Posted on 10/30/2005 6:07:06 AM PST by LA Woman3
The Baton Rouge police union encouraged its members and their families to apply for American Red Cross hurricane benefits "whether you sustained a loss, or not," an internal memo obtained last week shows. The Sept. 19 notice sent via Baton Rouge Police Department e-mail refers to the charity's financial assistance debit cards for Hurricane Katrina victims as "gift cards," and insists they were a special benefit for union members.
"If you live in one of the attached ZIP Codes you need to go by the Electrical Workers local Hall and get your Red Cross gift card, by Saturday 9/24/05," says the memo, which was obtained through a Louisiana public records request. "You get the gift card whether you sustained a loss, or not, do (sic) to the storm, as a result of you being in B.R.U.P. Local 237."
The memo adds that immediate family "also qualifies for the gift card if they live in a separate residence from you in one of the listed Zip Codes (father, mother, brother, sister, aunt, uncle)."
After the hurricane, the American Red Cross set up a site at the Electrical Workers Local Union 995 Hall, 8181 Tom Drive, to provide financial assistance to those who lost their homes or belongings to Hurricane Katrina.
American Red Cross spokeswoman Jenifer Sweat said the emergency debit cards were intended to buy food, clothing and shelter for those who lived in hurricane-ravaged parishes, and were not "gift cards."
She said the charity set up the site through its government and labor liaison, but never offered special benefits to the Baton Rouge Police Department union nor any other special-interest organization.
"We're not here for any special group or to discriminate against others," Sweat said. "We do not do something like that special for a union. What we do is assist with emergency needs for those who have been affected. If indeed they were affected, then they were eligible to fill out an application form just like everyone else who was affected."
The Red Cross did not have statistics on the number of Baton Rouge police officers who sought financial aid. Sweat said the agency still is trying to determine how to handle reports of those who obtained disaster-relief assistance even though they may have experienced no loss.
Police Union President Cpl. Craig Russell said the memo was "an e-mail poorly written and sent out by a tired and overworked police officer.
"Nothing about being affiliated with the union entitled officers to anything more or anything less than any other hurricane victim," Russell said. "On face value, it could be taken out of context. But I'm sure it was written by a tired guy and did not go through our normal procedure of being proofread."
When asked why the memo encourages officers to apply for benefits even if they lost nothing, Russell said it was possibly a "poorly written" attempt to explain eligibility requirements.
"Many people had questions about what type of losses were eligible, or whether or not they had losses," he said. "I assume that's what he was trying to do. Many losses qualify under Red-Cross criteria."
The memo directs recipients with questions to call Chris Stewart, who is assigned to the Police Department's felony theft division, and Timmy Browning. Neither could be located last week for comment.
A subsequent memo sent two days later informs union members that the Red Cross assistance office at 8181 Tom Drive was closed "due to an overwhelming number of people visiting the office." It said the AFL-CIO and the police union executive board were trying to secure a new site "for UNION MEMBERS only and their IMMEDIATE family." There's no record of whether that new site ever materialized.
Baton Rouge Police Chief Jeff LeDuff declined last week through a spokesman to comment on the union memo. He did not respond to a question on whether the agency is investigating the matter.
U.S. Attorney David Dugas on Friday would "neither confirm nor deny" whether the Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force is conducting its own review.
The task force -- based in Baton Rouge -- investigates all hurricane-related crimes, including charity fraud, identity theft, disaster-assistance fraud and insurance fraud.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office began its own investigation into the matter late last week after discovering one of its own deputies submitted a "very questionable" application to the American Red Cross, Col. Greg Phares said Friday.
The deputy -- whom Phares would not name -- has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the investigation.
Phares also declined to comment on specifics or the scope of the investigation into Red Cross benefits for law-enforcement officers.
"It's the position of the Sheriff's Office that our people don't take aid unless they have suffered a loss," he said.
An expert in fraud leads the fraud?
Why is anyone surprised???
