[StBernard] EDITORIAL: For the people

[Westley Annis]

"...A year ago, President Bush and recovery chairman Donald Powell
successfully pressed Congress to give Louisiana $4.2 billion in housing aid.
Combined with $6.2 billion approved earlier, it seemed at the time as if
that would be enough. It won't be."

This entire recovery has been a course in "Fiasco 101."  First off, the
Louisana Recovery Authority - what a joke, not to mention a contradiction in
terms.  Can you believe the federal government actually trusted someone in
Louisiana to properly and efficiently administer a recovery program -
considering this state's history?

We (the State of Louisiana) hire an out-of-state firm (which hired more
out-of state firms) to perform a job for the sum of $700 million - and to do
what?  The same thing local lenders and mortgage companies could have done
for around $200 million - and would have kept the money in-state and boosted
the local economy immediately. (I'm talking about the Road Home program).

There's a half billion right there that could have easily been saved and put
to better use.

Then there's the Shaw Group.  My God, what another great example of how
bureacracy works at its worse.  Tens of millions of dollars were wasted just
on organizing all the subs Shaw hired - before hardly a lick of work was
actually done.  And let's not forget about the tens of millions done on this
study and that study where in the end the only thing accomplised by these
"studies" is the bank accounts of the consultants get bigger.

And God only knows of the waste we haven't heard about yet - you know it's
there.  Are any of us really surprised by this?  Well, we shouldn't be.  All
we needed to do was look at how state and local governments, local law
enforcement agencies wasted the billions of dollars Congress approprated for
Homeland Security.

Millions of dollars made their way down to local governments and
police/sheriff departments.  It was uncanny how quickly SUVs and big trucks
(the road kind) were purchased - I believe some call them "dualies."
Anyway, how does purchasing a $30,000 luxury SUV help fight off
international terrorists?

The Homeland Security funds was one of the biggest white elephants in the
history of Congressional spending.  Oh sure, a couple of radios and security
cameras were purchased - but as we've recently read in the news, many are
having problems with these systems and some have never even been put on
line.

In retrospect, the Katrina recovery effort appears to be par for the course.

I hate complaining about something or pointing out a problem without
suggesting a solution.  While I am not sure of the perfect remedy, I believe
starting with the replacement of most elected officials could only be
regarded as a good start.

- John Scurich