegal aliens and hiring underage children? And if so, what?
Glad to see you're talking to me again. As Kim would say, I was getting pletty ronery!
By that logic, why issue any evacuation orders at all? The whole idea of an evacuation is to evacuate people beyond the zone where the hurricane has the potential to hit. So if Baton Rouge was potentially in the path, you don't evacuate people to Baton Rouge. People are going to be evacuating from Baton Rouge if that's the case. The idea is to get them away from where the storm's liable to hit at all. It's not like schoolbuses only have a short range. They can go anywhere any other vehicle can go.
Bottom line: School buses were part of the evacuation plan for a hurricane, which the locals completely dropped the ball on.
Yup, you got it.
Dane lives in Pennsylvania. Dining at Taco Bell is the sum of his/her experience with the border.
That's what I've been sayin'!
Go Tom!
The Owl wins a cigar!
You are joking right?? I would not put anything past this bunch.
No not kidding at all. They sent a group of agents from Virgina because they did not want any police to alert his family of the raid.
Jefferson's wife runs some company that has contracts to import/export(dont hold me to true business)out of Africa.
He has always been crooked. Voted in because the color of his skin not his skills.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.