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[Westley Annis]

Recovery company dismissal sought
House, Senate pass separate resolutions 
Saturday, December 16, 2006
By Ed Anderson
Capital bureau 

BATON ROUGE -- Lawmakers' frustration with the lack of progress in the $8
billion hurricane housing recovery program reached a new high Friday when
the House and Senate passed separate resolutions calling on the governor's
office to fire the company running the program. 

By a vote of 97-1, the House approved House Resolution 17 by Rep. J.P.
Morrell, D-New Orleans, who got his first legislation passed since winning
his House seat in the Nov. 7 election. His resolution demanded that Gov.
Kathleen Blanco's office cancel the $756 million, three-year contract with
ICF Emergency Management Services of Virginia, hired by the state to run the
Road Home program. 

The lone vote against the measure was cast by House Speaker Joe Salter,
D-Florien, a Blanco floor leader. He later got colleagues' permission to
change his vote to make passage of the resolution unanimous. 

The legislation by Morrell, who represents the hurricane-ravaged Gentilly
area, was co-sponsored by Reps. Peppi Bruneau, R-New Orleans; Nita Hutter,
R-Chalmette; and Charmaine Marchand, D-New Orleans -- all House members who
represent the hardest-hit parts of the New Orleans area from Lakeview to St.
Bernard Parish to the Lower 9th Ward. 


Others get into act 

Sen. Edwin Murray, D-New Orleans, followed suit and filed Senate Resolution
26 urging -- but not directing -- the governor's office to cancel the
contract. It passed unanimously with little debate during the waning minutes
of the special session. 

Murray was one of several lawmakers on the Joint Legislative Committee on
the Budget who had lashed out at ICF and Road Home officials earlier Friday,
chastising them for their inability to explain why the program is moving so
slowly in the New Orleans area. The budget panel asked its staff to explore
whether lawmakers can replace ICF. 

Morrell's resolution not only directed the state to yank the contract but
told the governor's chief fiscal office "to pursue all legal avenues to
recoup the public monies which have been paid so far for totally inadequate
performance." 

Only 82 of the 87,000 homeowners who signed up for the grant program --
which can pay a homeowner up to $150,000 -- have gotten final checks,
officials said. Bruneau said the company has been paid about $60 million so
far. 

Morrell's resolution called for the House -- which has first shot at
appropriating money -- to take "whatever action possible" in the budgeting
process "to limit any further contractual arrangement" with ICF. 


Sends strong message 

Morrell, a lawyer, said he does not know whether his resolution has any
legal effect but said it -- coupled with Murray's -- sends a strong message
to the administration to pull the contract or see that ICF does a better
job. 

"In Lakeview, in Gentilly, in the 9th Ward, this is a road to nowhere,"
Bruneau said in support of Morrell's measure. "This is utterly ridiculous,"
Morrell said of the pace of the program for south Louisiana residents while
the company collects millions of dollars from the state. "I find it morally
reprehensible." 

"I say like Donald Trump (on the television show "The Apprentice"), 'You're
fired,' " Hutter said. 

The House and Senate, in separate unanimous votes, also passed House
Concurrent Resolution 34 by Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, ordering a
special legislative panel of New Orleans lawmakers and the Louisiana
Recovery Authority -- the state agency overseeing recovery operation in the
state -- to investigate ICF's handling of the contract. It was amended by
Rep. Jim Tucker, R-Algiers, to also urge the federal Securities and Exchange
Commission to probe ICF's public stock offering, shortly after winning the
state contract, for possible conflicts of interest. 

Jerry Luke LeBlanc, the governor's chief fiscal adviser, said if the
"performance of the company is not up to" the terms of the contract, his
office will look at a range of options, including delaying payments or
dropping ICF. "Some payments have (already) been delayed," LeBlanc said. "If
the company does not perform, we will take it to the next level. . . . If
the company does not perform, we will take action under the terms of the
contract, including termination." 

. . . . . . . 

Ed Anderson can be reached at eanderson at timespicayune.com or (225) 342-5810.