[StBernard] Blanco 'very concerned' about levee consolidation fight

[Westley Annis]

Blanco 'very concerned' about levee consolidation fight
6/6/2006, 6:08 p.m. CT
By DOUG SIMPSON 
The Associated Press    

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Opponents of a plan to consolidate the levee boards
of southeast Louisiana on Tuesday relaunched their efforts to postpone the
plan, four months after the Legislature approved it in the name of ridding
the New Orleans area of cronyism and patronage.

The levee boards, often blamed for poor upkeep of the levees surrounding New
Orleans, were the subject of scrutiny in two special legislative sessions
since Hurricane Katrina, with business and community groups calling for
their dissolution. The issue became the subject of bitter fights during a
special legislative session in February, as Gov. Kathleen Blanco pushed a
plan through the Legislature that would eliminate the boards and replace
them with two "super levee boards" made up of experts and scientists instead
of political appointees.

Lawmakers from New Orleans and its suburbs fought Blanco's plan - and they
resumed the fight on Tuesday, in both the House and Senate. Two of the
Legislature's most powerful members amended legislation to delay the effects
of Blanco's plan and to concentrate control over levee projects in their own
districts.

An amendment by Sen. Francis Heitmeier, D-New Orleans, and another by Rep.
John Alario, D-Westwego, were added to a measure moving through the House
and another moving through the Senate, meaning Heitmeier and Alario have two
chances to get the changes through the Legislature.

Heitmeier is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and Alario is chairman
of the House Appropriations Committee, the panels that control the money in
the state budget. Normally, both are Blanco allies.

There was little discussion of Alario's amendments on the House floor before
they were approved without objection. The amendment postponing
implementation of the consolidation would mean members of the current West
Jefferson Levee Board - who have political ties to lawmakers from the region
- would remain in power an extra year.

The Blanco administration successfully fought similar amendments in
February.

"It's safe to say we are very concerned about what could be a delay in levee
board reform," Roderick Hawkins, a Blanco spokesman, said Tuesday.

Sen. Walter Boasso, who championed the consolidation efforts in previous
legislative sessions, said people who control federal money on Capitol Hill
would not look kindly on the change. Boasso said members of Congress have
thanked him for pushing through the consolidation, because the change had
been an indication that Louisiana was working to clean up its reputation for
corruption and incompetence.

"People in Congress don't feel like building all these new levees and not
having responsible people taking care of them," said Boasso, R-Chalmette.

"It's a shame. It's a step backward."

Boasso said he would take the floor in the Senate to urge his colleagues to
oppose Alario's amendment.

One of the amendments would delay implementation of Blanco's plan from this
year to the end of 2007. The other amendment would give Jefferson Parish
four appointed members and Orleans Parish two appointed members - instead of
experts chosen from anywhere - on the seven-member board of directors of the
new levee board overseeing levees on the west bank of the Mississippi River.

The west bank levee board is responsible for flood protection for the west
bank portions of Orleans and Jefferson parishes - areas represented by
Heitmeier and Alario.

The east bank's board is responsible for St. Bernard, St. Tammany,
Tangipahoa, St. John the Baptist, St. James and Jefferson parishes, plus
most of Orleans. Alario and Heitmeier's amendments would have no effect on
that board.

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On the Net: Senate Bill 89 and House Bill 829 can be viewed at
http://legis.state.la.us/