Does he have a point?

[Broken Glass Can]

Does Tancredo have a point? That we should be wary of letting corrupt and/or incompetent politicians handle so much money?


Congressman Tancredo: Block Katrina Aid to Louisiana Politicians

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, MC.

[newfant]

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Does Tancredo have a point? That we should be wary of letting corrupt and/or incompetent politicians handle so much money?

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Does a bear [censored] in the woods?

Edited to add this caveat: Letting corrupt and incompetent politicians handle money is bad. However, if the politician is competent, he will likely handle the money better than the average American.

[coffeecrazy1]

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Does Tancredo have a point? That we should be wary of letting corrupt and/or incompetent politicians handle so much money?

[/ QUOTE ]

Does a bear [censored] in the woods?

Edited to add this caveat: Letting corrupt and incompetent politicians handle money is bad. However, if the politician is competent, he will likely handle the money better than the average American.

[/ QUOTE ]

Explain the last sentence of your caveat, please. I'm afraid you lost me on that one.

[newfant]

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Does Tancredo have a point? That we should be wary of letting corrupt and/or incompetent politicians handle so much money?


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Does a bear [censored] in the woods?

Edited to add this caveat: Letting corrupt and incompetent politicians handle money is bad. However, if the politician is competent, he will likely handle the money better than the average American.



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Explain the last sentence of your caveat, please. I'm afraid you lost me on that one.

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A competent politician (assuming such a creature exists) would likely use money in a more beneficial manner than your average American because the average American will spend their money on balderdash, poppycock, and gas-guzzling SUVs while the competent, non-corrupt politician can put the money to work in a way that benefits society as a whole.

[lehighguy]

And we reach the crux of the matter.

[tylerdurden]

[ QUOTE ]
A competent politician (assuming such a creature exists) would likely use money in a more beneficial manner than your average American because the average American will spend their money on balderdash, poppycock, and gas-guzzling SUVs while the competent, non-corrupt politician can put the money to work in a way that benefits society as a whole.

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I guess government should tell them what jobs to get, where to live, what to eat, and what to watch on TV.

Some of us see government as balderdash and poppycock.

[coffeecrazy1]

Sometimes...it's just too easy.

[MtSmalls]

He may very well have a point. However, given the U.S. government's handling of the Billions that have gone into Iraq (The CPA is still missing about $8 BILLION, unaccounted for), I think he might look to his own glass walls.

Like a lot of things in our world, there is no perfect delivery system. The Federal, State and Local government channels are still the most efficient way of getting this kind of help to those in need....

I love how no one is blaming local government for grossly mis-handling evacuations and the immediate aftermath of the Hurricane.

But now...that there is free money to go around... all of the sudden, local government and corrupt state politicians are "ready for the job"... and "up for the challenge"

[CORed]

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I love how no one is blaming local government for grossly mis-handling evacuations and the immediate aftermath of the Hurricane.

But now...that there is free money to go around... all of the sudden, local government and corrupt state politicians are "ready for the job"... and "up for the challenge"

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The way it looks to me is that the state and local politicians started hollering about how badly the federal government handled the relief, to divert attention to how badly they handled the evacuation and immediate response, so the federal government, republican politicians and their pet media folks started hollering about how badly the state and local folks screwed up to divert attention from how badly they screwed up, at least for the first 5 or 6 days. Add in the fact that the federal administration is Republican and the stat and local politicians in NO and LA are Democrats and stir...

The thing is, there's enough blame to go around. This was a disaster that everyone knew, or should have known, was going to happen sooner or later, and nobody in government, with the possible exception of the Coast Guard was even close to being prepared. Those flooded school buses say a lot. Of course, I have no idea whether there were actually enough drivers, fuel, etc. to have used them effectively to evacuate, but if not, why not?