Posted on 10/25/2005 3:48:24 AM PDT by Ellesu
Gov. Kathleen Blanco has asked for more time to deliver documents to congressional committees concerning her office's role in Hurricane Katrina preparations and emergency response to the storm. The delay would mean it could be December before internal documents reflecting what was going on behind the scenes during key days are be made public.
"They have asked for the kitchen sink, which is OK," said Blanco executive counsel Terry Ryder. "But given the fact that we are dealing with Katrina and Rita right now, we have asked for 90 days more."
Hurricane Katrina brought widespread devastation to the New Orleans area Aug. 29, then Hurricane Rita battered the Louisiana Gulf Coast, slamming into southwest Louisiana, on Sept. 24.
Blanco got a request for information on Sept. 30 from a U.S. House Select Committee. The committee wanted the information within two weeks.
The House committee is interested in internal communications received, prepared, or sent by Blanco and her Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness and the Office of the Adjutant General for three separate time periods. They are pre-Aug. 23, Aug. 23 to Aug. 29, and Aug. 29 to Sept. 15.
Another request came Oct. 7 from the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. It asked Blanco to provide the documents "as soon as they become available but no later than Nov. 3, 2005."
The Senate panel's request is more detailed, seeking documents such as organizational charts reflecting who held key positions in state government between Aug. 23 and Sept. 6 in preparation for and responding to the disaster, what legal authority the governor had in disaster preparation and response; documents from the last five years spelling out Louisiana's hurricane and flood risks, and those relating to the hurricane planning exercise known as "Hurricane Pam."
Ryder told both committees that the governor wanted to provide "a complete and meaningful response," but the deadline cannot feasibly be met because the Governor's Office is now responding to Rita as well as Katrina.
Ryder said Governor's Office staff will be available to committees in Louisiana to answer questions.
The ink ain't dry yet. It's all that humidity.
The documents that are being sought are being held by the Rose Law firm, and it may take some time to actually get our hands on them.
The dog's still eating.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco has asked for more time to deliver documents to congressional committees concerning her office's role in Hurricane Katrina preparations and emergency response to the storm. The delay would mean it could be December before internal documents reflecting what was going on behind the scenes during key days are be made public.
----The delay could mean December. Well that gives her plenty of time.....
Well, let's see if Con-gress is as unamused with Gov. Blanco as it was with MLB.
Shredder's jammed...
This lack of ability to deliver is indicative of the lack of organization and ability to execute a plan that were the problem with the Governors inability to respond to Katrina.
This is a test.
Governor, if you can't get this together under a little pressure why should anyone doubt you inability to get things together to respond to something as big as Katrina?
ROFLMAO
She read that article about Kofi Anan and everything has to be checked to see if they used "track changes" when they made up and edited their documents ...
Even the thieves are slow and lazy in New Orleans.
It doesn't matter what the excuse is. The more TIME that can elapse from the time of the hurricanes the better for anyones cause.
Hey! Good Morning!
I think the problem lies in the sudden realization on Blanco's part that what is acceptable in Louisiana is completely unacceptable in the rest of the United States. The culture of slovenly, incompetent, blatant corruption was so ingrained in Lousiana government, that people did not even bother to try to hide it. So now they need a paper trail that nobody has bothered to create in advance.
I don't see any way out for them. They just have to hope that another story comes along that is so big it knocks the destruction of a major American city off the front page. There are only a couple of stories that can be that big.
"A hurricane is coming in four days, let's execute the state's plan to evacuate New Orleans and southern LA."
"A hurricane is coming in four days, let's tell everybody the state employs how to execute the state's plan to evacuate New Orleans and southern LA."
"OK, we must evacuate New Orleans in the next 16 hours, lives will be lost if we delay even four hours."
.....
"Congress gave us 60 days to print our plan to evacuate New Orleans, and list who is supposed to have done what."
"Wait. I can't print this plan out in only 60 days, and I'll need another 90 days to finish writing it. (Er, find a way to print this document.)
"Wait. I need another 120 days to find out who is employed where in my state.....
Stuck on Stupid ping
WHat was this?
http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051025/NEWS01/510250317/1002
"we're the butt of a lot of jokes"
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