Wet Bank Guide

I think this Associated Press story speaks for itself, the headline of this post being about all that needs to be added.

FEMA Abandons Pledge on 4 No-Bid Contracts

WASHINGTON - FEMA has broken its promise to reopen four multimillion-dollar no-bid contracts for Hurricane Katrina work, including three that federal auditors say wasted significant amounts of money...

A review by Government Accountability Office of 13 major contracts said last week the government had wasted millions of dollars, due mostly to poor planning by FEMA. Among the 13 were three of the four no-bid contracts for temporary housing, worth up to $500 million each, that went to three major firms with extensive government ties...

The Shaw Group's lobbyist, Joe Allbaugh, is a former FEMA director and friend of President . Bechtel CEO Riley Bechtel served on Bush's Export Council from 2003-2004, and CH2M Hill Inc. and Fluor Corp. have done extensive previous work for the government...

The second tier of subcontractors is equally as corrupt, as we have explored in past posts. It's clear that the entrenched culture of corruption in Washington makes them unfit to handle the significant taxpayer dollars involved.

It's important that we take local control of the revenue from oil-and-gas activity in the Gulf, so that the recovery process can be funded locally and taken out of the hands of Washington looters. Washington has no stake in the recovery of Gulf Coast. They have their contracts, and are skimming the recovery dollars as fast as they can. The port is open and oil-and-gas production is largely restored. Mission Accomplished.

Meanwhile the better part of a million Americans remain displaced, some still living in tents. Vast swaths of the United States--covering 23,000 square miles--remain in ruins. Mail service has not been restored after six months. No one has a higher stake in seeing recovery dollars spent wisely than the people of the Gulf Coast.

It's time to end the looting.

Katrina NOLA New Orleans Hurricane Katrina Think New Orleans Louisiana FEMA levee flooding Corps of Engineers looting culture of corruption