[StBernard] Governor Blanco on special session: 'Reform and recovery claimed victory'

[Westley Annis]

Governor Blanco on special session: 'Reform and recovery claimed victory' 

Reform and recovery claimed victory. 

I set an ambitious agenda for this session. 

I had high expectations and we made history.

Our levee board reforms will restore confidence in Louisiana's ability to
take care of businesses.

Our bold reforms will give families and our businesses the confidence to
return. They will give the Congress the confidence to continue investing in
Louisiana's recovery. 

We reformed an outdated, 100-year-old patchwork of New Orleans-area levee
boards. We replaced it with a system that will produce professionally and
ethically sound governance.

While we gave here and there to pass levee reform, we did not compromise our
overriding goal: safety and confidence.

Katrina showed us all that the system of disjointed levee districts does not
work for southeast Louisiana. It did not adequately protect New Orleans and
the surrounding parishes. These new boards will help us better protect our
communities and our families.

These boards - overseen by engineers, hydrologists and other professionals -
will focus exclusively on protection, inspection and operation.

There will be no marinas, no parks, no airports. No outside investments or
interests to distract the authority. These boards will operate to the
highest ethical standards. No politics. No patronage. No brother-in-law
deals.

Combined with other reforms we have passed in recent months, I am confident
that this week's action will give our families and our businesses the
confidence to return and invest in the future of the region. 

I also expect it will give Washington and the Congress the confidence to
continue investing in Louisiana's recovery.

I want to thank Senator Walter Boasso and Representative Karen Carter for
their leadership on this issue and for their determination to see this bill
through.

This is the kind of reform that never before succeeded. Going back to when I
served in the Legislature, I've seen bill after bill to reform levee boards
come up only to die in committee.

If consolidating New Orleans-area levee boards was our only accomplishment,
I would call this session a success. 

But, we accomplished even more.

Thanks to hard work and dedication by legislators and Secretary of State Al
Ater, we gave all New Orleans residents a greater opportunity to participate
in deciding the future of their city. This bill will keep our citizens
connected to their government and will prevent thousands of our scattered
citizens from being disenfranchised. 

The unique situation left in the wake of the hurricanes demanded creative
solutions. The combination of Senate Bill 22 and House Bill 12 ensure a
basic American right - the right to vote -- for tens of thousands of our
citizens who found themselves far from home through no fault of their own. 

With the passage of these bills, we say that if you lose your home, you
shouldn't also lose your right to vote.

I want to thank legislators like Representatives Cedric Richmond, Derrick
Shepherd Jalila Jefferson for leading the fight to keep Louisiana citizens
from being disenfranchised.


Back in October, I created the Louisiana Recovery Authority to oversee this
recovery effort. The size and the scope of the disaster dictated the need
for an agency to coordinate the recovery. Our citizens demand - and Congress
expects - us to have an independent, non-political agency operating at the
highest ethical standards to oversee the recovery.

For four months, the LRA has been moving this recovery forward with success
after success. They are coordinating short- and long-term planning. They've
been a strong voice for Louisiana up in Washington. 

Let me remind you: We would not have President Bush's promise of another 4
billion dollars in federal aid without the LRA.

In this session, I asked the Legislature to write the LRA into law. I
reminded legislators that the LRA is our partner in this recovery. The LRA
can invest recovery money only with the Legislature's approval.

Now, after work and compromise, we have a bill that cements the LRA's role
in this recovery.

During this session, we tried to enact creative solutions for our housing
crisis. Katrina and Rita destroyed or damaged more than 200,000 homes all
across our Gulf Coast.

The size and scope of the disaster dictated that we develop a variety of
solutions to help our families.

As we heard yesterday from Don Powell, the federal government expects
Louisiana to have a vehicle in place to distribute the aid money to our
homeowners 

We had a vehicle ready to roll sponsored by Senators Duplessis and Bajoie. I
found it curious that legislators wanted to have a say in our housing
solution but certain legislators chose not to. So, I am going forward with
our housing plans. 

I won't wait. Our families must have homes. 

Sometimes, reform is a long and painful process. Too often, politicians want
to hold on to old and flawed practices, even while the people are calling
for new and better ways of running government.

That's what happened to the effort to reform and streamline New Orleans
government. The people of this state, especially those in New Orleans, are
demanding these reforms. And Washington is watching to see just how much we
are willing to change our ways. 


Although we didn't persuade the Legislature to streamline New Orleans
government during this session, I do believe this reform will happen. Common
sense calls for it and the people are demanding it. It's only a matter of
time before the Legislature hears the voices of the people and acts to
ensure a smaller, more efficient city government. 

We will revisit this issue in the regular session.

We began this session with a tour through the New Orleans area and a meeting
the Morial Convention Center. 

And I believe that day helped set the stage for the reforms we achieved in
the last 12 days. We will be touring the damaged areas of Southwest
Louisiana. The entire coast of Louisiana has been injured and I want them to
fully understand our challenge.

Louisiana is recovering. 

The success we achieved in the last two weeks will accelerate our progress.
And the discussions we've opened set the stage for more success in the
coming weeks and months.

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The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation Louisiana's Fund for Louisiana's
People www.louisianahelp.org