Louisiana improperly spent relief funds in past years, audits find

Chicago Sun-times ^ | 09/14/2005 | Lisa Hoffman

[KeyLargo]

Don't you feel warm and fuzzy knowing that our senators have authorized billions of dollars in handouts compliments of us taxpayers to be used just like this for Katrina?

[Red Badger]

There should be criminal prosecutions and long prison sentences for this .................

[Red Badger]

Louisiana - Half under water and half under indictment.........

[Millee]

Tancredo's right. Don't send these fools the relief money.

[Mo1]

FYI Ping

[mewzilla]

I just heard Rep. Tom Tancredo on Laura Ingraham's radio show. Tancredo quoted someone from the FBI who said that corruption in the state of LA is endemic. And Tancredo is worried about what's going to happen to all the taxpayers' money that Congress is shovelling down there.

[cake_crumb]

It's obvious Louisiana didn't spent the money it received for flood control ON flood control, but it's somehow still Bush's fault instead of the fault of corrupt LA officials.

[Pinetop]

Yeah, if those nursing home owners are under indictment for negligent homicide, why is it that the mayor, governor and levee board are getting a free pass?

[smonk]

this isn't news. new orleans, to pursue the metaphor, has always been awash in corruption.

[Emmett McCarthy]

I read somewhere that Huey Long once said, "Someday Louisiana's gonna get good government - and they ain't gonna like it."

[stopem]

So what can we as citizens do about it? We know it's happening as we speak. Form a CONSERVATIVE'S for accountability??

[Red Badger]

.....are getting a free pass?

Uhhh..........(D).............

[Red Badger]

Originally, it was a haven for pirates and smugglers............still is..........

[kellynla]

BTTT

[smonk]

---Originally, it was a haven for pirates and smugglers............still is..........---

and french people ;)

[Red Badger]

Russel Long, "I don't buy politicians. I rent them, it's much cheaper!"........

[popdonnelly]

Three comments on Hurricane Katrina:

- Nagin should have ordered the evacuation sooner and should have seen that it was more effectively carried out;

- Blanco created chaos by her inability to make an intelligent decision after the hurricane struck;

- Mary Landrieu is covering up for the incompetence of the Louisiana government, with help from her Democrat friends in Congress.

[daybreakcoming]

Once upon a time when we lived in LA - there came a hurricane (forget which one) - we took on a few inches of wind driven water in our house. The LA FEMA continually sent a guy out trying to talk us into taking some money. We were young, proud, maybe foolish in some people's eyes, but we didn't think we should take it. We were the ones who chose to live on the banks of a river and we knew the risks. Why should the government bail us out? We replaced our flooring, etc. ourselves and lived there for several more years.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

So what can we as citizens do about it?

Me? I'm buying a small piece of property down there so that I can cash in the next time this happens.

[RSmithOpt]

I have an interesting thought.

If Director of the Dept,. of Homeland Security is now a cabinet position, then, does it not make total sense that in order for President Bush to uphold his oath of office, the part to defend this nation from all enemies both foreign and domestic, that Chirtoff has to ensure the citizens are protect from the corrupt enemy RATS. It is evident that fraud and waste by government personnel directly undermines the security efforts of the federal government.

So, with that thought, I seriously hope federal auditors crawl up every orifice with a fine tooth comb of all persons involved in spending the federal dollars sent to improve security and emergency preparedness in the state of LA. To commit fraud against the federal government is a felony and such actions by the corrupt in LA government should receive the maximum allowable punishment once found guilty.

Time to send that message out loud and clear to all politicians in this country.