From a South Florida Sun-Sentinel editorial, 11/24/04:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-edittdfemanov24,0,5412360.story?coll=sfla-news-editorial
FEMA Aid Is Real Disaster
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has a serious problem.
And so, as a result, do taxpayers.
FEMA seems to be suffering from an irresistible impulse to give away
tax money for no reason.
Either that or it's incompetent.
Really, really incompetent.
In Miami-Dade County, where not a single hurricane made landfall this
year, 10,786 people have collected $28 million in FEMA disaster aid to
pay for "damage" from Hurricane Frances, which missed the county by
more than 100 miles.
An inventory of claims paid out by the agency reads like a joke about
dysfunctional government.
In a county that officially suffered no significant storm damage,
residents claimed Frances destroyed 5,260 television sets and 1,440
air conditioners.
FEMA checks also paid for lawn mowers, microwave ovens, computers and
cars.
The agency even paid for one resident's funeral, though the county
medical examiner had recorded no storm-related deaths.
In one household, FEMA paid for a new washer, dryer, freezer, stove,
refrigerator, TV, radio, telephone, computer, space heater, playpen,
crib, stroller, clothes, furniture and toys.
Two residents received aid for "dental treatments due to dental
injuries received during the disaster."
In six other cases, FEMA reimbursed residents for damage caused by
"ice/snow."
Snow?!
Oh, that must mean the snow job thousands of people gave FEMA
inspectors, and the one FEMA officials are giving the public in an
attempt to explain away the millions of squandered dollars.
You have to wonder about those FEMA "inspectors."
They attributed much of the damage to "tornado-wind," even though the
National Weather Service said there were no tornadoes in the county
during Frances.
One of FEMA's excuses for its profligacy is that it wanted to be
prepared by declaring certain counties disaster areas before the
advancing hurricane struck.
Fair enough. But couldn't it have put away its checkbook when the
storm never arrived in a particular county?
It all adds up to a shocking litany of mismanagement, waste and
apparent fraud on a grand scale.
FEMA officials should be eager to expiate their shame by explaining
themselves.
Instead, director Michael Brown and other officials continue to
stonewall legitimate questions about what went on in Miami-Dade County
in the wake of the storm that wasn't.
That's unacceptable.
Brown and the agency he heads owe it to the taxpaying public to
provide a detailed accounting.
Congress should insist on it.
U.S. Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr. has requested a congressional
investigation, and U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler wants the General
Accountability Office to investigate.
Those requests should be granted, as should state Sen. Skip Campbell's
request for a criminal investigation by the Florida Attorney General's
Office.
A political storm is brewing, and this one may do some real damage.
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That's George W. Bush putting your money to work, ladies and gentlemen
Harry
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