Were we not already acknowledging that Louisiana and New Orleans were dysfunctional societies where corruption was the normal business of the day.
The whole state seems to be made up of grifters and the police are among the worst offenders.
*ping*
This is why we gave to a Christian charity group instead.
Not defending Louisiana but do you really think this does not/would not happen in any other state? Union is the key word here.
It casts another shadow on Red Cross operations. Why were they setting up in union halls? The electrical union was not the only one. There are so many government offices and churches in Baton Rouge that could have been utilized..
Thank you, Louisiana!
This crap turns one off from wanting to help Katrina relief efforts.
http://www.ibew.org/articles/05daily/0510/051013_LaMem.htm
Members Booted Off Project for Nonunion Labor, Davis-Bacon Suspension Blamed
A steady 20-month project promising 12 hours a day, seven days a week at a southern Louisiana air force base -- complete with housing and three squares a day – was ideal for 75 electricians from the worst-off parts of Louisiana: St. Bernard’s Parish, the lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans and Lake Charles.
Answering the first big call to come in post-Katrina, the electricians from New Orleans Local 130, Baton Rouge Local 995 and Lake Charles Local 861 reported to work wiring temporary tents at the Alvin Callendar Naval Air Station in Belle Chasse on September 12 for signatory contractor Knight Enterprises. Three weeks later, they were off the job, discarded for out-of-state nonunion electricians following President Bush’s Davis-Bacon prevailing wage law suspension.
This is also why I never give to the Red Cross. When something happens, I give only to the Salvation Army.
"tired and overworked"
and Me Maw's tranked.
would that be the committing division or the preventing division?
Didn't we buy Louisiana from the French? Time to sell it back to those weasels as their kinfolk are just as disgusting to me as the French are!! Looks like thwe Baton Rouge fraud unit learned at the knee of the masters of fraud...what a crock of crooks!!
It does not/would not happen in "most" other states, in combination with all the other acts of corruption that seem to be going at the same time, in Louisiana;
unless that is its a politically corrupt state like my state of New Jersey; where there is very little grass roots of either party, just party bosses and corruption.
However, that said, I do think that, rightly or wrongly, the perception is that the "cutlure of corruption" has sunk deeper into the populace in Lousiana.
As bad as New Jersey political corruption is, I cannot imagine any unit of any New Jersey city police force, taking the cars off a dealers lot as their prize in the midst of a hurricane - just to use one example. I cannot imagine the staff of a New Jersey jail abondoning it with its prisoners locked in their cells, for two and half days as flood waters rose inside - to use another example. I cannot imagine any major New Jersey city keeping a local network of influence together (no whistle-blowers) whereby the police are getting state and federal money for 600 supposedly filled but actually not filled positions - to use another example.
Maybe the perceptions from the total body of anecdotal evidence are wrong. Unfortunately, it will take major efforts with Louisiana citizens sacking many of the current regimes and dominating public discourse with demands for accountability from elected officials, before many outside Louisiana will think that things have changed.
I for one will not change my opinion of Louisiana as long as there is no major public movement to impeach Nagin and Blanco. Without that movement, my perception will be that it is business as usual in Lousisana.
By the way, I read a news report last week that 35 major companies from Lousiana who set up temporary evacuation offices in Houston are planning on staying in Houston.
Pathetic and Desperate, but I guess if you are losing members and relevance everyday, you will resort to anything.
Yep...Louisiana...Yep Unions.....Wonder if Fitzgerald has time for these cases? How many can he process in 2 years?
Any uncorruptable officials found should be tried, convicted and exiled to swamp country where they shall be forced to eat only cajun cooking three squares a day. They shall also be sentenced to read excerpts daily from "The Life and Times of Huey Long" for the rest of their natural lives.
Only in this way will the state be cleansed of uncorruptable public servants.....and Louisiana will again be proud to keep its title of the Most Corrupt State in the Union.
(....permission granted to substitute the name of your own state in the above).
Leni
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