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Congressman Tancredo: Block Katrina Aid to Louisiana Politicians
Bayoubuzz.com ^ | Sept. 7, 2005 | Steve Sabludowsky

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


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: corruption; gummintgiveaways; katrina; tancredo
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To: COUNTrecount

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.


221 posted on 09/07/2005 7:37:29 PM PDT by Dawgreg (Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.)
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To: Arizona Carolyn

She just guaranteed that she will not receive a dime.

"Have you seen the little piggies living piggy lives..."


222 posted on 09/07/2005 7:37:41 PM PDT by Sam the Sham (A conservative party tough on illegal immigration could carry California in 2008)
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To: California Patriot

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!


223 posted on 09/07/2005 7:44:47 PM PDT by Dawgreg (Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.)
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To: COUNTrecount

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.


224 posted on 09/07/2005 7:53:52 PM PDT by TheBattman (Islam (and liberalism)- the cult of Satan)
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To: WFTR
I disagree with the over-used prattle about the school buses.

Yeah..., who the hell pays any attention to their disaster plans anyway!

225 posted on 09/07/2005 7:59:22 PM PDT by ExSES (the "bottom-line")
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To: COUNTrecount
Tom Trancredo is just about the only guy left in the Republican Party with any guts.
Under no circumstances will I ever support Rudy Guilianni for President but Tancredo I could.
226 posted on 09/07/2005 8:02:45 PM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
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To: Arizona Carolyn
I REALLY, really.... love that man! I've been saying it for a while now, Tancredo for President!

BTTT!

227 posted on 09/07/2005 8:13:05 PM PDT by janetgreen ((WHY weren't the borders closed after 9/11/01? WHY??))
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To: editor-surveyor
Well, how 'bout that? I thought Tancredo was a "Bush hater" - at least that's what all the quislings say. But here he's doing what few other public figures have been doing with regard to the Katrina disaster: focusing attention on the far more serious problems at the state and local level. I hope his suggestion gets adopted by Congress.
228 posted on 09/07/2005 8:13:42 PM PDT by inquest (FTAA delenda est)
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To: bayourod
Maybe I am the same thing that President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, the Cabinet, the leadership of the House and Senate, the RNC, and the majority of Republican Governors are.

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.

229 posted on 09/07/2005 8:20:27 PM PDT by inquest (FTAA delenda est)
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To: Dawgreg

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.


230 posted on 09/07/2005 8:20:56 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: devolve; ntnychik

Here is the thread ntnychik, but watch out for Wiley E. Coyote!!


231 posted on 09/07/2005 8:25:44 PM PDT by potlatch (Does a clean house indicate that there is a broken computer in it?)
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To: bayourod
He is an example of someone who whines about others hiring illegal laborers but then puts his young children on top of the houses he moves to hold electrical wires up out of the way while the houses pass under them.

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!

232 posted on 09/07/2005 8:27:35 PM PDT by cartman90210 ("The Wit And Wisdom Of Bayourod" - it's as close as clicking on my profile page!)
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To: WFTR
I disagree with the over-used prattle about the school buses. As late as Sunday night, we didn't know whether the hurricane was going to drift east and hit Slidell, Pearl River, and other places in Mississippi or drift west and hit New Orleans directly and possibly Baton Rouge. If the city had used those buses to send all of those people to Baton Rouge, more of those people might have been killed by a direct hit on wherever they were staying.

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.

233 posted on 09/07/2005 8:29:17 PM PDT by inquest (FTAA delenda est)
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To: Das Outsider
This new hip-hop direction of Kim's is quite a shift from his early folk-rock days. I still give Mud Sride Srim and the Brue Holizon a spin every once in a while. Brings back good memories.
234 posted on 09/07/2005 8:33:10 PM PDT by cartman90210 ("The Wit And Wisdom Of Bayourod" - it's as close as clicking on my profile page!)
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To: Dawgreg

Yup, you got it.


235 posted on 09/07/2005 8:38:58 PM PDT by California Patriot
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To: Arizona Carolyn; Dane
Do they live in a border state and all the problems it presents?

Dane lives in Pennsylvania. Dining at Taco Bell is the sum of his/her experience with the border.

236 posted on 09/07/2005 8:46:40 PM PDT by Pelham
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To: COUNTrecount

That's what I've been sayin'!

Go Tom!


237 posted on 09/07/2005 8:49:58 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer
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To: TheSpottedOwl
or do you both just search keywords in order to post snarky comments?

The Owl wins a cigar!

238 posted on 09/07/2005 8:51:02 PM PDT by Pelham
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To: rineaux
.....William Jefferson who reps New Orleans. He and his wife just had their house raided by the FBI were they discovered over 100K dlrs in his freezer......

You are joking right?? I would not put anything past this bunch.

239 posted on 09/07/2005 8:52:41 PM PDT by Irish Eyes
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To: Irish Eyes

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.


240 posted on 09/07/2005 8:58:01 PM PDT by rineaux (hardcore)
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