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
Believe me, I'm trying really hard to stay on the "they were incompetent" level. I'm so thoroughly incredulous even yet, and downright sick to my stomach -- the party which endorses abortion on demand, endorses Dr. Death, euthanasia, and the like, the party utterly obsessed with "hating and impeaching" President Bush -- was just merely incompetent.
No one in their right minds wants to even broach this publically, and this is entirely understandable. Just better, cleaner, more productive to say that NOLA officials were "incompetent".
Also amazing to me (but not really, because the behavior has a long-held pattern) -- that Libs and Dems came out shrieking "RACISM" and it's "George Bush's Fault". Within minutes. They arose as one harpy chorus.
I guess I wish to learn more about Mr. Witt (Clinton crony), and his role in "assisting" Governor Blanco during her hour of "crisis".
I found the article by Kathleen Parker today, to be quite interesting. She thinks Katrina revealed something about the President. But she doesn't quite say what.
I love this guy!
There is no one better to attack liberalism than Savage, he calls both parties on it. He isnt afraid to call a commie a commie, describe the press' dangerous marxist agenda, etc.
Flankie Go To Horrywood.
As I understand it, parents who own a business are technically exempt from the age requirement, farming for instance. I read the article, but couldn't figure out the "stalking" connection". I must say that the father showed poor judgement. OTOH, my kids were wild injuns, and could have handled it. Note to race baiters: my kids have Iroquois blood on their father's side. Even my MIL(God rest her soul) used to call her grandkids that.
The difference is that hiring an illegal alien is against the law. Your children are legal for now.
Thanks for the response. I figured as much, although I do concede that it was criminal insanity on that guy's part to have ANYONE (his kids, illegal or legal laborers, whomever) holding live electrical wires.
The "stalking" connection is that swampy claims that this guy was Internet-stalking him at one time, just as he claims I'm "stalking" him nowadays. (Apparently, it's okay for him to stalk these immigration threads for years on end, but anyone who responds to him by quoting his own words is a stalker - sounds like a case of "dish it out, but you can't take it" to me!)
Now, how he ties this guy and me together is a mystery, but I'm sure he has his own logic guiding him.
;-D The Kim stuff on this thread is cracking me up!
Doty was totally irresponsible in some regards. My kids would have been on skateboards, riding the damn roofs :/
As for stalking, if you can't accuse someone of being a racist, then label him/her as a stalker. No one invited da swampster on this thread, which is dealing with hurricane relief-not illegal immigrants. Yet he and his buddies are here stirring up the sh*t, and deflecting the discussion from the original posted article.
Don't worry about it. Bayourod doesn't have much credibility around here.
Where do you live? Did you ever think about hurricane evacuations before last week? I've only had to deal with them for a few years, but I know that being somewhat close has taught me more than I'd know if my only exposure were through the media.
My house was potentially in the path of this hurricane. In a few previous hurricanes, I've seen my front yard two-thirds to three-quarters full of water with the water level probably a foot or two below the level of my first floor. I would not have been surprised if Katrina had flooded all the way to house. I didn't evacuate because I knew that others needed the roads more than I did. I live south of Baton Rouge, but the same thought process is why the authorities didn't encourage evacuation around Baton Rouge or in the parishes between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. If we had been on the roads, more people from New Orleans would have been stuck.
Even if school buses had been used, not everyone would have gone. Many people had transportation and still chose to ride out the storm. Others would have missed the buses and still been stuck in the city. Still others might have feared getting on the buses more than they feared the storm. Some people in the projects have barely been outside the projects even to other parts of New Orleans. They've always survived hurricanes in the past, and the intimidation of being bussed to parts unknown could have been a bigger fear than the fear of the hurricane. The failure to use the school buses at all was a mistake, but critics on the right are trying to paint a picture of everything being just fine if only the city had brought out the buses. That picture isn't accurate.
The state should have had an evacuation plan that included bus transportation to evacuation camps and shelters in places far enough north to be completely out of the path of any storm. The plan should have stated when the buses would be deployed and where pickups would be. If they didn't have those pickup spots and times and those shelter locations already chosen, then their mistake was not having a worthwhile plan. If they did have a real plan, they should have used the buses. Simply stating that they would use buses to evacuate the city is not the same as having a plan.
I'm completely in favor of analyzing and learning from all of the mistakes that were made. I'm not in favor of conservatives and Republicans joining in the blame game that the Democrats have been playing for the last two weeks. Playing that game reduces our credibility and does not lead to solutions to the problems that we face now. This hurricane was going to cause major problems no matter what plans were implemented.
Bill
I was born in Key West, FL (currently live about 20 miles West of Titusville, FL) and have lived through nearly 65 years of various disasters (30+ hurricanes, tornados, flooding, etc.). I was hit by three hurricanes last year and spent 17 days on generator power. The damage from those storms is still not fully repaired! I've also been a volunteer in numerous disaster relief operations. As for evacuations, I have been in three storms where such actions were ordered and chose to stay put, ride out the storms, and support rescue/recovery efforts. HOWEVER, were I still living on a coast just 5-10 feet above sea-level (or God forbid UNDER sea level) and facing a Category 4+ hurricane... I certainly would evacuate!
I also lived in Baldwin County, AL for about 6 years (within a mile of Mobile Bay but at a height some 50+ feet above sea level) and went through two hurricanes during that period of time New Orleans and the State of Louisiana have DETAILED disaster plans addressing how and when actions will be taken (including evacuations), as do all state and local governments. Federal grants have funded disaster preparedness staff, planning and resources for more than 50 years!
The New Orleans Mayor and all his "Key Staff" rode out Hurricane Katrina at the Baton Rouge Emergency Operating Center (EOC). Time will tell who was left at the New Orleans EOC to deal with the disaster BUT..., the fact is that State and Local governments are supposed properly follow their disaster plans AND IN THIS CASE THEY DID NOT!
Hurricane Katrina was a massive disaster BUT, hundreds of lives (AT THE LEAST) could have been saved if New Orleans had merely followed their own emergency directives!
Oh yess. And the beeg tourah wid Ariss in Chain.
And opening srot on tourah with Led Hot Chiri Peppah!
"No one invited da swampster on this thread, which is dealing with hurricane relief-not illegal immigrants. Yet he and his buddies are here stirring up the sh*t, and deflecting the discussion from the original posted article."
I did notice how certain overly sensitive individuals reacted to California Patriot's expression of both hope and skepticism that GW would take the same stance as Tancredo, slowly but steadily derailing the thread towards immigration/GW-competency issues.
Well, as far as one "certain overly sensitive individual" goes, it looks like swampy got himself another suspension. Any bets as to how soon he's back?
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