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
corruption in Louisiana convinces me that that they should not. BUMP
I just sent him an email thanking him for his courage and honesty and asked him to fight hard to keep taxpayers money out of the hands of Blanco and Landrieu.
Tancredo rocks! This is the best news I've heard since this disaster hit.
Hey NN, thought you might like to check this out : )
AMEN!
Whoa there. I'm not a Bush hater, or part of the Tancredo base. I do admire Tancredo, and it just so happens that he is proposing something very sensible. We'll see how hard a line Bush takes against the crooked, idiotic, irresponsible Lousiana establishment. My guess, based on plenty of prior experience, is that he won't.
If I'm wrong, you go ahead and post. I'll gladly eat my words.
Good idea. I wrote and thanked Tancredo, will write Trent Franks (my rep) and suggest he support this.
Yes !!
Tancredo for president.
Send him an email and let Tom know how you feel. I did and it felt good.
http://tancredo.house.gov/contact/contact_contacttom.shtml
Hear! Hear! This is the sanest approach to take when dealing with a bunch of veteran crooks who would love to get their claws into billions of our tax dollars. They have never used federal funds for the designated purposes, why in the world would we trust them to do it now?
I love this guy. He says what others would only think.
The Congressman made one slight error in his letter.
"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 2004 they executed a $500K contract with James Witt's company to develop a new Emergency Plan. Where the hell is it?
I remember here on 9/11 that we were expecting an estimated 20,000 dead from the WTC collapse.
The number was eventually discovered to be about 2,750.
I think if we net out the people who were clearly murdered by thugs in New Orleans, the number will be far lower than Nagin is saying.
That's my guess and my hope.
This disaster will also yield a huge number of false death claims, since recordkeeping in LA was impacted pretty severely and scamsters will take full advantage.
Im going to send a letter to Mary "i failed" Landrieu and also to 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.
Keepin da money on ice.
I agree 100% with this. I am so tired of the crooks here. This could be a great state if it was ran right.
Don't expect a frothing out of the mouth of Bush saying "f*ck you blanco".
Ain't going to happen and you know that. There probably will be many discreet behind the scenes political moves in dealing with the corrupt and incompetant blanco and nagin, but that is never enough for the frothing at the mouth tancredo base, and that hurts Tancredo himself in the end, IMO.
" 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"
Tancredo nails it.
I sent Tancredo an email of support for stand on hurricane funding.
I hope his battle with Landrieu is on pay-per-view. She ain't gonna like this.
Thanks for the idea and link.
I sent my support and feel better already.
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.